Rusted Sky

The Space Race again.

RIA Novosti - Russia - Russia to send manned mission to the Moon by 2025 - space agency

MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia plans to send cosmonauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent manned base there in 2027-2032, the head of the space agency said Friday.
Anatoly Perminov said that in accordance with Russia's space program through 2040, a manned flight to Mars will be carried out after 2035.

He said that toward the end of this year, Russia will have 103 satellites in orbit, up from the current 95.

I wonder how long it'll be before they stop cooperating with NASA for Space Station supply shots?

J.

The Space Race again.

RIA Novosti - Russia - Russia to send manned mission to the Moon by 2025 - space agency

MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia plans to send cosmonauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent manned base there in 2027-2032, the head of the space agency said Friday.
Anatoly Perminov said that in accordance with Russia's space program through 2040, a manned flight to Mars will be carried out after 2035.

He said that toward the end of this year, Russia will have 103 satellites in orbit, up from the current 95.

I wonder how long it'll be before they stop cooperating with NASA for Space Station supply shots?

J.

But the sheer stupidity of the spectators is astonishing.

Rule 1: If you've got a suspected bomb, GET AWAY before anyone opens it up! And WAIT for the EOD folks to arrive!

Rule 2: Before EOD folks work on something, GET AWAY, or if you just HAVE to watch, put in a remote camera and GET AWAY, preferably behind something heavy and blast-proof.

Rule 3. If all your buddies are crowding around to watch the EOD guy open up a suspected bomb, STAY AWAY!

After all, SOMEONE needs to tell their next of kin what happened.

J.

But the sheer stupidity of the spectators is astonishing.

Rule 1: If you've got a suspected bomb, GET AWAY before anyone opens it up! And WAIT for the EOD folks to arrive!

Rule 2: Before EOD folks work on something, GET AWAY, or if you just HAVE to watch, put in a remote camera and GET AWAY, preferably behind something heavy and blast-proof.

Rule 3. If all your buddies are crowding around to watch the EOD guy open up a suspected bomb, STAY AWAY!

After all, SOMEONE needs to tell their next of kin what happened.

J.

Let's see. If I were a dedicated Republican, I should be feeling... what?

The Associated Press: GOP Officials: Craig to Resign Saturday

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig's decision to quit spares his party the embarrassment of an indefinitely prolonged scandal following his arrest during a sex sting in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

Craig will announce his resignation, effective Sept. 30, at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning, GOP officials in Idaho and Washington told The Associated Press.

A good while back, I figured out that what goes on between two people (either of the same or opposite genders) in private is between THEM, and none of my business. Unless and until THEY decide to make it something that I have to pay attention to. Which is why I'm moderately bored and disgusted with celebrity shennanigans, and tired of sex scandals from both sides of the political board.

One thing I expect from an adult is the ability to refrain from impulsive, STUPID behavior. And also to show sufficient integrity to NOT indulge themselves in behavior that would discredit the work that they're attempting to do. If you're in a high-visibility position, you should act like you're being watched and judged 24/7/365, not go trolling in bathrooms for a quickie.

Now, if I were of a heavy political, moralistic bent, I suppose I should be up in arms about the actions of Sen. Craig. I should be so offended by his stupidity that I'd cross any Republican off my list of potential votes. This would mean, I suppose, that I'd either vote for one-off candidates from the Green or Libertarian or other No-Chance-In-Hell faction, which would give Democrats an advantage.

So, the Dems will make great political hay out of this to feed their Donkeys.

But I don't work that way. Sex scandal? Like I said - no biggie in my book. There are issues far more important to me than little bits and pieces of personal embarrasment. The issue which is of overwhelming, primary concern right now is the WoT. ALL else is of secondary importance. I'm not concerned with government support of stem cell research, I'm not obsessed with global warming and what the government should do about it, I'm not concerned about abortion or the morality and legality thereof - though after the little guy was born I'm seeing it much more as a sad thing, it's in the end a matter of personal choice.

I'm moderately concerned about a loss of freedoms - but those freedoms aren't the ones that liberals seem concerned with. I have no qualms about government tapping of suspected terrorists. I have no problems with profiling to help detect potential terrorists. I DO have a problem with the censorship of ideas - and it seems that the left (with their insistance that there be no potential cultural offense regarding Islam) is pushing hard on that.

A quick aside on that - have you noticed that there's been no real war movies in the last 5 years? It's hard to produce a war movie when you can't name the nationality, ethnicity or religion of the enemy you're fighting. After all, you don't want to offend anyone.

What the heck - this is stretching on a bit. May as well close with some song lyrics, that seem kind of relevant.

Steely Dan - Reeling In The Years

Your everlastin' summer, you can see it fadin' fast
So you grab a piece of somethin' that you think is gonna last
Well, you wouldn't even know a diamond if you held it in your hand
The things you think are precious I can't understand

(refrain)

Are you reelin' in the years, stowin' away the time
Are you gatherin' up the tears, have you had enough of mine
Are you reelin' in the years, stowin' away the time
Are you gatherin' up the tears, have you had enough of mine

You've been tellin' me you're a genius since you were seventeen
In all the time I've known you, I still don't know what you mean
The weekend at the college didn't turn out like you planned
The things that pass for knowledge, I can't understand

(refrain)

I spent a lot of money and I spent a lot of time
The trip we made to Hollywood is still etched upon my mind
After all the things we've done and seen you find another man
The things you think are useless I can't understand

(refrain)

The things you think are precious I can't understand

The things you think are useless I can't understand

As a culture we've tossed out a lot of things in the last 40, 50 years. Perhaps we jettisoned a lot of useless baggage and outmoded ideas, maybe some of the things we tossed had a utility that we're starting to realize. The older I get, the more I realize that a lack of boundaries for acceptable public behavior isn't freedom, it's anarchy.

When you have no direction, any random way is good enough. And for a politician, polls provide at least SOME direction. The endless summer of the Dems is fading - they have nothing except polls to tell them which way to go. They follow those, get a brief spike in support, and then realize their polling hasn't done them much good. Even Reid is starting to backtrack on his "The War Is Lost!" meme, which will infuriate the 'Reality-based' crowd.

The Democrats' time is fading, as is big-L Liberalism and 'Progressive' thinking - which seems much more involved in keeping a status quo of victimhood than erasing differences.

Reality can only be ignored for so long. And I'm supposed to be offended by stupid actions by a Congressman looking for love in all the wrong places...

Yawn.

J.

Let's see. If I were a dedicated Republican, I should be feeling... what?

The Associated Press: GOP Officials: Craig to Resign Saturday

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig's decision to quit spares his party the embarrassment of an indefinitely prolonged scandal following his arrest during a sex sting in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

Craig will announce his resignation, effective Sept. 30, at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning, GOP officials in Idaho and Washington told The Associated Press.

A good while back, I figured out that what goes on between two people (either of the same or opposite genders) in private is between THEM, and none of my business. Unless and until THEY decide to make it something that I have to pay attention to. Which is why I'm moderately bored and disgusted with celebrity shennanigans, and tired of sex scandals from both sides of the political board.

One thing I expect from an adult is the ability to refrain from impulsive, STUPID behavior. And also to show sufficient integrity to NOT indulge themselves in behavior that would discredit the work that they're attempting to do. If you're in a high-visibility position, you should act like you're being watched and judged 24/7/365, not go trolling in bathrooms for a quickie.

Now, if I were of a heavy political, moralistic bent, I suppose I should be up in arms about the actions of Sen. Craig. I should be so offended by his stupidity that I'd cross any Republican off my list of potential votes. This would mean, I suppose, that I'd either vote for one-off candidates from the Green or Libertarian or other No-Chance-In-Hell faction, which would give Democrats an advantage.

So, the Dems will make great political hay out of this to feed their Donkeys.

But I don't work that way. Sex scandal? Like I said - no biggie in my book. There are issues far more important to me than little bits and pieces of personal embarrasment. The issue which is of overwhelming, primary concern right now is the WoT. ALL else is of secondary importance. I'm not concerned with government support of stem cell research, I'm not obsessed with global warming and what the government should do about it, I'm not concerned about abortion or the morality and legality thereof - though after the little guy was born I'm seeing it much more as a sad thing, it's in the end a matter of personal choice.

I'm moderately concerned about a loss of freedoms - but those freedoms aren't the ones that liberals seem concerned with. I have no qualms about government tapping of suspected terrorists. I have no problems with profiling to help detect potential terrorists. I DO have a problem with the censorship of ideas - and it seems that the left (with their insistance that there be no potential cultural offense regarding Islam) is pushing hard on that.

A quick aside on that - have you noticed that there's been no real war movies in the last 5 years? It's hard to produce a war movie when you can't name the nationality, ethnicity or religion of the enemy you're fighting. After all, you don't want to offend anyone.

What the heck - this is stretching on a bit. May as well close with some song lyrics, that seem kind of relevant.

Steely Dan - Reeling In The Years

Your everlastin' summer, you can see it fadin' fast
So you grab a piece of somethin' that you think is gonna last
Well, you wouldn't even know a diamond if you held it in your hand
The things you think are precious I can't understand

(refrain)

Are you reelin' in the years, stowin' away the time
Are you gatherin' up the tears, have you had enough of mine
Are you reelin' in the years, stowin' away the time
Are you gatherin' up the tears, have you had enough of mine

You've been tellin' me you're a genius since you were seventeen
In all the time I've known you, I still don't know what you mean
The weekend at the college didn't turn out like you planned
The things that pass for knowledge, I can't understand

(refrain)

I spent a lot of money and I spent a lot of time
The trip we made to Hollywood is still etched upon my mind
After all the things we've done and seen you find another man
The things you think are useless I can't understand

(refrain)

The things you think are precious I can't understand

The things you think are useless I can't understand

As a culture we've tossed out a lot of things in the last 40, 50 years. Perhaps we jettisoned a lot of useless baggage and outmoded ideas, maybe some of the things we tossed had a utility that we're starting to realize. The older I get, the more I realize that a lack of boundaries for acceptable public behavior isn't freedom, it's anarchy.

When you have no direction, any random way is good enough. And for a politician, polls provide at least SOME direction. The endless summer of the Dems is fading - they have nothing except polls to tell them which way to go. They follow those, get a brief spike in support, and then realize their polling hasn't done them much good. Even Reid is starting to backtrack on his "The War Is Lost!" meme, which will infuriate the 'Reality-based' crowd.

The Democrats' time is fading, as is big-L Liberalism and 'Progressive' thinking - which seems much more involved in keeping a status quo of victimhood than erasing differences.

Reality can only be ignored for so long. And I'm supposed to be offended by stupid actions by a Congressman looking for love in all the wrong places...

Yawn.

J.

U.S.: NKorea to Declare Nuclear Programs

GENEVA (AP) - North Korea agreed Sunday to account for and disable its atomic programs by the end of the year, offering its first timeline for a process long sought by nuclear negotiators, the chief U.S. envoy said.

Kim Gye Gwan, head of the North Korean delegation, said separately his country's willingness to cooperate was clear—in return for "political and economic compensation"—but he mentioned no dates.

Well, I've lost stuff in my closet too. Guess I shouldn't be too critical, eh?

I wonder how this'll play in thirty-forty years? Bush screwed things up completely? Or he called the play right, and the play in Iraq, also?

I'm starting to think Bush's critics ought to be seen as contrarian indicators. So far, he's called it right on the economy, and in my opinion the war on Iraq. (Yeah, there's been mistakes. It's a war. Mistakes happen. Expensive ones. It sucks. That's war.) When they're bitching, he's doing the right thing. When they STOP bitching - we'll be in trouble.

Like it or not, he's had ideas and plans. Whether they're right or not - that's as may be and the historians can fight it out for the next century. He's had the courage to act on his beliefs - which got plenty of derision. After all, what's more important - a vision for the future and the courage to act on it, or following the poll numbers and changing direction based on those?

There's two different, general groupings I can see politically at this time. The first are the theorists. They know what they want for the future, and they've got all sorts of great theories about how they'll get the things accomplished ... once they're in power and have control of the situation. They love their theories. Shining, pefect, glossy theories that are unsoiled by human variables, just waiting to be implemented. Who just can't understand why people could possibly be against their proposals - after all, they're for the good of all - and if they need to be forcibly implemented - well, it for everyone's good so why gripe about it?

The second are the realists (which aren't to be confused with 'reality based' by any stretch of the imagination) who understand it's real damn hard to get anything done in a country of 300 million individuals, all with their OWN ideas about how the country should be run. Who will accept incremental progress, who know that you cannot herd cats, but you can lead them. Who will, unfortunately, let themselves be derailed by the theorists on some issues (like Social Security Reform) and have communication skills that are decidedly below par when it comes to actually communicating what they're trying to accomplish and their reasoning for it.

I'll take the side that can actually deal with reality, flawed and imperfect as it may be, that will attempt to overcome problems that crop up by coming up with realistic solutions than a side which will attempt to implement flawed or unworkable theories and descend into political paralysis when they don't work as expected.

J.

U.S.: NKorea to Declare Nuclear Programs

GENEVA (AP) - North Korea agreed Sunday to account for and disable its atomic programs by the end of the year, offering its first timeline for a process long sought by nuclear negotiators, the chief U.S. envoy said.

Kim Gye Gwan, head of the North Korean delegation, said separately his country's willingness to cooperate was clear—in return for "political and economic compensation"—but he mentioned no dates.

Well, I've lost stuff in my closet too. Guess I shouldn't be too critical, eh?

I wonder how this'll play in thirty-forty years? Bush screwed things up completely? Or he called the play right, and the play in Iraq, also?

I'm starting to think Bush's critics ought to be seen as contrarian indicators. So far, he's called it right on the economy, and in my opinion the war on Iraq. (Yeah, there's been mistakes. It's a war. Mistakes happen. Expensive ones. It sucks. That's war.) When they're bitching, he's doing the right thing. When they STOP bitching - we'll be in trouble.

Like it or not, he's had ideas and plans. Whether they're right or not - that's as may be and the historians can fight it out for the next century. He's had the courage to act on his beliefs - which got plenty of derision. After all, what's more important - a vision for the future and the courage to act on it, or following the poll numbers and changing direction based on those?

There's two different, general groupings I can see politically at this time. The first are the theorists. They know what they want for the future, and they've got all sorts of great theories about how they'll get the things accomplished ... once they're in power and have control of the situation. They love their theories. Shining, pefect, glossy theories that are unsoiled by human variables, just waiting to be implemented. Who just can't understand why people could possibly be against their proposals - after all, they're for the good of all - and if they need to be forcibly implemented - well, it for everyone's good so why gripe about it?

The second are the realists (which aren't to be confused with 'reality based' by any stretch of the imagination) who understand it's real damn hard to get anything done in a country of 300 million individuals, all with their OWN ideas about how the country should be run. Who will accept incremental progress, who know that you cannot herd cats, but you can lead them. Who will, unfortunately, let themselves be derailed by the theorists on some issues (like Social Security Reform) and have communication skills that are decidedly below par when it comes to actually communicating what they're trying to accomplish and their reasoning for it.

I'll take the side that can actually deal with reality, flawed and imperfect as it may be, that will attempt to overcome problems that crop up by coming up with realistic solutions than a side which will attempt to implement flawed or unworkable theories and descend into political paralysis when they don't work as expected.

J.

Go VHERE you are told VEN you are told! It is vor your own GUUT!

Edwards backs mandatory preventive care - Yahoo! News

TIPTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.

"It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care," he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. "If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK."

Edwards said his mandatory health care plan would cover preventive, chronic and long-term health care. The plan would include mental health care as well as dental and vision coverage for all Americans.

"The whole idea is a continuum of care, basically from birth to death," he said.

But we can end Bush's tax cuts. That'll pay for it! Soak the rich, and watch unemployment rise - so people will NEED their free health care!

Go back to your SUVs, Senator. We've had this proposed before, and the numbers didn't work then either. What did you do, dig into the archives and dust off HillaryCare?

Man, I just love the Dem's sense of humor. All we've got to do is put THEM in complete control of our lives, abdicate all choice, drive what they want us to drive, eat what they tell us, go to the doctors they tell us, and everyone will be happy and healthy and everything will be beautiful and clean and all will be equal.

Just remember, though, that next time Al Gore jets off to recommend to a crowd of synchophants that they dump their cars and ride bicycles that SOME animals are more equal than OTHERS...

J.

Go VHERE you are told VEN you are told! It is vor your own GUUT!

Edwards backs mandatory preventive care - Yahoo! News

TIPTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.

"It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care," he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. "If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK."

Edwards said his mandatory health care plan would cover preventive, chronic and long-term health care. The plan would include mental health care as well as dental and vision coverage for all Americans.

"The whole idea is a continuum of care, basically from birth to death," he said.

But we can end Bush's tax cuts. That'll pay for it! Soak the rich, and watch unemployment rise - so people will NEED their free health care!

Go back to your SUVs, Senator. We've had this proposed before, and the numbers didn't work then either. What did you do, dig into the archives and dust off HillaryCare?

Man, I just love the Dem's sense of humor. All we've got to do is put THEM in complete control of our lives, abdicate all choice, drive what they want us to drive, eat what they tell us, go to the doctors they tell us, and everyone will be happy and healthy and everything will be beautiful and clean and all will be equal.

Just remember, though, that next time Al Gore jets off to recommend to a crowd of synchophants that they dump their cars and ride bicycles that SOME animals are more equal than OTHERS...

J.

Give Up Your SUV -- And Other Nauseating Hypocrisy | Editorial Blog at Motor Trend

You can't make this stuff up, folks. Last week, during a speech to a labor group in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told the crowd: "One of the things [Americans] should be asked to do is drive more fuel-efficient vehicles." Asked if by saying that he was specifically telling Americans to give up their SUVs, Edwards replied, "Yes."

It's a wonder we Americans haven't choked to death on all the hypocrisy we've been force-fed of late. Naturally, Edwards owns and drives an SUV himself -- several, in fact. In Washington D.C. he often pilots his Cadillac SRX, while at his North Carolina spread -- a 28,000-square-foot manse more than ten times the size of the average American home -- one can easily spot several more those-aren't-Priuses (click to enlarge accompanying photo). Asked at the labor-group speech how he can reconcile asking other Americans to sacrifice while he's living so large, Edwards replied: "I have no apologies whatsoever for what I've done with my life. My entire life has been about the same cause, which is making sure wherever you come from, whatever your family is, whatever the color of your skin, you get a real chance to do something great in this country."

Translation: "I get to do something I call great (make millions off class-action lawsuits, buy a leviathan house and big cars for my family, and pamper my hair), but your 'real chance' ends with buying a transportation device that I've decided may affect the future of my precious spawn."

By the way, Motor Trend isn't exactly notable for their political bias. They DO tend, however to be critical of stuff that doesn't work. That's their job, after all.

J.

Give Up Your SUV -- And Other Nauseating Hypocrisy | Editorial Blog at Motor Trend

You can't make this stuff up, folks. Last week, during a speech to a labor group in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told the crowd: "One of the things [Americans] should be asked to do is drive more fuel-efficient vehicles." Asked if by saying that he was specifically telling Americans to give up their SUVs, Edwards replied, "Yes."

It's a wonder we Americans haven't choked to death on all the hypocrisy we've been force-fed of late. Naturally, Edwards owns and drives an SUV himself -- several, in fact. In Washington D.C. he often pilots his Cadillac SRX, while at his North Carolina spread -- a 28,000-square-foot manse more than ten times the size of the average American home -- one can easily spot several more those-aren't-Priuses (click to enlarge accompanying photo). Asked at the labor-group speech how he can reconcile asking other Americans to sacrifice while he's living so large, Edwards replied: "I have no apologies whatsoever for what I've done with my life. My entire life has been about the same cause, which is making sure wherever you come from, whatever your family is, whatever the color of your skin, you get a real chance to do something great in this country."

Translation: "I get to do something I call great (make millions off class-action lawsuits, buy a leviathan house and big cars for my family, and pamper my hair), but your 'real chance' ends with buying a transportation device that I've decided may affect the future of my precious spawn."

By the way, Motor Trend isn't exactly notable for their political bias. They DO tend, however to be critical of stuff that doesn't work. That's their job, after all.

J.

If Edwards gets elected (God forbid) and implements his 'health care' plan, will we see things like this?

Threat to take new-born over emotional abuse - Telegraph

A pregnant woman has been told that her baby will be taken from her at birth because she is deemed capable of "emotional abuse", even though psychiatrists treating her say there is no evidence to suggest that she will harm her child in any way.

Social services' recommendation that the baby should be taken from Fran Lyon, a 22-year-old charity worker who has five A-levels and a degree in neuroscience, was based in part on a letter from a paediatrician she has never met.

Hexham children's services, part of Northumberland County Council, said the decision had been made because Miss Lyon was likely to suffer from Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy, a condition unproven by science in which a mother will make up an illness in her child, or harm it, to draw attention to herself.

Under the plan, a doctor will hand the newborn to a social worker, provided there are no medical complications. Social services' request for an emergency protection order - these are usually granted - will be heard in secret in the family court at Hexham magistrates on the same day.

......

"The paediatrician has never met me," she said. "He is not a psychiatrist and cannot possibly make assertions about my current or future mental health. Yet his letter was the only one considered in the case conference on August 16 which lasted just 10 minutes."

Northumberland County Council insists that two highly experienced doctors - another consultant paediatrician and a medical consultant - attended the case conference.

The case adds to growing concern, highlighted in a series of articles in The Sunday Telegraph, over a huge rise in the number of babies under a year old being taken from parents. The figure was 2,000 last year, three times the number 10 years ago.

Critics say councils are taking more babies from parents to help them meet adoption "targets".

I know there's been black humor jokes about needing a license before you have kids - but this is just plain unbelieveable. She's already been condemned as an unfit parent, before the child is even born. Appeals are ongoing... but man, if this isn't a case of bureacratic overload, I don't know what is.

J.

If Edwards gets elected (God forbid) and implements his 'health care' plan, will we see things like this?

Threat to take new-born over emotional abuse - Telegraph

A pregnant woman has been told that her baby will be taken from her at birth because she is deemed capable of "emotional abuse", even though psychiatrists treating her say there is no evidence to suggest that she will harm her child in any way.

Social services' recommendation that the baby should be taken from Fran Lyon, a 22-year-old charity worker who has five A-levels and a degree in neuroscience, was based in part on a letter from a paediatrician she has never met.

Hexham children's services, part of Northumberland County Council, said the decision had been made because Miss Lyon was likely to suffer from Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy, a condition unproven by science in which a mother will make up an illness in her child, or harm it, to draw attention to herself.

Under the plan, a doctor will hand the newborn to a social worker, provided there are no medical complications. Social services' request for an emergency protection order - these are usually granted - will be heard in secret in the family court at Hexham magistrates on the same day.

......

"The paediatrician has never met me," she said. "He is not a psychiatrist and cannot possibly make assertions about my current or future mental health. Yet his letter was the only one considered in the case conference on August 16 which lasted just 10 minutes."

Northumberland County Council insists that two highly experienced doctors - another consultant paediatrician and a medical consultant - attended the case conference.

The case adds to growing concern, highlighted in a series of articles in The Sunday Telegraph, over a huge rise in the number of babies under a year old being taken from parents. The figure was 2,000 last year, three times the number 10 years ago.

Critics say councils are taking more babies from parents to help them meet adoption "targets".

I know there's been black humor jokes about needing a license before you have kids - but this is just plain unbelieveable. She's already been condemned as an unfit parent, before the child is even born. Appeals are ongoing... but man, if this isn't a case of bureacratic overload, I don't know what is.

J.

Down in Rusted Sky: Makes you wonder..., SueK makes the comment that we've got too many lawyers.

We're reaching the point in the US, I think, where the system has become a game with a lawyer's win is more important than society's stability. We have lawyers making laws that other lawyers then find ways to outwit - in fact, it seems as if those who make the laws deliberately make them with loopholes that they themselves can later use to their benefit.

They're the only ones who understand it - and they're the ones who interpret it - and is it much wonder that they're heavy into politics?

There's an old song by Tom Paxton...

Paxton Tom - One Million Lawyers Lyrics

ONE MILLION LAWYERS
by Tom Paxton

Humankind has survived some disasters, I'm sure.
Like locusts and flash floods and flu.
There's never a moment when we've been secure
From the ills that the flesh is heir to.
If it isn't a war, it's some gruesome disease.
If it isn't disease, then it's war.
But there's worse still to come, and I'm asking you please
How the world's gonna take any more?

(CHORUS:)

In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?

The world shook with dread of Atilla the Hun
As he conquered with fire and steel,
And Genghis and Kubla and all of the Kahns
Ground a groaning world under the heel.
Disaster, disaster, so what else is new?
We've suffered the worst and then some.
So I'm sorry to tell you, my suffering friends,
Of the terrible scourge still to come.

(CHORUS)

(BREAK:)

Oh, a suffering world cries for mercy
As far as the eye can see.
Lawyers around every bend in the road,
Laywers in every tree,
Lawyers in restaurants, lawyers in clubs,
Lawyers behind every door,
Behind windows and potted plants, shade trees and shrubs,
Lawyers on pogo sticks, lawyers in politics!

(CHORUS)

In spring there's tornadoes and rampaging floods,
In summer it's heat stroke and draught.
There's Ivy League football to ruin the fall,
It's a terrible scourge, without doubt.
There are blizzards to batter the shivering plain.
There are dust storms that strike, but far worse
Is the threat of disaster to shrivel the brain,
It's the threat of implacable curse.

In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?
How much can a poor nation stand

Maybe we've got too many. WAY too many.

J.

Down in Rusted Sky: Makes you wonder..., SueK makes the comment that we've got too many lawyers.

We're reaching the point in the US, I think, where the system has become a game with a lawyer's win is more important than society's stability. We have lawyers making laws that other lawyers then find ways to outwit - in fact, it seems as if those who make the laws deliberately make them with loopholes that they themselves can later use to their benefit.

They're the only ones who understand it - and they're the ones who interpret it - and is it much wonder that they're heavy into politics?

There's an old song by Tom Paxton...

Paxton Tom - One Million Lawyers Lyrics

ONE MILLION LAWYERS
by Tom Paxton

Humankind has survived some disasters, I'm sure.
Like locusts and flash floods and flu.
There's never a moment when we've been secure
From the ills that the flesh is heir to.
If it isn't a war, it's some gruesome disease.
If it isn't disease, then it's war.
But there's worse still to come, and I'm asking you please
How the world's gonna take any more?

(CHORUS:)

In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?

The world shook with dread of Atilla the Hun
As he conquered with fire and steel,
And Genghis and Kubla and all of the Kahns
Ground a groaning world under the heel.
Disaster, disaster, so what else is new?
We've suffered the worst and then some.
So I'm sorry to tell you, my suffering friends,
Of the terrible scourge still to come.

(CHORUS)

(BREAK:)

Oh, a suffering world cries for mercy
As far as the eye can see.
Lawyers around every bend in the road,
Laywers in every tree,
Lawyers in restaurants, lawyers in clubs,
Lawyers behind every door,
Behind windows and potted plants, shade trees and shrubs,
Lawyers on pogo sticks, lawyers in politics!

(CHORUS)

In spring there's tornadoes and rampaging floods,
In summer it's heat stroke and draught.
There's Ivy League football to ruin the fall,
It's a terrible scourge, without doubt.
There are blizzards to batter the shivering plain.
There are dust storms that strike, but far worse
Is the threat of disaster to shrivel the brain,
It's the threat of implacable curse.

In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?
How much can a poor nation stand

Maybe we've got too many. WAY too many.

J.

B-52 mistakenly carried nuclear warheads from N.D. to Louisiana

They were cruise missiles, heading for the breakers - but apparently nobody removed the warheads from them. (For what it's worth, the warhead is embedded in the cruise missile, and not right at the front - which is where the radar system is. Hey, it's five feet back from the front, travelling at 600+ MPH. If it goes off, you won't notice any real delay at all..)

Very sloppy work. If I were in that Wing, especially if I handled munitions, ESPECIALLY if I handled nukes, I'd be sweating like anything right now. You don't just misplace 5 warheads, unless the culture in that shop is exceedingly lax and careless. And where something big like this happens, there's a lot of smaller indicators leading up to it. Someone's head is going to roll for this.

But there's no possibility of the warheads being dropped and going off. Breaking apart is a possibility, but then you've got stuff scattered about that's easier to clean up than a lot of chemical spills. You might even have a low-order explosion, but you won't get a nuclear yeild. Nukes are hard enough to get to blow properly when EVERYTHING goes right - if the Permissive Action Link hasn't been properly set, it ain't gonna go off in an earth-shattering Ka-Boom.

But I'll bet ya that the folks in the shop that pulled those cruise missiles out of the secure area and passed them over without checking to see if the nukes were still installed are looking at the end of their careers. All the services take nuclear safety VERY seriously, and a careless screw-up like this is a career killer.

And it SHOULD be.

J.

B-52 mistakenly carried nuclear warheads from N.D. to Louisiana

They were cruise missiles, heading for the breakers - but apparently nobody removed the warheads from them. (For what it's worth, the warhead is embedded in the cruise missile, and not right at the front - which is where the radar system is. Hey, it's five feet back from the front, travelling at 600+ MPH. If it goes off, you won't notice any real delay at all..)

Very sloppy work. If I were in that Wing, especially if I handled munitions, ESPECIALLY if I handled nukes, I'd be sweating like anything right now. You don't just misplace 5 warheads, unless the culture in that shop is exceedingly lax and careless. And where something big like this happens, there's a lot of smaller indicators leading up to it. Someone's head is going to roll for this.

But there's no possibility of the warheads being dropped and going off. Breaking apart is a possibility, but then you've got stuff scattered about that's easier to clean up than a lot of chemical spills. You might even have a low-order explosion, but you won't get a nuclear yeild. Nukes are hard enough to get to blow properly when EVERYTHING goes right - if the Permissive Action Link hasn't been properly set, it ain't gonna go off in an earth-shattering Ka-Boom.

But I'll bet ya that the folks in the shop that pulled those cruise missiles out of the secure area and passed them over without checking to see if the nukes were still installed are looking at the end of their careers. All the services take nuclear safety VERY seriously, and a careless screw-up like this is a career killer.

And it SHOULD be.

J.

Unfortunately, I'm observant on details on things I see in tv series. I've been watching Battlestar Galactica episodes, and enjoying them quite a bit... once you get past the idea that the alien culture they have somehow has a lot of things that could be found in our contemporary time. I've noticed US military field phones of various types and configurations, inflatable tents, a grasshopper oil pump and lots of antique electronics. In "Stargate - SG1" I've seen a fair amount of IKEA furniture, and in Stargate Atlantis it's surprising the amount of old TVs you find, as well as obsolete radio gear.

Now, I realize a lot of the hardware is pretty exotic to folks who haven't seen it before - and when your idea of something pretty neat is an IPhone then it's obvious that something pretty amazing and exotic must be in that large box with all the dials on it.

But occasionally I run across something that's just plain funny. In an episode of Battlestar Galactica, in a tense firefight scene, I briefly got a good glimpse of a scope mounted on top of a rifle. A little bit of searching - and it turns out it's an Elcan.. Okay, I'll accept the premise that these guys are humans, searching for the lost trible that moved to Earth. I'll accept the idea that technologies will develop to fit the need, and I'll even accept the idea that firearms are gonna look pretty similar. After all, there seem only so many ways you can develop something that chemically propells projectiles. (Um, that actually WORK. The Gyrojet was something different, but it just didn't work well enough.) And given human physiology, there's only so many ways you can configure handguns and rifles.

But you ain't gonna convince me that light-years away, they developed a company that produced a scope with the same name using the same model numbers. That's just stretching things TOO far!

J.

Unfortunately, I'm observant on details on things I see in tv series. I've been watching Battlestar Galactica episodes, and enjoying them quite a bit... once you get past the idea that the alien culture they have somehow has a lot of things that could be found in our contemporary time. I've noticed US military field phones of various types and configurations, inflatable tents, a grasshopper oil pump and lots of antique electronics. In "Stargate - SG1" I've seen a fair amount of IKEA furniture, and in Stargate Atlantis it's surprising the amount of old TVs you find, as well as obsolete radio gear.

Now, I realize a lot of the hardware is pretty exotic to folks who haven't seen it before - and when your idea of something pretty neat is an IPhone then it's obvious that something pretty amazing and exotic must be in that large box with all the dials on it.

But occasionally I run across something that's just plain funny. In an episode of Battlestar Galactica, in a tense firefight scene, I briefly got a good glimpse of a scope mounted on top of a rifle. A little bit of searching - and it turns out it's an Elcan.. Okay, I'll accept the premise that these guys are humans, searching for the lost trible that moved to Earth. I'll accept the idea that technologies will develop to fit the need, and I'll even accept the idea that firearms are gonna look pretty similar. After all, there seem only so many ways you can develop something that chemically propells projectiles. (Um, that actually WORK. The Gyrojet was something different, but it just didn't work well enough.) And given human physiology, there's only so many ways you can configure handguns and rifles.

But you ain't gonna convince me that light-years away, they developed a company that produced a scope with the same name using the same model numbers. That's just stretching things TOO far!

J.

I'm gonna have to start paying her.

SueK points out in Part of the Problem that the emphasis in the legal system is on WINNING - not on actually making sure justice is done. In a story she points up at Newsmax concerning the Haditha trials, apparently the prosecution took 8 to 10 hours of drone coverage and edited it down to about one hour.

The Marine intelligence officer who monitored the Scan Eagle’s video transmissions throughout the day told NewsMax that there was continuous video feed from the Scan Eagle for 8 to 10 hours. Yet barely an hour of it was provided to the Marines' defense teams by the prosecution or the Naval Criminal Investigation Service.

“Someone, under the supervision of NCIS, screened this video feed, and made the conscious decision to preserve only four segments of approximately 15 minutes each – according to the defense attorneys who received it upon discovery release,” our intelligence source confided.

“This 8 to 10 hours, viewed in its entirety, shows men in black, with weapons, fleeing the neighborhood of houses 1, 2, 3 and 4 [the area where the civilians and eight of the insurgents were killed]. It follows their route as they meet up with other insurgents throughout the city. It clearly demonstrates the magnitude of the insurgents’ organization, skill, and timing in attacking Marines.”

The video, he recalled, “shows them parking, exiting the vehicle, and entering the housing complex. It shows Marines assaulting the building, insurgents fleeing out the back of the building, and Marines falling back from the assault as the insurgents defend the house.”

Finally, the intelligence officer revealed, the full, undoctored Scan Eagle video “shows an insurgent, at the end of the day, under continuous observation from the air and under continuous pursuit and fire, emerge from a family's home holding their children hostage, in order to protect himself from further air strikes.”

From this article, it looks like there was a hell of a lot of creative editing going on. The facts be damned, the truth is irrelevant. They were playing a game - the objective of which was to get as many convictions as possible. The consequences to the Marines involved didn't matter. The effect on morale, on how the US military was seen on the world stage, on whether their promotion of the 'Haditha Massacre' meme helped the bad guys - that wasn't important at all. The game was all.

I'm not saying we need a star chamber atmosphere, with everything hidden. If Marines do something wrong, they need to be accountable for it. But fighting a war isn't the same thing as fighting a bunch of bank robbers, and Marines aren't policemen who are going to try to keep innocents from being hurt even if it means the bad guys get away. War is NOT clean and sanitary and unambiguious. It never has been.

From a lot of evidence, the Marines did what they were trained to do, and what they should have done. To second-guess every move made in wartime and measure it against the standards of a peacetime military, that way lies madness.

When reporting issues like this, what we need is honesty and the complete story, not some carefully edited version that'll promote the prosecution's side of things. I guess it's too much to expect of the press that they'll be willing to give soldiers the benefit of the doubt, and see them as innocent until proven guilty. After all, how are they going to get good ratings unless there's sensational news to report? And what's better than the US military going bad?

As SueK says.. "...the focus has become one of the individual winning, not on justice" - and that's a real bad sign for all of us.

J.

I'm gonna have to start paying her.

SueK points out in Part of the Problem that the emphasis in the legal system is on WINNING - not on actually making sure justice is done. In a story she points up at Newsmax concerning the Haditha trials, apparently the prosecution took 8 to 10 hours of drone coverage and edited it down to about one hour.

The Marine intelligence officer who monitored the Scan Eagle’s video transmissions throughout the day told NewsMax that there was continuous video feed from the Scan Eagle for 8 to 10 hours. Yet barely an hour of it was provided to the Marines' defense teams by the prosecution or the Naval Criminal Investigation Service.

“Someone, under the supervision of NCIS, screened this video feed, and made the conscious decision to preserve only four segments of approximately 15 minutes each – according to the defense attorneys who received it upon discovery release,” our intelligence source confided.

“This 8 to 10 hours, viewed in its entirety, shows men in black, with weapons, fleeing the neighborhood of houses 1, 2, 3 and 4 [the area where the civilians and eight of the insurgents were killed]. It follows their route as they meet up with other insurgents throughout the city. It clearly demonstrates the magnitude of the insurgents’ organization, skill, and timing in attacking Marines.”

The video, he recalled, “shows them parking, exiting the vehicle, and entering the housing complex. It shows Marines assaulting the building, insurgents fleeing out the back of the building, and Marines falling back from the assault as the insurgents defend the house.”

Finally, the intelligence officer revealed, the full, undoctored Scan Eagle video “shows an insurgent, at the end of the day, under continuous observation from the air and under continuous pursuit and fire, emerge from a family's home holding their children hostage, in order to protect himself from further air strikes.”

From this article, it looks like there was a hell of a lot of creative editing going on. The facts be damned, the truth is irrelevant. They were playing a game - the objective of which was to get as many convictions as possible. The consequences to the Marines involved didn't matter. The effect on morale, on how the US military was seen on the world stage, on whether their promotion of the 'Haditha Massacre' meme helped the bad guys - that wasn't important at all. The game was all.

I'm not saying we need a star chamber atmosphere, with everything hidden. If Marines do something wrong, they need to be accountable for it. But fighting a war isn't the same thing as fighting a bunch of bank robbers, and Marines aren't policemen who are going to try to keep innocents from being hurt even if it means the bad guys get away. War is NOT clean and sanitary and unambiguious. It never has been.

From a lot of evidence, the Marines did what they were trained to do, and what they should have done. To second-guess every move made in wartime and measure it against the standards of a peacetime military, that way lies madness.

When reporting issues like this, what we need is honesty and the complete story, not some carefully edited version that'll promote the prosecution's side of things. I guess it's too much to expect of the press that they'll be willing to give soldiers the benefit of the doubt, and see them as innocent until proven guilty. After all, how are they going to get good ratings unless there's sensational news to report? And what's better than the US military going bad?

As SueK says.. "...the focus has become one of the individual winning, not on justice" - and that's a real bad sign for all of us.

J.

American Thinker: When the Left Cares, and When It Doesn't

Left wing artists love to portray themselves as avatars of compassion, and are often praised by the media and cultural establishment for the humanity their political work supposedly demonstrates. But theirs is a highly selective compassion, often ignoring the victims of the groups they supported.

In 1979 William Shawcross' book Sideshow was published, subtitled "Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia," esentially blaming the U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia for Pol Pot's and the Khmer Rouge's "killing fields" slaughter in Cambodia, which claimed the lives of between one and three million Cambodians after the U.S. withdrawal. Shawcross had been an outspoken critic of the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. Shawcross, however, is an intellectually honest man, and wrote "Remember: for Cambodia, read Iraq" last March for The UK Times:

"...horror had engulfed all of Indo-China as a result of the US defeat in 1975.... Given the catastrophe of the communist victories, I have always thought that those like myself who were opposed to the American efforts in Indochina should be very humble.... I still believe the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was the correct thing to do - and it was something only the United States could have done. For all the horrors that extremist Sunnis and Shias are inflicting on each other today, the US rid the world of the Pol Pot of the Middle East. So long as the vile Saddam family regime remained in power there was no hope of progress in the region....

In Indo-China the majority of Western journalists (including myself) believed that the war could not or should not be won. Similarly today, for too many pundits hatred (and it really is that) of Bush and Blair dominates perceptions. Armchair editorialists love to dismiss the US effort in terms of Abu Ghraib or Haditha.

If Iraq collapses, such nihilist killing will spread far wider. As in Cambodia, bloody mass murder is the only alternative to what the US-led coalition is trying to achieve."

Fourteen years after 1975 and the Boat People and killing fields, De Palma made a fictional movie about American atrocities against the Vietnamese, and thirty two years later still invokes the anti-war mantras of the seventies, as though many millions had not suffered and died, brutally, because we didn't prevail in Southeast Asia. Where was and is his concern for those people; where is his movie about that, those graphic images?

Saying you 'care' is one thing. It's easy to 'care'. It's easy to be anti-war - hell, who wants war? I sure don't. I think war's a horrible thing, something to be avoided if at all possible... but not through giving whoever threatens war against you everything they want, even if you don't see a use for it. (After all, who really cared about Viet Nam and Cambodia anyway?)

You see a ghastly calculation performed on the left any more. Yes, it's at least somewhat, slightly acknowledged that Saddam was a bad guy - but his actions, his atrocities have been blamed on the US. And by ignoring all other aspects of the period - the threat from the USSR, the Iran-Iraq war, the tensions in the ME, Afghanistan's fall to the USSR and then descent into chaos when the Russians left, it's possible to paint Saddam as a victim of the eEvile US.

And once you're a victim, you bear no responsibility for your actions and choices. You're absolved of all evil, and painted with a saintly aspect that shields you from criticism.

But - what about the victims of the 'victim'? They're rendered irrelevant. The hundreds upon hundreds of thousands dead under Saddam, the excesses of his rule, the sheer humanitarian disaster that was Saddam's reign (and we won't talk about the ecological disaster caused by draining the swamps those damn rebellious Marsh Arabs lived in) are virtually ignored. A choice is made. They aren't important. What's important is making sure there's no war.

DePalma speaks of using graphic images found on the internet in his film. How many other such graphic images could he have found from Iraq, ones that did not relate to an isolated brutal crime committed by Americans but were of those committed by the Saddam Hussein regime? Might that have offered context? The mass graves, the amputees, the pictures of some of the thousands of dead Kurds in the villages attacked with nerve gas. How many graphic images might DePalma have found of mass executions, beheadings and atrocities committed routinely by Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgencies?

Last June the intrepid embedded blogger and former Special Forces soldier Michael Yon posted on his blogsite "Bless the Beasts and Children," about his experience with American and Iraqi troops coming across a lifeless village where the people and even the livestock had been slaughtered by Al Qaeda. Children had been beheaded. The big media has not picked up the story, though Yon even provides photographs. I doubt that DePalma will ever make a movie from those graphic images.

We understand that our troops in Iraq are seeking to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. What we don't seem to understand as well, though Yon and other milbloggers embedded in Iraq do and have reported on it, is that the Iraqi people have also been winning the hearts and minds of our soldiers. The feigned and opportunistic faux compassion of the anti-war left stands in stark contrast to the genuine compassion of the soldiers in Iraq.

Our soldiers in Iraq, men and women, are many of them hard, as they are trained to be hard. They are armed, and many and probably most will, should the need arise, kill without hesitation or perhaps minimal hesitation. They will aim a weapon at other human beings and pull a trigger.

Yet they will also put their own lives on the line by standing between terrorist killers and their intended Iraqi victims. They will smile at Iraqi children and receive smiles in return. They will see, in Iraqi families, children, mothers, father, and even young Iraqi soldiers, representations of those they have compassion for, and that compassion will and does grow to include those Iraqis, real people. When South Vietnam fell, there was no group of Americans more disheartened and crushed than the Vietnam Vets who clearly understood the horror that had befallen people whom they had come to know, and cared about.

There is more genuine compassion in the average American warrior than in a dozen Hollywood anti-war activists patting each other on the back for their "bravery" in dissenting from a war fought by truly brave men and women enduring hardship and separation from loved ones to protect our freedoms and our civilization, whose fruits are bestowed so lavishly on the likes of Brian DePalma.

American Thinker: When the Left Cares, and When It Doesn't

Left wing artists love to portray themselves as avatars of compassion, and are often praised by the media and cultural establishment for the humanity their political work supposedly demonstrates. But theirs is a highly selective compassion, often ignoring the victims of the groups they supported.

In 1979 William Shawcross' book Sideshow was published, subtitled "Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia," esentially blaming the U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia for Pol Pot's and the Khmer Rouge's "killing fields" slaughter in Cambodia, which claimed the lives of between one and three million Cambodians after the U.S. withdrawal. Shawcross had been an outspoken critic of the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. Shawcross, however, is an intellectually honest man, and wrote "Remember: for Cambodia, read Iraq" last March for The UK Times:

"...horror had engulfed all of Indo-China as a result of the US defeat in 1975.... Given the catastrophe of the communist victories, I have always thought that those like myself who were opposed to the American efforts in Indochina should be very humble.... I still believe the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was the correct thing to do - and it was something only the United States could have done. For all the horrors that extremist Sunnis and Shias are inflicting on each other today, the US rid the world of the Pol Pot of the Middle East. So long as the vile Saddam family regime remained in power there was no hope of progress in the region....

In Indo-China the majority of Western journalists (including myself) believed that the war could not or should not be won. Similarly today, for too many pundits hatred (and it really is that) of Bush and Blair dominates perceptions. Armchair editorialists love to dismiss the US effort in terms of Abu Ghraib or Haditha.

If Iraq collapses, such nihilist killing will spread far wider. As in Cambodia, bloody mass murder is the only alternative to what the US-led coalition is trying to achieve."

Fourteen years after 1975 and the Boat People and killing fields, De Palma made a fictional movie about American atrocities against the Vietnamese, and thirty two years later still invokes the anti-war mantras of the seventies, as though many millions had not suffered and died, brutally, because we didn't prevail in Southeast Asia. Where was and is his concern for those people; where is his movie about that, those graphic images?

Saying you 'care' is one thing. It's easy to 'care'. It's easy to be anti-war - hell, who wants war? I sure don't. I think war's a horrible thing, something to be avoided if at all possible... but not through giving whoever threatens war against you everything they want, even if you don't see a use for it. (After all, who really cared about Viet Nam and Cambodia anyway?)

You see a ghastly calculation performed on the left any more. Yes, it's at least somewhat, slightly acknowledged that Saddam was a bad guy - but his actions, his atrocities have been blamed on the US. And by ignoring all other aspects of the period - the threat from the USSR, the Iran-Iraq war, the tensions in the ME, Afghanistan's fall to the USSR and then descent into chaos when the Russians left, it's possible to paint Saddam as a victim of the eEvile US.

And once you're a victim, you bear no responsibility for your actions and choices. You're absolved of all evil, and painted with a saintly aspect that shields you from criticism.

But - what about the victims of the 'victim'? They're rendered irrelevant. The hundreds upon hundreds of thousands dead under Saddam, the excesses of his rule, the sheer humanitarian disaster that was Saddam's reign (and we won't talk about the ecological disaster caused by draining the swamps those damn rebellious Marsh Arabs lived in) are virtually ignored. A choice is made. They aren't important. What's important is making sure there's no war.

DePalma speaks of using graphic images found on the internet in his film. How many other such graphic images could he have found from Iraq, ones that did not relate to an isolated brutal crime committed by Americans but were of those committed by the Saddam Hussein regime? Might that have offered context? The mass graves, the amputees, the pictures of some of the thousands of dead Kurds in the villages attacked with nerve gas. How many graphic images might DePalma have found of mass executions, beheadings and atrocities committed routinely by Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgencies?

Last June the intrepid embedded blogger and former Special Forces soldier Michael Yon posted on his blogsite "Bless the Beasts and Children," about his experience with American and Iraqi troops coming across a lifeless village where the people and even the livestock had been slaughtered by Al Qaeda. Children had been beheaded. The big media has not picked up the story, though Yon even provides photographs. I doubt that DePalma will ever make a movie from those graphic images.

We understand that our troops in Iraq are seeking to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. What we don't seem to understand as well, though Yon and other milbloggers embedded in Iraq do and have reported on it, is that the Iraqi people have also been winning the hearts and minds of our soldiers. The feigned and opportunistic faux compassion of the anti-war left stands in stark contrast to the genuine compassion of the soldiers in Iraq.

Our soldiers in Iraq, men and women, are many of them hard, as they are trained to be hard. They are armed, and many and probably most will, should the need arise, kill without hesitation or perhaps minimal hesitation. They will aim a weapon at other human beings and pull a trigger.

Yet they will also put their own lives on the line by standing between terrorist killers and their intended Iraqi victims. They will smile at Iraqi children and receive smiles in return. They will see, in Iraqi families, children, mothers, father, and even young Iraqi soldiers, representations of those they have compassion for, and that compassion will and does grow to include those Iraqis, real people. When South Vietnam fell, there was no group of Americans more disheartened and crushed than the Vietnam Vets who clearly understood the horror that had befallen people whom they had come to know, and cared about.

There is more genuine compassion in the average American warrior than in a dozen Hollywood anti-war activists patting each other on the back for their "bravery" in dissenting from a war fought by truly brave men and women enduring hardship and separation from loved ones to protect our freedoms and our civilization, whose fruits are bestowed so lavishly on the likes of Brian DePalma.

Something which I've never posted here before...

Be Afraid. Because it or something as bad WILL come back eventually.

J.

Something which I've never posted here before...

Be Afraid. Because it or something as bad WILL come back eventually.

J.

Well, that's the condensed form.

The Local - Muslim ambassadors: 'Sweden needs to change its laws'

Ambassadors from Muslim countries have indicated that they intend to present the Swedish prime minister with a list of demands when they meet for talks on Friday.

Fredrik Reinfeldt invited the ambassadors from 20 Muslim countries to government offices on Friday following a wave of protests from Muslim countries after the publication of a caricature of Muhammad in local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda.

Reinfeldt's press secretary Oscar H�ll�n was unable to say which countries had confirmed their attendance.

Egyptian ambassador Mohamed Sotouhi told news agency TT that he and a group of fellow ambassadors had agreed on a list of measures Sweden needed to take if it was to secure a long-term solution to the Muhammad cartoon controversy.

According to Sotouhi, "comprehensive measures" were required if Sweden was to prevent some "amateur artist" from reawakening tensions every other month.

"We want to see action, not just nice words. We have to push for a change in the law," he said.

."In the long term the school curriculum has to convince pupils that if they want to express their opinion they should do so in such a way that it doesn't cause offence or hurt. This should also be part of journalism training," said Sotouhi.

But...

The Local - Muslim ambassadors 'made no demands'

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt met on Friday with ambassadors from 22 Muslim countries for talks surrounding the publication in a Swedish newspaper of a caricature of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

The envoys are not reported to have called for Sweden to change its laws to protect against the desecration of the Muslim prophet. After a meeting with his Muslim colleagues on Thursday, the Egyptian ambassador had indicated that the group wanted to see "action, not just nice words."

But Reinfeldt said that the ambassadors did not present a list of demands at government offices in Rosenbad.

I'll bet it was an interesting meeting!

J.

Well, that's the condensed form.

The Local - Muslim ambassadors: 'Sweden needs to change its laws'

Ambassadors from Muslim countries have indicated that they intend to present the Swedish prime minister with a list of demands when they meet for talks on Friday.

Fredrik Reinfeldt invited the ambassadors from 20 Muslim countries to government offices on Friday following a wave of protests from Muslim countries after the publication of a caricature of Muhammad in local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda.

Reinfeldt's press secretary Oscar H�ll�n was unable to say which countries had confirmed their attendance.

Egyptian ambassador Mohamed Sotouhi told news agency TT that he and a group of fellow ambassadors had agreed on a list of measures Sweden needed to take if it was to secure a long-term solution to the Muhammad cartoon controversy.

According to Sotouhi, "comprehensive measures" were required if Sweden was to prevent some "amateur artist" from reawakening tensions every other month.

"We want to see action, not just nice words. We have to push for a change in the law," he said.

."In the long term the school curriculum has to convince pupils that if they want to express their opinion they should do so in such a way that it doesn't cause offence or hurt. This should also be part of journalism training," said Sotouhi.

But...

The Local - Muslim ambassadors 'made no demands'

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt met on Friday with ambassadors from 22 Muslim countries for talks surrounding the publication in a Swedish newspaper of a caricature of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

The envoys are not reported to have called for Sweden to change its laws to protect against the desecration of the Muslim prophet. After a meeting with his Muslim colleagues on Thursday, the Egyptian ambassador had indicated that the group wanted to see "action, not just nice words."

But Reinfeldt said that the ambassadors did not present a list of demands at government offices in Rosenbad.

I'll bet it was an interesting meeting!

J.

And they do seem to be blowing. Traditionally, there's little to nothing like a war to drive technological progress - and the WoT is no exception.

Winds of Change.NET: Military Transformation Uplink: September 2007

Militaries around the world are moving to modernize and transform themselves to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Our mission is to deliver a regular cross-section of relevant, on-target stories, news, and analysis that will help experts and interested laypeople alike stay up to speed on key military developments and issues. Stories are broken down by military category and presented as fast bullet points that orient you quickly, with accompanying links if you wish to pursue more in-depth treatments.

J.

And they do seem to be blowing. Traditionally, there's little to nothing like a war to drive technological progress - and the WoT is no exception.

Winds of Change.NET: Military Transformation Uplink: September 2007

Militaries around the world are moving to modernize and transform themselves to meet