Retired Army Green Beret Smokey Taylor was court martialed this weekend, and came away feeling good about it. Taylor, at age 80 the oldest member of Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association, was on mock trial by his peers under the charge of "Failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber" in the shooting of an intruder at his home in Knoxville, Tennesee, in December.
The entire affair, of course, was very much tongue in cheek. Taylor had been awakened in the early morning hours of Dec. 17, 2007, when an intruder broke into his home. He investigated the noises with one of his many weapons in hand. When the intruder threatened him with a knife, Taylor warned him, then brought his .22 caliber pistol to bear and shot him right between the eyes.
"That boy had the hardest head Ive ever seen," Taylor said after his trial. "The bullet bounced right off." The impact knocked the would be thief down momentarily. He crawled out of the room then got up and ran out the door and down the street. Knoxville police apprehended him a few blocks away and he now awaits trial in the Knox County jail.
The charges against Taylor were considered to be serious. He is a retired Special Forces Weapons Sergeant with extensive combat experience during the wars in Korea and Vietnam. "Charges were brought against him under the premise that he should have saved the county and taxpayers the expense of a trial," said Chapter XXXIII President Bill Long of Asheville. "He could have used a .45 or .38. The .22 just wasnt big enough to get the job done."
Taylors defense attorney, another retired Weapons Sergeant, disagreed. He said Taylor had done the right thing in choosing to arm himself with a .22 caliber handgun. "If hed used a .45 or something like that the round would have gone right through the perp, the wall, the neighbors wall and possibly injured some innocent child asleep in its bed," he said. "I believe the evidence shows that Smokey Taylor exercised excellent judgment in his choice of weapons. He did nothing wrong, and clearly remains to this day an excellent weapons man."
Counsel for the defense then floated a theory as to why the bullet bounced off the perps forehead. "He was victimized by old ammunition," he said, "just as he was in Korea and again in Vietnam, when his units were issued ammo left over from World War II."
Taylor said nothing in his own defense, choosing instead to allow his peers to debate the matter. After the trial he said the ammunition was indeed old and added the new information that the perp had soiled his pants as he crawled out of the house. "I would have had an even worse mess to clean up if it had gone through his forehead," Taylor said. "It was good for both of us that it didnt."
Following testimony from both sides, Taylor was acquitted of the charges and was given a round of applause. Meanwhile, back in Knox County, the word is out: Dont go messing with Smokey Taylor. He just bought a whole bunch of fresh ammo.
#2
victimized by old ammunition," he said, "just as he was in Korea and again in Vietnam, when his units were issued ammo left over from World War II."
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - "He has died," Dr. Christian Johannes, a member of his medical team, told The Associated Press, adding that Suharto died at 1:10 p.m.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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A shark bit an Australian fisherman's leg so tightly on Sunday that fellow fishermen had to cut its head off to free the man. The shark had just been hauled onto a tuna boat which was fishing 130 nautical miles off Australia's northeast coast, when a fisherman stepped on its tail and it bit him.
"He was fishing with a reel off a boat and caught a mako shark," said Brian Russell from RACQ CareFlight rescue service. "The shark was three meters in length and 90 kgs in weight. They brought it on deck and the man stepped on its tail. The shark whipped around and latched onto his right calf," Russell told Reuters.
That'll teach him not to step on the tail ...
"They couldn't release the shark's jaw, so they had to cut off its head to release the jaws," he said.
The man, who suffered a bite to the bone of his leg, was airlifted to a hospital and is in stable condition.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/27/2008 09:02 ||
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#12 sharks dont atack things bigger than them without a reason. im sure that guy did something to provoke that animal and now its dead.
Posted by muck4doo 2004-2-11 1:42:46 PM|| Front Page|| Top
#13 Inside the head of the Wobbegong
by muck4doo
Whew! I guess that clears it all up. And here I thought it was one of those hate things requiring some group hugs. I wasn't looking forward to that.
As for it being dead, you're right. That hurts me, deeply. I guess we shouldn't respond with violence to violence - and just accept our dhimmitude fate as the main course.
Uh, I don't quite know how to say this... Oh, what the hell:
Are you clinically insane, or just trolling?
Posted by .com 2004-2-11 2:34:16 PM|| Front Page|| Top
LOL! PeeDee came close to losing it. Gawd amighty that was funny.
I remember Lil Dhimmi driving Gentle completely around the bend, good times, good times,
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/27/2008 15:44 Comments ||
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#8
Meow! LOL! No, I actually have mostly black (some salt) hair...except my moustache. That - I color, cuz it would be grey. I think somebody cursed it
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2008 21:52 Comments ||
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A five-legged cat is to undergo surgery to remove a superfluous paw growing from the left side of her body.
The stray was found by a US family in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, and taken to a local animal shelter, where she was named Baby Girl.
The operation will not make her a four-footed feline, as vets also plan to amputate a deformed left hind leg. But staff at the shelter say Baby Girl is already adept at getting around using only 60% of current paw power.
Chrystin Rice, who works at the Washington Area Humane Society, says Baby Girl is in good health as she waits for her operation, scheduled to take place within the next fortnight. "She's a little bit wild, but she is very easy to handle," she said. "The veterinarians who have seen her are just amazed that she has five legs. It's probably from in-breeding." So, she's muslim, is that what you're implying? that's a very bigoted thing to say, you know, it didn't even cross my own mind.
The operation will improve the cat's quality of life, the society says.
So far no one has applied to adopt Baby Girl, although there have been a number of calls to inquire about her progress. But Chrystin Rice says people shouldn't be put off by the extra leg - or the forthcoming lack of one which should be there. "It's actually a really, really nice freak of Nature cat," she said.
ROFL. They make it sound like it is something more than just a cheap room for the night. I have nothing against it, but seems silly to go on and on about how one night and trip to a mosque is going to bridge any major cultural gaps.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
01/27/2008 19:38 ||
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#1
So now every teenage Mexican boy is going to have to bring his 'sister' across the border to sell her body to American soldiers? Border Patrol is going to be swamped. And what's it going to do to re-enlistments if you can get stationed way out there and not even be able to go to Mexico?
#2
Tijuana's close to the same. It's out of control drug and gang anarchy down there right now. Tourists dropped off by 1.5 million visitors, so what does Mexico do? A PR campaign. Idiots. A PR campaign doesn't help when your girlfriend is raped, you're robbed and beaten while on a surfing weekend in Baja
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2008 22:02 Comments ||
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#3
The corruption in Juarez and its police force is historical. No need to put anyone in a position of being a hostage of gangs or the authorities these days with incursion into the US by uniform Mexicans under someone's authority. As for personal relief, Southwest Airlines will have cheap tickets to Vegas, baby.
Islamabad: Bowing to pressure by powerful film distributors, the Pakistan government has finally decided to allow "regular" screening of Indian films in the country's theatres that have been reduced to just 200 from 1,400 in the 1980s. "The proposal for approval is with Prime Minister (Muhammadmian Soomro) and a formal notification can be issued any time," a senior official in the PM's secretariat told IANS.
The official said the caretaker prime minister has yet not seen the recommendations by the standing committee of the senate (upper house of parliament) that has favoured screening of the Indian films. But the PM has been briefed on the proposal. The committee in its meeting held last week in Islamabad finalized and sent its recommendations to the PM for approval.
The film distributors in Pakistan have been lobbying for many years for the screening of Indian movies. Though they succeeded in getting approval for some of the Indian movies in the last two years, it was only on a case-to-case basis.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
01/27/2008 09:25 ||
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#1
This is so sad that in the whole world there are just two countries - India and Pakistan - that make movies in same language but can't screen each other's film," said Gul
Actually there is no ban on Pakistani films in India. The distributors don't take them up because they are not particularly good.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/27/2008 9:33 Comments ||
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#2
Hooray for Bollywood, . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
01/27/2008 21:34 Comments ||
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Nida Welfare Society (NWS), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), is likely to submit another application regarding the implementation of court orders in the case of Safia Ghafoors unregistered nikah to Abbass Azam.
The orders had been issued by the District Sessions Judge (Okara), not to marry nine-year-old Safia to her 35-year-old cousin Abbass (a physically challenged person) till she had attained puberty. Despite that, the bride and groom were still living together, according to NWS chairperson Fouzia Chughtai.
On December 25, 2007, Safia, daughter of Abdul Ghafoor, a resident of Chak 33-1 Al-Akhtarabad, was forced to marry Abbass, to settle a gambling debt. Ghafoor owed gambling money to his sister-in-laws husband, so he wed Sofia to her son as compensation.
On the intervention of the NWS, the court had directed the Shergarh station house officer to recover the minor and produce her in the court. Abdul Ghafoor had confessed to the court that there had been no written nikah and Safia was a minor. He told the court that he had shown a forged birth certificate to the police. On January 11, the court had passed orders that since Safia was only 9, she should not be married to Abbass yet. Fouzia said the NWS would seek the courts help, because Abdul Ghafoor was in contempt of court. She said Abdul Ghafoor should be prosecuted under the relevant provisions of law, as he had not complied with court orders.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 01:25 ||
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#1
I remember seeing one child bride in Pakistan being carried down the road. She was six..?
We all know the story of those 6 soldiers killed in the booby trapped house several weeks ago. More details from their memorial service, including the presence of General Petraus. From Powerline
A friend has sent us the eulogy given by Lt. Col Rod Coffey, Commander 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment (Wolfpack), Diyala Province, Iraq, at the January 22, 2008 memorial ceremony for his six soldiers and one Iraqi interpreter killed in a booby-trapped house in Sinsil, Iraq on January 9, 2008 during Operation Raider Harvest. Col. Coffey spoke to honor the soldiers that died in the operation:
Specialist Todd E. Davis, 22, of Raymore, Mo.;
Staff Sgt. Jonathan K. Dozier, 30, of Rutherford, Tenn.;
Staff Sgt. Sean M. Gaul, 29, of Reno, Nev.;
Sgt. Zachary W. McBride, 20, of Bend, Ore.;
First Sgt. Matthew I. Pionk, 30, of Superior, Wis.; and
Sgt. Christopher A. Sanders, 22, of Roswell, N.M.
Col. Coffey spoke as follows:
Gen Petraus, LTG Odierno, Major General Hertling, BG Boozer, BG Thomas, COL Riscassi, fellow squadron and battalion commanders and command sergeants major;
On behalf of all the soldiers of 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment we thank you for coming to pay tribute to our fallen brothers in arms.
We are here to honor the memory and service of seven men, seven of our brothers in arms.
There is a story about loss in war where one character comments to another, We are ready for the occasional empty chair, the fond farewell for comrades lost. But we are never, never ready for so many.
I cannot, as your commander, in anything I say today diminish the impact of losing these men all at once. In fact because we lost them so quickly, it all seems like a bad dream -- that we will wake up tomorrow and they will all be back again.
Each of us, whether present at the scene that day or not, will remember when we first found out. We will remember our inner anguish when we got up the nerve to ask, Who was it?
Others will recall the steeled strength it took to calmly and professionally report and verify the battle roster numbers, knowing full well we owed them this calmness and professionalism, so their families would be taken care of.
Others of us will never forget rescuing the four wounded that day and getting them to a helicopter as fast as we could. All these things are true. All these things will be seared in our memories. It was a terrible day and we cannot change that.
We are not alone in mere personal grief, or our desire to honor the fallen. The presence of the general officers here is their effort to acknowledge the sacrifice of this unit and the bravery of these men. Although I have not been able to access every news report, the ones I have read indicate the nation supports us, mourns with us and honors the men we have lost in the recon platoon.
The governors of the states of Virginia and Nevada and Wisconsin and Oregon and New Mexico have ordered the flag of the United States of America and the flags of their respective state flags be flown at half-mast on the day of our mens funerals. We are not alone in honoring them. Again, I dont have news stories for all of our men yet but those I have read indicate hundreds have attended their funerals.
And why this reaction? Why hundreds of people at funerals? Why governors issuing decrees for flags to be flown at half mast?
Because we are all in awe of their great sacrifice, courage and devotion to duty and each other. These men, our men, are fallen on the field of battle. Forever more that is their legacy. Their names are now enshrined on the scroll of Americas hallowed dead. And where they died, where they shed their blood, is sacred ground to us.
We still cannot help think why. Why do we have to lose such good men?
Part of the answer is only good men like these volunteer to serve and defend their country. Heres two brief examples of their motivations:
SPC Davis had his car packed and had been admitted to the University of Oklahoma when he changed his mind and decided to enlist in the army. His family believes he did so out of pride for his father who had served in the military and had passed away in 2003. There he was -- the excitement and opportunities of college life and getting a degree ahead of him -- and he heard that call, the call to defend and serve his country. At the last moment he could not go through with the easy choice. He chose the harder life of a soldier in a time of war.
Of SSG Gaul his stepmother noted, Being a soldier was his life. It was what he truly wanted to do.
I could mention every one of them and tell a similar story. I wish I knew more about Roys story, for the courage and guts displayed by our interpreters on a daily basis is an inspiration for us all.
It is still a natural human instinct to ask .But what did they die for? Wasnt it a waste?
There are several answers to that question but the most basic and simple is they died for us. They entered that house so you and I wouldnt have to. At that moment they saw it as their duty to clear that house and they acted with discipline courage and bravery. The character of our fallen heroes in the recon platoon is revealed by the actions of the living that day.
As many of you know they were essentially lured to the house by someone that we later discovered had ties to Al Qaida. One of the members of the platoon, on the roof when the blast occurred and the building collapsed -- and wounded himself -- ran down the local who had had lured them to the house And then when he found him, did nothing more than detain him.
That professionalism, that discipline, that honor and self-sacrifice speaks of extraordinary nobility of character in the entire platoon. Another soldier, the senior squad leader at the scene with calmness and strength took over the role of platoon sergeant as if he had been doing the job for months.
I could go on and on about the enormous character demonstrated by that entire platoon and entire company that day a strength and determination that continues to today.
And then there is the unfeigned determination of the recon platoon. Its not puton. Its not fake. They are not trying to be something they are not and failing to express their emotions about this. But the speed with which they have rebounded and insisted to me that they go out on missions again is awe-inspiring.
I do not know where such men come from, except to say they are the kind of men who have made America great and will continue to preserve it.
The act of going in first, the act of willingly doing your duty in a dangerous environment, is by its very nature an act of heroic self-sacrifice for the sake of others. These men we honor today had that spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty to an awe-inspiring degree.
And so I need to speak of what else they died for, and what I believe our honored dead would now expect of us.
Ill begin by saying what they would not want. They would not wish to be seen as victims of a misguided war, victims of stop loss or victims of anything else for that matter.
We know we are fighting extremism here in a thousand ways. And as the hometown news articles are getting written several of these fallen heroes are on record stating they believed the war in Iraq is a noble cause.
For those who want to support us by getting us out of Iraq as soon as possible, without a victory, I have but one comment. Youre too late. We have sacrificed too much and all we ask of you is the necessary time to finish the job.
Our children and yours, our grandchildren and yours will be safer for it.
This squadron and the formations on its left and right have in the balance sheet of history, already achieved far more than extremist reckless hatred will ever accomplish.
SSG Dozier once asked his father Carl, Is it weird to really want to do this?
His father Carl, filled with pride at what his son had become said "No," "This is what you're trained to do."
On another occasion this brave man, SSG Jonathan Dozier told his father he was prepared to die, But, he said, I dont want to die for nothing.
So I ask you Wolfpack to make this promise with me: SSG Dozier, will not have died for nothing. We owe him a victory. We owe him a win. We owe him our own lives if necessary.
If the enemy comes out to fight he will be met with a disciplined lethal ferocity he has never before endured. If he plays the sly game of intimidating, beheading and torturing the innocent people of Iraq when he thinks were not looking he will be met with a cunning, a sophistication and a relentlessness that will lead to his utter defeat.
This is my promise to you as your commander and from all of us to our honored dead.
#1
This is a fine article about brave men, but, as one of the Powerline commenters points out, it would have been fitting to give the name of the seventh man who died in that house (the "terp.")
Posted by: Matt ||
01/27/2008 13:07 Comments ||
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#2
I could mention every one of them and tell a similar story. I wish I knew more about Roys story, for the courage and guts displayed by our interpreters on a daily basis is an inspiration for us all.
Our milbloggers often mention their "terps" stating they don't give their real names to protect them and their families.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - "He has died," Dr. Christian Johannes, a member of his medical team, told The Associated Press, adding that Suharto died at 1:10 p.m.
A five-legged cat is to undergo surgery to remove a superfluous paw growing from the left side of her body. 
Durban centre plays host to students in bid to beat Islamophobia
Nida Welfare Society (NWS), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), is likely to submit another application regarding the implementation of court orders in the case of Safia Ghafoors unregistered nikah to Abbass Azam. 
