Dear Former Vice President Gore:

My I present to you some pictures of natuarlly occuring phenomena that produce lots more problems in regard to the scariest thing ever in your mind:

Meet Mr. Sun. He lives in the sky and his insides are very, very hot. In fact, so hot, it blows all the way to Earth with the Solar Wind. The Solar Wind then rubs against our atmosphere and some of the really, really hot energy stays here, making it hotter.

Meet another friend of mine. I learned about Mr. Volcano in elementary school science classes. Mr. Volcano spews lots of hot air and ash into the sky, like you without the ash…

Take heart, though, Mr. Gore, it seems scientists have come up with a way to keep mankind from adding to the problem of greenhouse gases. Maybe you should eat some of these.

Update 06-23-2006: Massive Underwater Volcano Discovered! My hope is the US Congress can pass a law to prevent the eruption before it happens, but I’m not hopeful they can get it on the agenda before the next elections….

Update 07/19/2006: 25 reasons to ignore the rantings of a crazed politician (note: not a scientist) looking for a comeback. H/T: Outlaw Mike

Cross posted at:
Right Wing Nation

Don Suber

The purpose of the post is to discuss a similarity between our national leadership issues of the day and the manner in which I closely observed two men lead ships. The names will remain anonymous, but suffice it to say, I know them both well, as I served with both of them.

The President’s poll numbers go down and I suggest, that means something good. The left and the press think it’s bad, but…consider for a moment the coaches and teachers in your life. When you consider those that helped you not only pull yourself up by your bootstraps, but in reality (which you can only see now, many years separated from the days of your discontent) were the ones who lifted you so you could climb that awfully tall wall in front of you. That’s a metaphor for challenges you faced, mentally, physically or emotionally. I would wager that the times when you were saying “I just CAN’T DO IT!” to them, they put on their game face, got in yours and told you, in any of many ways, that yes, you can and not only that, I say you will. You had the feeling somewhere between mild dislike and hate just about then, but….look where that moment took you? Right now, “we” (using the polls published by the HBM/MSM) soundly dislike our President. My thesis is that will change.

In mulling over the topic the last few days, I think I have settled on the functional, short and to the point definitions of “strategy” and “tactics.” Strategy is what you want to do, and tactics are how you get that done. In the case of the national strategy, most people seems to agree. It’s how “we” do it that is the root of the political problem just this moment.

Two captains, two ships, same strategic goal, polar opposite tactics, kind of like America right now.

Goal: Be the best ship in the fleet.

Tactics:

Captain A: You achieve this goal by caring for the crew. You care for the crew by not letting them fail. You set them up for success.

Ok, sounds simple, but, you ask, “how did it look?” It looked like a lot of unhappy sailors and officers, who couldn’t understand why they had to stay aboard until 2000 while inport, re-doing every single damage control (DC) planned maintenance system (PMS) check on the entire ship. It also looked like, when the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSERV) Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) was written 4 months before the inspection, in the fall of the year (yep, two major holiday periods were between the POA&M and the INSURV), a whole bunch of upset people who all of a sudden had to make sure the maintenance (not the hard part) and administration of things that should have been taken care of daily, had to be checked and re-checked a few times. Sometimes publications, special tools or consumables had to be located and obtained, consisting of much hiking the piers and “begging.” It looked like drills, drills and drills in all areas of the ship’s required warfare areas beginning right after the INSURV and before heading to GTMO for 4 weeks of refresher training. You get the idea. Work to be done per the regs and tactical and tech manuals, and people, on the ship with the highest operational tempo on the entire coast the 12 months preceding this, who wanted some downtime to see their families. The result, was officers and sailors who would, as they walked the piers in search of “gouge” or stuff, would bad mouth the CO. He was, the spawn of the devil, and just here to make their life miserable.

Captain B: You achieve this goal by caring for the crew. You care for the crew by making sure they are happy and get to do what they ask to do, like seeing family, a lot. How did that look? It looked like a smiling crew that loved their CO, and knew he would make sure they got max time “on the beach.” Not much more to say about that.

Read the rest of this entry »

This link is the news report that indicates Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, TX and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, OR were not treated per the Geneva Conventions.

I’m sure the news is horribly upsetting for the families, and to every service member we have.

As the news broke today, I think I see something I hope does not become a trend. My thoughts (which I posted at Milblogs:

You know, this has been a long time coming. With all the whining and complaining about “GET OUT NOW!” and “SET A DEADLINE FOR WITHDRAWAL!” going on, the bad guys finally figured out a possible working tactic from 1993…

ala Black Hawk Down.

All that took for the “cut and run” to begin was to drag our troops dead bodies thru the streets while the locals desecrated the soldier’s remains. In this case, it appears the two men made it so they’d have to kill them, before they got yhem to a safe house and could do it in front of a video camera.

I think they figured out killing women and children, contractors and more recently, targeting jounalists wasn’t getting the buzz….so, they thought back on their own history of success and these two young men are the unfortunate ones. I bet they are hoping we will get out and do it in the next few weeks.

I think these guys don’t have a clue who they just messed with. Not that I think they will get the same as payback, but I think they’ll see people with “shoot in their eye” and who are focused like a laser beam on taking out the trash…and it just won’t be pretty for the bad guys.

Pray that strong stomachs and backbones prevail. To show a wave of national nausea at this point will just make more attempts at kidnapping the routine, until they can get the video taped for the world.

(End of my comments)

As the day went on and I was on the road, I recalled the name of a man who’s story has helped me realize my life is not so bad. I suspect these two enlisted troops but up a battle on the way to their end, much like Capt Lance Sijan, USAF, CMOH. Lance’s incredible story of a will that would not be broken is chronicled in “Into the Mouth of the Cat”. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it, for at the least, you’ll know for sure no matter how bad your day is, someone did have it worse.

On a night mission over Laos (as WSO), the bombs fuzed and exploded when they were relased, blowing the wings off the F-4C. His pilot didn’t survive, but Lance did. He was wounded badly (broken leg, dislocated shoulder and missing a part of his skull), yet managed to crawl through the Laotian jungle for 28 days, living off what he could find on the ground, before being found (and, yes, captured) by the NVA. They took him to a gaurd station along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and nursed him back to some degree of helath, whereupon, he took a rifle from his captor, beat him senseless, then took off into the jungle once more, using the rifle as a crutch. He was quickly captured, then sent by truck to Hanoi. He endured terrible beatings and torture, yet yelled back at his tormentors and refused to break. He died in captivity.

Between then and now: The NVA presented to the world that they treated our men graciously, war criminals that they were, an didn’t record for general worldwide viewing, the methods of torture used. Now, the Islamic terrorists try to show us such brutality that we will quit the fight, but I know you are aware of this.

I suspect Pfcs Menchaca and Tucker showed the same spirit to their captors. In this manner, I hope history has repeated itself.

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.

Flash News!

The upcoming Computer Shopper cover needed an update before it hits the store and newstand shelves:

It makes you wonder if it’s worth getting a bombproof laptop if you’re going keep the notes on all your peeps there, doesn’t it?

Note: Sometimes life is too funny. I didn’t make up the entire cover (as you can tell, I don’t have Photoshop – but if you do, feel free to do justice to the laptop screen) – it came in the mail a few days ago, as I’m a subscriber. It’s not in the stores yet, nor on the website…but…check one of those two places in the next few days….

Cross posted at:
The Crazy Rants of Samatha Burns

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Mudville Gazette

Unpaid Ad (for my own post): While you’re here: Captain B, of the USMC! (OOOORAH!) has a great idea….get a full page ad in a major newspaper for the 4th of July, supporting the troops. Details here!

I struggled last night to determine a way you label the type of information we now deal with on a more and more frequent basis. The “news” items, in the MSM and in more informal forums such as the ‘net, suddenly appear. The little flags in the back of your brain are rasied…something stinks about it, and then the Army of Davids comes out of the woodwork to discredit/disprove the presented “story.”

Examples (because I’m trying to discuss concepts here, at least a few examples are needed to connect the dots):

• Dan Ra^ther’s Texas Air National Guard memo in fall 2004 (C’mon…Word XP in the early 70s?)
• Murder charges leveled at 1st Lt Ilario Pantano, USMC
• The roving bands of murderers in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
• The Duke Lacrosse Team rape case (allegations by the first women are not being supported by the original statements by the second woman to the police that nothing happened and the credit card and phone records for one of the suspects)
• Everyone’s very special friend, Jesse McBeth, the Special Forces Ranger (who served a total of a few days in the Army before being discharged)
• The supposed Israeli shelling of Palestinian families on the beach (Palestinian explosives laid to deter landings on the beach?)
• The faked massacre by US Army troops where MSM outlets used a photo of a group of civilians executed by Islamic terrorists, captioned as thought the Army had sent or had allowed the troops to do that.
• A Variant form, part truth, part lies, but plenty enought to poison the well: The Haji Girl song. It’s really about terrorists killing their own family in an effort to kill US troops, not about US troops indiscriminately killing innocent Arabs

Common thread: Stories, quickly “tossed” at the public in a shrill manner, or with highly energized words. Some have been proven to have been hoaxes, others are looking very much like they will meet the same end….but…not before they are widely circulated around the globe. They are, much like a flashbang grenade, designed to take over your senses to thoroughly and long enough that you do not see the others slipping into position to secure you, hence the title of the post.

In thinking this through, I realized that the blogging community, so powerful in bringing reality to the table in many of these cases, can only react to such a forcible attack on the truth. In the meantime, the horses have left the barn. we are doing a great job of telling how the horses got loose, and that we surveyed the area, assessed the situation and determined, with cold and unflapable logic, that the gate needed closing and we have done that. The good news: No more horses will get loose. On the other side of the issue, we’d have to become omnicient in order to have posts up in advance, and imbedded electronics just aren’t that capable yet.

Impact statement of such tactics:
In the case of the proven to be a fake Army Special Forces Ranger, I wondered how the words of Jesse McBeth, dicussing how they were told to massacre innocent men, women and children were echoed in the days leter major release of the Haditah story about a week ago. I dislike conspiracy theories, but could his video taped interview have been purposely “placed” to add credibility to the soon to some re-reporting of an indiscriminate rampage by American troops? You know, just another little weight on the scale.

Once it hit the street, particularly on YouTube, you can bet those who already believed this type of behavior was happening, and those who never thought about it, but could call it logical when asked, got their hands on the files of the interview, and then forwarded them on to other like minded people and organizations. Same with the Ra^ther TXANG memo. The blogosphere jumped up, within an hour (for the TXANG memo) and called the niche experts to arms, yet the enemy was already racing from the area, the false message, delivered from “credible sources,” was planted. Like the storeis of the anarchy in New Orleans, and the absense of any governmental forces, they placed a perception, taken as truth even now half a year later, in the minds of those who have come to demand instant delivery of everything in society. Our need for instant gratification has driven the methodolgy for the delivery systems (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc). This format is now the accepted style, so we extrapolate that all reported is correct, we quickly, feeling the need to be “included” in all discussions on all topics, make sweeping judgments, more often than not devoid of any personal understanding and there you have it: “I BELIEVE!”

Taking the deliverer to task is still necessary, but the masses have moved on beyond the Da Vinci Code contreversies, and now are worried about reacting to tropical storms as though they were Category 5 hurricanes, while a state governor declares he’d rather be overly prepared then not doing enough. He, too, is driven by not being “Nagined” an losing his political stature, at the expense of cajoling many millions to leave home, but not before they empty the grocery stores shelves and gas station’s tanks, to then have to use cold hard cash for hotels, camp ground, and the stuff you buy when you get to your friend/relative’s house on high ground, to make amends for your intrusion.

That’s it:

Background Noise: SMASH! “BANG!”
You: “I CAN”T SEE! I CAN”T SEE!” (said loudly over the ringing in the ears)
Reporter/Newscaster: “Don’t worry! We’re here from the MSM to tell you what’s happening while you are temporarily blinded!”
“MARINES MASSACRE IN INNOCENT IRAQIS IN COLD BLOOD”
You: “NO! NOT OUR GUYS!”
R/N: “OH, yes…I know you don’t want to believe it, but…Jesse McBeth said he did it with the Special Forces Rangers, as ordered by his superiors!”
Y: “Sounds fishy to me.”
R/N: “Nope, it’s true. Jack Murtha (who was highly decorated in Vietnam and don’t you dare question him on his patriotism) Said they are MURDERERS! and he was one of them once.”
Uncle Jimbo/Matt/Smash/Bill Roggio/Steve Shippert: “Hey! That R/N is full of crap and besides, we need to let the system run it’s course before we start yelling about firing squads.”
R/N: “Don’t listen to those whining bloggers. They just wish they got our salaries, so they’ll try to make us out as liars.”

I think you can extend and revise without objection where that type of discussion has gone in actual cases.

Some amount of mental energy will go into this this weekend, trying to see what the counter may be. I think a good start will be the full page ad in a major newpaper on July 4th. Putting forth the good done, and real “support the troops” messages will begin to push back, but I’m sure there’s more that can be done.

Comments anyone? (is this mic on?)

Welcome LGF Lizards….You may fire when ready (comments are open).

Had enough with a media that trashes everything, even the good done by the US Military?

Captain B of One Marine’s View wants to take out a FULL PAGE AD in a major newspaper for this coming 4th of July, in support of our troops.

Had Enough?” is here….

He’s still open for which paper and what to say in the ad, but…it’s all premised on getting the funds together to pay the freight.

He has a donate button on the right sidebar of his blog, labeled “Donate cigars for troops here!” It will do the job…

Think about it….what better way than to proclaim we believe in the goodness and sacrifice of those young (and not so young in some cases) men and women who are forging the future for not only us, but humanity.

Note: Our wounded service members need some help…see details on Valour-IT funding laptops with voice recognition software here.

Thanks for your considertaion of this great project!

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The devil is in the details. While some still are wondering why Osma bin Laden wasn’t a target of greater priority, a guest post at Black Five by the resident retired SEAL pointed me to an Army Times article that has some real detail to it.

Thank, Froggy, for cluing me in.

To begin with, it was the SEALs who were having the party for the ZarqMan, bu the DELTA boys had been hot on the trail and the article discusses the near miss of capturing Zarqawi by DELTA, supported by Rangers in a Tom Clancy style read. I bet the Ranger LT is sitting in his quarters, kicking himself in the butt for not letting the M240 gunner do his job, So much for that medal for you, LT….

On the other hand, I’d say when the end did come for Zarqawi, he was well aware that the boys from the Great Satan’s neighborhoods and cities were dead set on being the ones to help him to the hereafter.

Once you get past the story of the capture and the three suicide bombers, then the article discusses Zarqawi’s operational emphasis towards creating a force with the ability to conduct standing maneuver type operations, not merely terrorist style attacks here nad there. The hint that he was soliciting more foreign help and personnel from Iran, particularly at this point in time, is scary indeed. It does indicate he was doing reasonably well as keeping the insurgency alive, and had the possibility of growing it, but….not without caling for resources from outside Iraq. The good news in that is he had lost the support of the Iraqis.

Since the early morning hours of 6/8/2006, the world, and Iraq, are much safer places as a result. How did we get al-Zarqawi? We all did…

Cross posted at: It’s That Time Again, Boys And Girls – OTA

Note: Our wounded service members need some help…see details on Valour-IT funding laptops with voice recognition software here.

Thanks for your considertaion of this great project!

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Official CENTCOM video here…

I nominate this movie as the movie of the day.

Thank you, Viper pilots, for your finely honed air to ground delivery skills. I bet you had to confirm/repeat back 493 times that you had the right target….so thanks for your patience.

How ’bout these lyrics: “500 lbs once, 500 lbs twice…I bet that sure made him feel nice!”

Update: Maybe these lyrics: “500 lbs once, 500 lbs twice…so how about the rest of you guys playing nice?”

Also: Throughout the day, there have been hints of someone inside al-Z’s organization ratting him out. I can see a few possibilities that make this credible. ONe certainly could be he was getting too full of himself and from the inside, they weren’t able to have a coup, to let another rise up in his place. So, how do you do it? Like the stories of war from early times, act nice to your enemey and convey to them that you can help them get the “bad guy (of the day).” That leaves the way open for them to move up into the power vaccum.

Or….consider how successful the world has been in cutting off funding sources for the insurgents. Could a conversation have happened something like this:

Osama: “Hello, Zarq-man? It’s me from somewhere on the border of Pakistan.”

al-Zarqawri: “HEY! OBL! What’s happening?”

OBL: “Zarq, you know how we’ve been squeezed for funds lately, with those infidels stealing the money from our bank accounts, right?”

al-Z: “I sure do…you know it sucks when you get unexpected million dollar cuts in operation budget, when some banker gets all righteous.”

OBL: “You’re dead on…and to think I have to deal with all of al-Qaeda cuts, not just the regional ones you have to take…anyhow, I was thinking last night, then I had this dream, when I woke up, jerking around like an epilectic, and I realized I had a vision from Allah. He said since the Great Satan’s boys (and girls) are offering $25M for you, we could really rebound from our current budget crunch if they were to catch you. How’s this sounding to you so far?”

al-Z: “Let me get this straight: One of my boys rats me out, and the infidels catch me and send me to Club GITMO, and you pocket the reward money. Am I understanding this right?”

OBL: “Oh, yeah. Thant’s what I like about you, you catch on to complex issues quickly. So, how soon can we pull this off?”

al-Z: “Well, it sucks to be me right now. Had you considered you being the one turned in? They are offering more for you than me.”

OBL: “You’re been a good friend, but, to be honest, I’m a little concerned about the bad press you got us when you delivered those 17 heads to the hospital. That was really bad PR. I think you’re liking the butcher role too much.”

al-Z: “Yeah, I can see your point. Give me a few days to set up a safe house and a few innocent civilians to hang out with me. I figure you can get another bounce, and keep that Iranian slacker out of the news cycle for a little while, if they find dead babies in the rubble of my safe house.”

OBL: “Good man. And, think of the fact that you’ll get the 72 raisins before me. Heck, at the rate this war is going, you might want to get a head start on me soon.”

So there you have it, the Z Man was killed because of the budget shortages and over runs…a scary thought indeed, and to be realistic, maybe not too far off. I’m sure $25M will help the planning for a few months….

Get to Iowahawk for the post death Zarq Man AAR, and also another one at GM’ Corner!

From a post late last night on Little Green Footballs titled “Progessives Supporting the Troops Again”has comments from an attendee of the meeting with John Kerry at an “off the record meeting” with Daily Kos supporters, where they got to see a new movie “The Road to Guantanamo.”

Extract from the “movie review” by Hollywood Liberal:

This film illustrates in crystal clear detail why the U.S. military needs to recruit very dumb, totally uneducated, and mostly southern cracker soldiers who are already racist bastards who have never left their hometowns and believe all the garbage they are taught in school about how we are the good guys, and everything we do is just and right. The Army can then brainwash them to treat other human beings in such a grotesque and inhuman manner.

Sad…

Contrast this kind of thought process with the recently well written commentary by CDR Salamander on politicizing the military and as further discussed by Chapomatic.

Oh, the humanity!

The disaster preparedness crowd is all over TV. It seems (yeah, unlike any OTHER YEAR!) Hurricane season is upon us, yes, for a limited time only, AGAIN!

Governor Bush: I know you are concerned about being “Nagined,” when citizen, who purposely choose to exercise their rights to be idiots stay behind after an evacuation order, but….well, this is America and we have a right to be idiots take risks. Hurricanes have a habit of not “landing” where the forecasters say, when they are 10-12, and even 3 days out from landfall (HELLO! Hurricane Charlie!).

I understand how bad it would look if these people then complain that you didn’t come to their house and take care of them personally, but, please….be a leader and tell them to be ready and get back to the work of your office.

Of course, if you’re still scared of the political fallout, school is out now, so crank up those school buses and drive us all to GA, NC, SC and WV now, while you have a chance to get us out in a staged manner, and none of us will have to run out of gas on he Interstate system and take a leak in the median.

Oh, then have these signs modified like this:

On the plus side, in case your political equivalents of Carl Rove didn’t point out to you yet: Ray Nagin got Re-elected….Nature, she can be a bitch….get used to it.Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.