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Taliban set up office in Miranshah
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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Page 4: Opinion
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Squirrels go nuts in California city
Parks officials in Mountain View, Calif., are on the attack against squirrels they say have become dangerously aggressive, attacking at least three people. The latest victim was 4-year-old Andrew Packard, attacked by a brown tree squirrel as his mother unwrapped a muffin, The San Jose Mercury-News reported.

"It was such a horror," his mother, Jennifer, said of the attack, which left her boy with a trail of red claw marks, a bite on his upper arm -- and a regimen of painful rabies shots. "To hear your child screaming the way you've never heard before ... It was just bone chilling," she told the newspaper.

Parks officials are now seeking permission to set traps and are cracking down on visitors feeding the wildlife.

As for Andrew, he declared he would never go into a park with trees again -- and he keeps telling everyone the squirrel was trying to eat him. City officials have offered to give him a tour of the police and fire station.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/28/2006 00:16 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Squirrels...why they hate us?
Posted by: twobyfour || 09/28/2006 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Packards...revenge of the squirrels?
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/28/2006 0:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Dubya = Washington isn't giving them enuff nuts, thus "justifying" the critters to go Rambo and declare war * For every Milyuhn and Zilyuhn of USGov $$$ spent on NOLA, "40,000 jobs" are created, ergo STARS-N-STRIPES > AP = NOLA area per se has lost circa 180,000 jobs.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/28/2006 1:06 Comments || Top||

#4  This is what happens when you feed wild animals, they come to expect it and if you don't deliver they go Jihad on you ass. :)
Posted by: djohn66 || 09/28/2006 3:00 Comments || Top||

#5  I didn't know squirrels could be muslims. You learn something new here on RB every day!
Posted by: gorb || 09/28/2006 3:20 Comments || Top||

#6  I think we need a war.
Posted by: Sheretle Tholusing9468 || 09/28/2006 4:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Poor little thing. Hopefully the tour of the police and fire stations will take his mind off the attack.
Posted by: Gladys || 09/28/2006 5:25 Comments || Top||

#8  Reminds me of a skit we do in Scouts:

"They're after me! The squirrels are after me!"
"Why?"
"They think I'm nuts!"
Posted by: Mike || 09/28/2006 6:24 Comments || Top||

#9  This is what we get for taking out all the raptors and wild cats.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/28/2006 6:27 Comments || Top||

#10  djohn66 - This is truely a metaphor of the Welfare State.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 09/28/2006 6:49 Comments || Top||

#11  See what happens when you try to stop press leaks?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/28/2006 6:52 Comments || Top||

#12  Hmmm... could it be Democrat squirrels gone bad, driven crazy by BDS?
Posted by: Dave D. || 09/28/2006 7:02 Comments || Top||

#13  A half-dozen ten year old boys armed with pellet guns could fix this pronto. But this is California so they'd be arrested as armed felons.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/28/2006 9:21 Comments || Top||

#14  ditto, Steve. Here in da South, we see squirrels as what they are, RODENTS! Not some cute fuzzy lil' "wildlife" animal to be fed and cuddled.
Posted by: BA || 09/28/2006 9:33 Comments || Top||

#15  It just so happens that Cuesta Park is one of the places where my dog and I walk in the morning.

It is a beautiful park. One of the nicest suburban parks around.
Posted by: Penguin || 09/28/2006 9:48 Comments || Top||

#16  #14 ditto, Steve. Here in da South, we see squirrels as what they are, RODENTS! Not some cute fuzzy lil' "wildlife" animal to be fed and cuddled.
Posted by BA 2006-09-28 09:33|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top


Known as "tree rats" in Ga.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/28/2006 10:31 Comments || Top||

#17  When I was a kid, it was common to see a boy with a 22 walking along, sometimes going hunting, and sometimes just going to shoot. We shot rats at the dump, squirrels in the woods, ground hogs and crows. Nobody shot at hawks or even rabbits, because we weren't supposed to except during hunting season.
Society has become feminized....not me, I still shoot the little bastards.
Posted by: wxjames || 09/28/2006 10:32 Comments || Top||

#18  Fuzzy-tailed tree rats.
Posted by: mojo || 09/28/2006 10:50 Comments || Top||

#19  it was common to see a boy with a 22 walking along, sometimes going hunting, and sometimes just going to shoot.

It still is, in the country. Just nobody lives there anymore. Everybody lives in sub-urbs like MV where people are so dense there'd be weekly deaths if kids shot like they used to and kids time is so strictly structured that they can't just hang around.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/28/2006 11:15 Comments || Top||

#20  The bounty for Ground Hog ears in Illinois in the 1960's was $ .50 per pair. I suppose they'd lock you up today for shooting one.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/28/2006 11:19 Comments || Top||

#21  Overgrown rats.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/28/2006 11:29 Comments || Top||

#22  why do people hate us?


we make wonderful pets, kidz love us


the common Caliphornia Gay squirrel
Posted by: paid for by Caliphornia Squirrel association || 09/28/2006 13:57 Comments || Top||

#23  Do we have an exit strategy for Mountain View?
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 09/28/2006 14:18 Comments || Top||

#24  Squirrels going "nuts?"

Guess you are what you eat after all.
Posted by: no mo uro || 09/28/2006 14:54 Comments || Top||

#25  Do we have an exit strategy for Mountain View?

Sunnyvale.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/28/2006 15:30 Comments || Top||

#26  Everyone reports to Hanger #1 at Moffett Field for EXFIL via Goodyear blimp.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/28/2006 16:26 Comments || Top||

#27  Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

My squirrel sense is tingling.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/28/2006 19:01 Comments || Top||

#28  LOLOLOLOLOL!

'Moose, you have some of the most disgusting hysterical graphics! *applause*
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 19:03 Comments || Top||

#29  LOL Moose...them damn squirrels!!!
Posted by: RD || 09/28/2006 19:14 Comments || Top||


Gunman kills self in US hostage standoff
A middle-aged gunman walked into the high school of this mountain town Wednesday, shot and critically wounded a student and then killed himself after police commando team members entered the building, authorities said. Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said authorities decided to enter the school after the suspect cut off negotiations and set a deadline. At the time, the gunman had turned four student hostages loose but was still holed up with two girls. "It was then decided that a tactical solution needed to be done in an effort to save the two hostages," the sheriff said, his voice breaking. "Entry was made. The suspect shot one of the hostages, then shot himself."

He said the suspect had threatened his hostages virtually throughout the four-hour ordeal. The suspect was not immediately identified, and the sheriff was at a loss to explain a motive. "I don't know why he wanted to do this," Wegener said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good riddance, a$$hole. You saved us a lot of trouble by taking yourself out. Too bad you didn't shoot yourself first.
Posted by: gorb || 09/28/2006 3:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Too bad his hostages didn't get the satisfaction of offing him themselves.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/28/2006 5:38 Comments || Top||

#3  CNN reported the girl he shot died during the night. Absolutly senseless
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 09/28/2006 8:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Fox reported he let the boys go and hand selected six girls before releasing four of them. He claimed to have a bomb and kept the SWAT team at bay for four hours, but the bag he had contained only sex toys!!! The surviving 16 y/o girl is surely traumatized and embarrassed, especially in such a small school. What is the world coming to??
Posted by: Danielle || 09/28/2006 12:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Would be interesting to see his criminal record, if he had one.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/28/2006 12:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Homeless from Denver.

Hey, they have a "homeless friendly" policy, like thier "illegal immigrant sanctuary" policy, right?

The latter got a woman dragged to death by an illegal who the police had in custody but were (by the "sanctuary" rule) forbidden to check as an illegal - after they let him go, he ends up dragging that poor woman to death behind his truck.

Looking at the orange jumpsuit photo on Fox.com, looks like Denver PD had this asshole gunman too, but let him walk.

Typical liberals - they get all soft and others end up suffering for the libs mistakes.... 9/11, etc.
Posted by: Oldspook || 09/28/2006 13:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Here's an update on the kook in Bailey. I've included the entire thing because the Gazette doesn't archive stories for retrieval.

September 28, 2006
Gunman assaulted girls before killing himself
(Duane Morrison)
Standoff leaves 16-year-old dead
By ANSLEE WILLETT AND DENNIS HUSPENI - THE GAZETTE

A 53-year-old man sexually assaulted girls he held hostage Wednesday at a Park County high school before fatally shooting one and killing himself.

Duane Roger Morrison of Denver held six girls captive at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey southwest of Denver before letting four of them go, one by one.

“He did traumatize and assault our children,” Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said this morning, describing the assaults as “sexual in nature.” He didn’t say how many of the girls were assaulted during the four-hour ordeal.

Morrison shot 16-year-old Emily Keyes as SWAT team members stormed the English classroom where he was holed up with two of the girls. Keyes, a junior, later died at a Denver hospital. Autopsies are scheduled today on Morrison and Keyes.

Keyes grew up in Bailey and had a twin brother, Casey, said Sabrina Blea, also 16. She described Emily as friendly, bright, an athlete who played volleyball.

“She liked to talk a lot,” Blea said. “About how people need to change and live life good. She’s so innocent. I can’t believe it.”

Morrison, who had been living out of his car but had a Denver address, had a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver.

Investigators haven’t found a link between him and the school, and the motive “still remains a mystery,” the sheriff said.

“This is something that has changed my school, changed my community,” said Wegener, a 36-year resident of Bailey. “My small county’s gone.”

Morrison began the takeover about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday when he walked into a classroom, fired a shot at the floor and ordered students to line up at the chalk board. He then allowed some to leave, but kept six girls hostage.

Morrison initially talked with negotiators, then did so by having his hostages yell replies down a hallway. Before he broke off communication, Morrison said “something would happen at 4 p.m.,” Wegener said.

SWAT team members witnessed Morrison assaulting some of the girls, and relayed the information to the sheriff. Wegener said his decision to move in on Morrison was prompted by the vague deadline threat, Morrison cutting off negotiations and the SWAT team’s observations of what Morrison was doing to his hostages.

“My decision was either wait — (and have the) possibility of having two dead hostages or act and try to save what I feared he would do to them,” Wegener said. “We had to try to save them.”

As SWAT members rushed the classroom, Morrison fired at them, shot the girl, then shot himself, Wegener said. SWAT members fired back.

Asked about his decision to send in the SWAT team, Wegener said: “Being a sheriff in a small community, knowing all the parents, knowing the kids — my daughter graduated last year, my son’s a junior here — it is very difficult. Because I’d want whoever was in my position to do the same thing, and that is to save lives.”

As the hostage situation began, the school went into “Code White,” and teachers instantly reacted by locking students in classrooms and keeping them away from doors and windows. Eventually, SWAT team members led students out of the building to safety.

Students were bused to a nearby elementary school, where they were reunited with frantic parents who scrambled to find their children.

“All we could do is pray,” said Mary Sasser, who has a 15-year-old daughter at the school. She heard the sirens as deputies rushed by and followed.

Court records show Morrison was arrested in July in the west Denver suburb of Lakewood on a charge of obstructing police in Littleton. He also was arrested in 1973 for larceny and marijuana possession.

Morrison’s stepmother said she and her husband, Bob Morrison, “have no record of him being, having any trouble before.”

“We just know the way he was raised,” she said, but declined to elaborate. She declined to give her first name.

She said she and her husband, who live in Tulsa, Okla., had not heard from Duane Morrison recently.

She said Duane Morrison’s mother died 30 or 35 years ago.

“His father was in the services and he grew up in different places,” she said.

It was unclear how the gunman entered the school, but Katrina Keller, 16, may have been one of the first to spot the intruder. She said she was walking by an empty classroom about 11 a.m. when she spotted a man inside. He was wearing a hooded jacket and looked angry, she said. But she didn’t report him to the school office.

“I should’ve said something,” she said. “If I’d said something, it might not have been this bad.”

Others just wondered why.

“It’s Bailey,” said 15-year-old Sophie Sasser, her eyes red from crying. “Not a lot of things happen in Bailey.”

Anyone who knew Morrison is asked to call the sheriff’s hotline, (303) 816-5947.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/28/2006 21:02 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
The Lonely Punk Republican
Posted by: Mike || 09/28/2006 12:17 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lol. YJCMTSU.
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 16:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's remember the late Johnny Ramone too. From his Wikipedia entry,

Although never a "closet Republican," (many around him said he was vocal about his opinions), Johnny made his political affiliation known to the world in 2002, when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After thanking everyone who made it possible — clad in his trademark T-shirt, ripped blue jeans and leather jacket — Johnny said "God bless President Bush, and God bless America," [1]. He said in an interview, when questioned on his conservatism, "I think Ronald Reagan was the best President of our lifetime."
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 09/28/2006 21:54 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
"Wrong Way" Corrigan Diaz flees Miama for Havana
A 14-year-old West Miami-Dade boy ran away from home last week, boarded a plane and took a startling international flight alone – to Havana, his father said Tuesday. Alfredo Diaz, a 10th-grader at G. Holmes Braddock Senior High, cleared an American Airlines security check and boarded a Miami-to-Nassau flight on Thursday, even though the carrier requires escorts for anyone under 15.

"I can't believe my son was able to go through all that security and no one stopped him or asked him about being so young and traveling alone," I'm sure they made him take off his shoes said the father, who is also named Alfredo Diaz. "My son is just under five feet tall and he's a young-looking 14." Alfredo may have been caught up in some typical teenage angst. He had met a special girl during a visit to Cuba this summer, his father said. And in school, he was accused of cheating to try to win the class presidency.

Martha Pantín, local spokeswoman for American Airlines, confirmed Tuesday that the boy was checked onto Flight No. 4981, which left Miami International Airport Thursday morning. As identification, she said, Alfredo presented his alien registration card, which shows his birth date as Dec. 8, 1991 -- three months shy of 15 years ago. From the Bahamas, Alfredo likely used his Cuban passport, which he sneaked from his dad's strong box, for the flight to Havana, Diaz said.

Diaz, who has legal resident status and came to the United States by way of Spain 12 years ago, said when he claimed his son six years ago from Cuba, the U.S. Interests Section in Havana kept his custody papers. He is now requesting copies.
If he were here illegally they'd be coming out of the woodwork to help him.

Diaz said he punished his son, briefly taking away his computer privileges and his beloved iPod. TORTURE!

"I'm hoping he will spend a couple of months there without his computer, plasma TV, iPod, and he'll want to come back," the father said. "My son likes the good things in life. He won't find that in Cuba."
But he'll have free health care, universal literacy, 4-hour speeches from El Jefe.

OK, OK, it's just some nutty teenager mixed up over a girl. Still, going to Cuba...

Posted by: Jackal || 09/28/2006 10:39 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ok guys (and guys only) how many of you at age 14 made any clear decision with respect to the fairer sex? Heck how many of us make rational decisions at age 40 with regard to women? A colleague of mine that visited Cuba at age 15 was surprised at the promiscuity of teenagers (happily surprised). My guess is that this young man hooked up with a hot blooded commie Latina and now is love struck.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/28/2006 11:25 Comments || Top||

#2  I am surprised that there are direct flights to Cuba.
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/28/2006 11:41 Comments || Top||

#3  I can't believe my son was able to go through all that security and no one stopped him or asked him about being so young and traveling alone

If he'd been a wheel chair, he never would have made it.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/28/2006 11:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Sarge: that promiscuity isn't a result of the free and easy sexuality fostered under the wise benevolent and progressive rule of el Jefe, which has liberated Cuban teens from the repressed and opressive "morality" of capitalism . . . sad to say, those Cuban girls are prostituting themselves to the tourists because it's the only way to get hard currency--without which, they don't get to eat.
Posted by: Mike || 09/28/2006 12:11 Comments || Top||

#5  mike, it's called transactional sex. (SARCASM)
Posted by: sinse || 09/28/2006 13:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Mike, my buddy did not say he paid for services rendered and I think he would have described that way.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/28/2006 14:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Here's some transactional sex:

>start transaction

>input
>output
>input
>output
>input
>output
>input
>output

>commit

Repeat if possible.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. || 09/28/2006 14:13 Comments || Top||

#8  in school, he was accused of cheating to try to win the class presidency.

Vote for Pedro Alfredo and all your dreams will come true
Posted by: Frank G || 09/28/2006 15:47 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Army Brings AWOL Charges Against Oregon Woman
PORTLAND, Ore. — Army Spc. Suzanne Swift spent five months in a seacoast town hiding out, smoking cigarettes and reading. Meanwhile, her military police unit was half a world away in Iraq.

It was the second tour of duty in Iraq for the 54th Military Police Company. But Swift couldn't take part because she had been sexually harassed by three noncommissioned officers, her mother said.

The 22-year-old was charged Wednesday with being absent without leave and missing movement. The latter means she wasn't with her company when it left in January for its four-month tour of duty, said Fort Lewis spokeswoman Sgt. Maj. Yolanda Choates.

Swift, of Eugene, could face a reprimand or a court-martial, Choates said. She was arrested at her home in Eugene in June.

Swift, who served in Iraq from February 2004 to February 2005, claimed she had been harassed or abused by three noncommissioned officers — two in Iraq and one at Fort Lewis.

The Army said it was able to substantiate one allegation, involving an officer at Fort Lewis, and took disciplinary action. But it said it was unable to substantiate allegations that one officer in Iraq sexually harassed her and another forced her into a sexual relationship.

The Army said it had delayed disciplinary action to conduct a "thorough, impartial investigation" into her allegations of sexual harassment and said that Swift, on the advice of her lawyer, did not provide a sworn statement to investigators.

Her mother, Sara Rich of Eugene, said her daughter suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and should have a medical discharge to deal with it. She has been traveling to talk to groups that have taken up Swift's cause.

Rich said that as her daughter prepared to deploy in January she realized she couldn't go through with it.

She "froze with her keys in her hand and said, 'I can't do it,' " Rich said.

...Something does not smell right here.
Now, I want to make clear that if there is a provable case of continuing sexual harassment here, somebody needs to go down for it and go down hard. The trouble is that when the modern US military does a sexual harrassment investigation, it's about as thorough as it can get. If the other two allegations could not be substantiated, there's a good chance that it didn't happen the way she said it did.

My questions are as follows:

1: Did she follow her chain of command, and I mean the WHOLE chain of command, up through the unit CO and the IG before refusing to ship?
2. Did she avail herself of her RIGHT to speak to her elected representatives? (It stikes me that in lefty Oregon, some politician would have jumped on this one and not let it go.)
3. Having helped investigate matters like this on a couple of occasions, I have to ask this - where are the other women who were harassed/abused? When things like this happen, the harassers don't limit it to just one woman.
4. Why did the Army let her remain in that unit?
5. Why did her lawyer tell her not to submit a statement?
6. Why is this soldier AT HER RESIDENCE? Even if a decision was made not to send her along with her unit (and it's possible somebody quietly made that call), she should have either been discharged, crosstrained, transferred, OR BROUGHT ON BASE.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/28/2006 12:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I agree Mike that her story stinks. I was in the military for 20 years and sexual harassment is just below treason on the seriousness scale. It’s also a bell that cannot and will not be unrung, once you are accused it will follow you forever. I know they claim that they expunge the records but trust me it follows you and it will hurt your career. Her story is full of convienent holes that would otherwise convict a person (not giving a sworn statement for starters). If she felt comfortable enough to accuse someone she should be comfortable enough provide a sworn statement to that affect. She could have done myriad of things that would have kept her from deploying and punished those that supposedly harassed her. Also when you hear someone was “punished” by the military for a sexual relation just remember that they don’t have the same standards as civilians. An Officer/Enlisted, NCO/Subordinate, Married/Married, and Married/Single are all relationships that will cause you harm under the UCMJ.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/28/2006 14:07 Comments || Top||

#2  I read this story about a week ago and it did seem that there was substance to the charges of sexual harassment. However, she chose not to press charges when asked to do so.

My overall take on the story was that life is hard but it is harder when you are stupid. I came away thinking she was just kind of dumb and she wasn't capable of handling the situation she was in. It seemed a logical conclusion that she would just run home to have mommy protect her.

Not to worry, though. Mommy will still be there for her through the court marshall, the prison sentence and will have her room waiting for her when she gets out. Isn't it nice for mommy that she never has to grow up and leave her all alone.
Posted by: anon || 09/28/2006 14:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Agreed, Sarge. Based on what I saw in 10 years in the military, one whiff of a sexual harrassment allegation getting to the higher ups, and the thunder would come down.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/28/2006 15:16 Comments || Top||

#4  CyberSarge-
Agree wholeheartedly. Sexual harassment charges in the modern US military are 'guilty-till-proven-innocent', and it takes a LOT to get cleared of them. Whatever the problem is here, the Army needs to get to the bottom of it NOW.

[RANT/ON]
Along these lines, I have had a suspicion that if the Donks get decisively clobbered during the upcoming elections (i.e.; they LOSE seats)that we will see active efforts to subvert the force and convince people to desert, go AWOL, file CO, file false charges of harassment or criminal activity, ANYTHING to criple the war effort. Unless people get the message that false charges and running won't work, I fear we are in for a concerted effort to give us a military with such rotten morale that it can't be used.
[RANT/OFF]

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/28/2006 15:33 Comments || Top||

#5  "Smoking cigerettes and watching Captain Kangaroo." We've all heard it a thousand times...."Where is SPC Susan Tentpeg this morning? or...Tentpeg calls in aroung 0900 and says, "I won't be in today, my ***** hurts, maybe not tomorrow either. Sick call? yea, if I feel like it."

No surprises on this one. Back in the 70's they trashed a professional organization, the Woman's Army Corps (WAC) and integrated everyone. We've been living with it ever since.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/28/2006 15:59 Comments || Top||

#6  i wanted to add what lame-ass lawyer would tell his client NOT to swear out a valid complaint? Ex-Jag any ideas on that one? Legal tactic? Stupidity?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/28/2006 17:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Another fucking traitor, brought to you by

Democracy Now

Military Families Speak Out

Veterans for Peace

Iraq Veterans Against the War (War Resisters Remix)

Code Pinko

Courage to Resist

Committee for Countering Military Recruitment

Her mom, a Cindy Sheehan wannabe

And she's a huge hit on counterpunch, indymedia, truthout, etc. etc.

Sarge, leftist legal tactics aren't designed to make sense or win cases; they're designed to generate a media orgy -- pure agitprop that taps into the decency of ordinary Americans who may, for a moment, be tempted to feel sympathy.
Posted by: exJAG || 09/28/2006 17:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Oh yeah. Where's SPoD? Red meat for lawyer-haters: go meet Swift's legal team here.

They're all former JAGs. It's one thing when you're detailed defense counsel and you're under orders to represent whoever comes your way. It's another entirely when you get out and voluntarily choose to make a living this way (rather a good one too).

Posted by: exJAG || 09/28/2006 18:03 Comments || Top||

#9  I thought so. Sounded as though she had a super weak complaint or if she stuck to her story she would perjure herself. Yes she is a BIG Celeb with the left these days. After she is found guilty and tossed by the military she will take her place next to Sheehan.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/28/2006 18:37 Comments || Top||

#10  AWOL? Five months is desertion.
Posted by: ed || 09/28/2006 18:45 Comments || Top||

#11  29 and a wake-up. But the mythology of the game included bits like never throwing away the military ID and such could save your ass. exJAG, are there any legit mitigating circumstances for being genuinely AWOL over 30 days?
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 18:48 Comments || Top||

#12  who cares if she becomes another Sheehan. Sheehan is a goofy granny reliving the glory days of her youth. She meets up with some professional PR people and they let her go make a complete ass of herself day after day. She's made a fool of the entire lefty loons and they are so out-of-touch they don't even realize it.

The lefty PR handlers did it with that poor Jessica whats-her-name. You know, that poor girl that we've already forgotten who got kidnapped during the push to Baghdad and then said negative things that got her a book deal and a 2 week celebrity blitz. I actually feel sorry for her. Her actions caused her to lose the only support group who was interested in helping her beyond the useful news cycle.

This girl will get her 15 minutes of fame and she will live with the consequences for her entire life. I actually kind of feel sorry for her because it's clear her mother did a crappy job letting her go and is sticking to her like Sheehan's stomach to polyester.
Posted by: anon || 09/28/2006 18:58 Comments || Top||

#13  No surprises on this one. Back in the 70's they trashed a professional organization, the Woman's Army Corps (WAC) and integrated everyone. We've been living with it ever since.

BS, Besoeker. BS. I knew the WAC. When I considered pursuing a commission during the Vietnam war the WAC was still in existence and I did their College Junior program (which was a route to OCS after graduation). I saw it up close and personal. Professional organization my ass -- that summer we got NADA, zilch, zero that was military. We were, however, instructed on wearing girdles in uniform. (long ones were preferred as it gave a nice smooth outline under the skirt.)

WACs were limited to being file clerks in uniform, more or less.

Pfeh.
Posted by: lotp || 09/28/2006 19:01 Comments || Top||

#14  I had two ladies in my unit in England that were sexually harassed - one bordering on rape. It took weeks to get them to even admit the actions had happened, and over six months to get the second one to agree to file charges. I'm not surprised about that part of it. To some (at least a few that I've met), the actions do strange things to their minds, and their behavior reflects it. Unfortunately, our unit was disbanded before I learned the outcome of the hearings, and the people scattered throughout the US Air Force. I am surprised she was at home for almost 8 months, and the local law enforcement or military police did nothing to locate her. I know from conversations with OSI types that the first place these people look is at the AWOL person's home address.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/28/2006 19:16 Comments || Top||

#15  BTW, with regard to my comment above: No offense or disrespect meant to the service of those women who did join and stay in the WAC. I honor anyone who takes on the uniform and choses to serve.

But military, it was not, at least at the time and place I saw it, just before it was disbanded.
Posted by: lotp || 09/28/2006 19:16 Comments || Top||

#16  Being AWOL over 30 days itself is an aggravating circumstance. I don't see anything here that would be a mitigating factor besides this sexual harassment business, which seems pretty flimsy.

A genuine mitigating circumstance might be something like, your only surviving blood relative falls deathly ill, can't care for him/herself, can't pay the bills, and has no other way to get by. But in that case, you'd tell the command, take leave, and put in for a hardship discharge.

A strong showing could be made that she had the intent to remain away permanently, "to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service," which defines desertion, a capital offense in wartime.

I can't decide if actually carrying that out would be a good idea or not. There are just too many of these seditious jerkoffs floating around, such as Watada and Aguayo, serving as fodder for the leftist propaganda machine. Mr. exJAG favors blowing up CNN relay towers, which seems like a good compromise solution to me.

Posted by: exJAG || 09/28/2006 19:19 Comments || Top||

#17  Lol, exJAG. Tell Mr exJAG we're on board, too, lol.
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 19:27 Comments || Top||

#18  WACs were limited to being file clerks in uniform, more or less. Pfeh.
Posted by lotp 2006-09-28 19:01|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top


Girdle or not, all that WAC training paid off Lotp, your typing, grammar and sentex are impeccable!
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/28/2006 19:32 Comments || Top||

#19  sentex? you ment semtex!

Watch Out Besoeker!

Bawawawawwaw!
Posted by: RD || 09/28/2006 19:35 Comments || Top||

#20  There's big trouble brewing in River City, lol...
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 19:36 Comments || Top||

#21  I suspect that would be a popular option with a lot of people here at the Burg.
Posted by: lotp || 09/28/2006 19:37 Comments || Top||

#22  Whahahahahaaa
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/28/2006 19:39 Comments || Top||

#23  This one is just odd. I would rather be charged with treason than sexual harrassment. At least I could defend myself. I see it now, it's November and Kennedy is standing wiht this poor girl who had to run and hide from the terriblr Bush/ Rummy machine. It just smells of political set up.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/28/2006 21:38 Comments || Top||

#24  Oh and will somebody take that Semtex away from LOTP! I'm fairly certain she knows how to use it.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/28/2006 21:40 Comments || Top||

#25  There is an element of this that sounds like she had some kind of sexual relationship with someone in her command that went sour and would have made redeployment more unbearable than any other deployment to Iraq.
My understanding of sexual harassment is that it is more about power than about sex so sexually harassing someone into a relationship seems not to be the norm.
As for females missing deployment or abusing sickcall, my experience is that dirt-bags let the team down - both male and female. Often women dirt bags have feminine problems while dirt bag men have mysterious orthopedic mishaps and gun accidents.
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/28/2006 22:54 Comments || Top||

#26  Just do with her what should be done with the chucklehead 'CO' discussed yesterday. Admin separation, an OTH, and escorted back to the street
Posted by: Pappy || 09/28/2006 22:59 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Court accepts Afghan girl's plea for protection
PESHAWAR: A court on Wednesday accepted an Afghan girl's appeal for protection in Pakistan, and sent her to Darul Aman. Sajeena (17), a resident of Khost, told the court that she left Afghanistan when her father sold her to a 70-year-old man. "I ran away from Khost when my father Ibrahim sold me to Agha Jan for Rs 250,000," Sajeena told Judicial Magistrate Ahmad Iftikhar. "I was left with no option but to come to Pakistan. My mother was also against my father's decision to sell me to Jan, who has five children," she added.
Posted by: Fred || 09/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Only in Afghanistan.

Right?
Posted by: gorb || 09/28/2006 3:23 Comments || Top||

#2  ... Afghan girl's appeal for protection in Pakistan,...

Out of the fire into the frying pan?
Posted by: xbalanke || 09/28/2006 15:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Fisking John Lennon's "Imagine"
by Mark Shea, Catholic Exchange

Rolling Stone recently informed us what the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" are.

Of course, in a culture with the historical memory of a fruit fly, Rolling Stone meant "rock songs" and not, for instance, ancient ballads like "Greensleeves" or ancient hymns like "Adeste Fidelis" which predate immortal works like "Muskrat Love" by some time. Rock culture is preternaturally concerned with the Now and therefore sees the '60s as Pleistocene antiquity before which all the ages were formless and void.

I like Rock as much as the next guy. But let's face it: Rock specializes in the Big, the Loud, the Grotesquely Dionysian, and the Strongly Felt, not the Small, Nuanced, Proportional, or Considered. Consequently, in the world of Rock, a ballad is often thought to be Deep, when it is really just Not Blaring. It's a sort of Pavlovian acoustic response that conflates mere noise reduction with contemplation.

That is why, I'm convinced, a song as stupid as "Imagine" by John Lennon can still be regarded by millions as both profound and moving to the degree that it is the Number Three Greatest Song Ever according to Rolling Stone. You can see imbeciles swaying to this tune, eyes closed in beatific bliss, at everything from school assemblies to soccer matches to September 11 commemorations. How does it honor the dead to "Imagine there's no heaven"? How does it honor the firefighters who sacrificed their lives to mewl about "Nothing to...die for"? Indeed, it is sung by earnest churchgoers, even at Catholic Masses, who seem to perceive no particular contradiction between the liberating wonder of imagining there's no Heaven and the prayer which begins "Our Father who art in heaven." It seems to be because the words of the song are more or less treated as sonorous replacements for singing "La La" to its pleasant tune.

Me, I pay attention to words. That is why I have always thought of it as a sort of anthem to Original Sin — fallen man's infinite capacity to believe he can create Heaven on earth if he's just permitted one more chance to get it right. Everything the song advocates and hopes for as a supreme good was the fountainhead of all the horrors of the 20th century. . . .

Hit the link and read the rest of it.

An aging hippie wrote Mr. Shea to register her disagreement with his article. He fisked her argument to within an inch of its wretched life on his blog:


As Dostoyevsky says, "If there is not God than everything is permissible." John Lennon, when you boil it down, is wishing for a world in which Everything is Permissible. That is the essential folly of the song. . . . He was advocating, in an intellectually lazy way, a wish that all that stuff would just go away and not bother him anymore. So instead of bothering to find out what causes social injustice, he just wished for a world where nobody had any possessions (except him and his $25,000,000). Telling a starving man that you hope he has nothing is not a glowing and poetic sentiment. It's a sloppy cop out from the hard work of recognizing that it is sin, not possessions, that is the problem. Telling a victim of genocide that "above us, there is only sky" is another way of saying "the death of you and all you love means nothing in the grand scheme of things, all that matters is power. The regime that slaughtered your people wins!" "Imagine" is a poem by a dilettante who wants to fancy himself a philosopher, but doesn't want to be bothered with the hard work of thinking.
Posted by: Mike || 09/28/2006 12:21 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Excellent! I will have to remember this next time I meet the lefty Catholics who revere this song and Lennon.

Good shoorting Mr Shea, center mass and tight shot group as well!
Posted by: Oldspook || 09/28/2006 13:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Typical very liberal song. Trouble is, there are lot of Liberals who really believe there's nothing worth sacrificing for.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 09/28/2006 14:00 Comments || Top||

#3  what a smackdown the fisk was. hee, hee. Twit.

Ah, the 60's. It was all peace love and rock and roll and we just imagined that Stalin's dead, Pol Pots dead and the piles and piles of skulls and bones stacked by the tyrants never existed in our little wonderbread world.
Posted by: anon || 09/28/2006 14:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Imagine = the Communist Manifesto set to a simplistic tune.

The world described in it is a dystopia, not a utopia, and literally anyone who believes otherwise should be considered at least mentally ill, probably dangerous.
Posted by: no mo uro || 09/28/2006 14:52 Comments || Top||

#5  The dream is over, what can I say... The dream was over yesterday ...
Posted by: 3dc || 09/28/2006 16:11 Comments || Top||

#6  I still blame him for inflicting Yoko on us for these oh so many years. That alone completely destroys him in my eyes. If he was so damn deep and smart, how'd he get hooked up with that friggin nightmare? And why did he foist it on us?
Bastard!
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/28/2006 16:21 Comments || Top||

#7  I suspect the attraction was something you couldn't see - something you'd have to experience yourself to fully understand. Heh. Hell, I stayed married for an "extra" 7 YEARS because of a particular talent...
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 16:27 Comments || Top||

#8  It reminds me of a comment in a documentary about the 60s: a guy (I forget who) was scoffing at the "All You Need Is Love" mantra as easy to live by if you have a hand painted Bentley, as opposed to some acid-hazed barefoot teen living on the street in Haight-Ashbury who actually wants to believe it.
Posted by: xbalanke || 09/28/2006 17:36 Comments || Top||

#9  Actually the song was recorded in the early 70's not the 60's IIRC (I think it was off of Double Fantasy). I think it was John's view of a utopian society as I recall he was a socialist (if not a pseudo-communist) at the very least. However, I don't know for sure what his thought was behind the recording as he's been dead close to 25 yrs. He also had a hard-on for the Catholic Church as evident from passages in the book "the love you make." Therefore I find it infinitely amusing that this tune is sung at any Mass as Lennon disliked organized religion and even went so far as to go to india to study budhism w/the rest of the band and the dalai lama maha rishi (sp?). He even found that a fraud when he caught the lama trying to ball one of the females in his retreat party. Thus inspiring the song "sexy sadie."

I loved Lennon/McCartney as song writers (even though they morphed into weirdos in their own right - Paul's a veggan - go figure) and IMHO the Beatles were easily one of the top 3 rock bands of all time and the album "revolver" one of the top 5 rock albums of all time. I'll never understand the Yoko thing either. However, I think the overall good the Beatles did w/their music for young jerks like me far outweighs one song, though I am not embarrassed to admit that though I think the song is fancifully naive I do like the melody line to "Imagine". I'm surprised any writer really bothered analyzing this song, and I think Shea really over analyze's it. Plus, who gives a rat's ass what Rolling Stoned thinks - they've been lefty idiots longer then Danny Glover. I've been playing guitar for over 20 years now. Played in bands throughout high school/college etc. So when it comes to music and musicians I think I have some credibility. Another thing about Rolling Stoned - I remember when they did the "100 greatest guitarists of all time" and Eddie Van Halen didn't even crack the top 75. Fricken morons.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 09/28/2006 17:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Wow, .com. Seven extra years just for BJs? I still find it hard to accept that we wimmin have that kind of power. (But it does give me an idea, heh heh.)

Anyway. Yoko. BJs. Eeeeeeewwwww!! Seems to me that's one of those images you hang on to when you need to last a few more minutes, like Eleanor Roosevelt or Ernest Borgnine.
Posted by: exJAG || 09/28/2006 18:24 Comments || Top||

#11  Lol, exJAG. Since I take it you're femalian, then I confidently assert you can't accurately judge the issue, lol. Think: Trailer hitch. Chrome. Gone. Hoover. Oblivion. T'was a wonder and a boggle. Heh.
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 18:31 Comments || Top||

#12  hah - the Beatles were just the first Boy Band. Their greatest legacy is just that they were first and thus we believed they would last forever. Ah, but a talented Boy Band they were. Their music always brings me back to a beautiful day on the beach warm sun, warm sand, the smell of the sea, hamburgers and coconut oil. Paul was my favorite.

None of their stuff was really profound - though we thought so at the time.
Posted by: anon || 09/28/2006 18:47 Comments || Top||

#13  Revolver and Sgt Pepper really changed the game. They were damned good, both musically and lyrically. I still find myself humming In My Life, Blackbird, I've Just Seen A Face, Fixin' A Hole, and recently When I'm Sixty-Four, lol. Even Why Don't We Do It In The Road pops into my head at stop lights... I hum it aloud, but she doesn't take the hint, damnit. :-)
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 18:54 Comments || Top||

#14  yeah, that's true. I really liked Long and Winding Road and Sgt. Peppers. The intro to Sgt Peppers brings floods back good memories of childhood.
Posted by: anon || 09/28/2006 19:02 Comments || Top||

#15  Spot-on, anon. Indeed - music's almost as powerful as smell, though not limbic, in triggering memories. The Pepper intro does that for me, too. I'm in this hippie chick's apartment, lolling about on throw pillows, my hands full of her waist-length hair, [insert Molly Bloom's soliloquy here*]... Good enough, heh.

* "...I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes."
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 19:22 Comments || Top||

#16  Check it out, I found this old pic of .com:
Posted by: exJAG || 09/28/2006 19:33 Comments || Top||

#17  Arrrghhh! I've been outted! Lol, exJAG. :-)
Posted by: .com || 09/28/2006 19:35 Comments || Top||

#18  I like em. I never tried to make their music my life's message. Also a Dead fan, Led Zep fan (bigtime), Cream fan, Los Lobos fan, Dave Alvin fan....

pretty much a musical whore connoisseur
Posted by: Frank G || 09/28/2006 19:37 Comments || Top||

#19  Agree Frank, Zeppelin is my favorite band of all.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 09/28/2006 20:33 Comments || Top||

#20  I guess that music didn't take for me, although it was around at the right time for my generation.

My favorites are of a different flavor now, groups like Battlefield Band and Boys of the Lough. ;-)
Posted by: lotp || 09/28/2006 20:40 Comments || Top||

#21  Think: Trailer hitch. Chrome. Gone. Hoover. Oblivion. T'was a wonder and a boggle.

Too much information, .com - or not enough, depending on one's mood point of view.

I'll back up Frank G's taste in music. But I'll refrain from adding any more of my faves to the list -- not enough bandwidth.
Posted by: xbalanke || 09/28/2006 20:45 Comments || Top||

#22  If you Zep fans haven't followed Plant and Page after the breakup, you're missing out. I took my kids, 21-16 yrs old, to Plant's concert on the bay, and they were hooked. His last couple CD's were great!
Posted by: Frank G || 09/28/2006 20:58 Comments || Top||

#23  oops - that was last summer's concert, so he's still cranking
Posted by: Frank G || 09/28/2006 21:04 Comments || Top||

#24  Yoko Ono - ahsd in "Oh NO She's going to sing!"
Posted by: Oldspook || 09/28/2006 22:22 Comments || Top||

#25  Yoko singing = cat in a dryer
Posted by: Frank G || 09/28/2006 22:26 Comments || Top||

#26  lotp: you my kinda people! You familiar with Andy M. Stewart or Dougie MacLean as well?
Posted by: Mike || 09/28/2006 23:20 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2006-09-28
  Taliban set up office in Miranshah
Wed 2006-09-27
  Insurgent Leader Captured in Iraq
Tue 2006-09-26
  Somali Islamists seize Kismayo
Mon 2006-09-25
  Omar al-Farouq killed in Basra crossfire©
Sun 2006-09-24
  Norway detains Pak, two others
Sat 2006-09-23
  'Bin Laden is dead' claim French secret service
Fri 2006-09-22
  Pak clerics demand Pope's removal
Thu 2006-09-21
  Death sentence for al-Rishawi
Wed 2006-09-20
  Meshaal threatens to murder Haniyeh
Tue 2006-09-19
  Close shave for Somali prez in assassination boom
Mon 2006-09-18
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Sun 2006-09-17
  Mujahideen Army threatens Pope with suicide attack
Sat 2006-09-16
  Somali cleric calls for Muslims to hunt down and kill Pope
Fri 2006-09-15
  Muslims seethe over Pope's remarks
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  General Udi Adam resigns


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