H/T: The Wide Awakes, specifically Cao of Cao’s Blog

Well, at the MSN Live search engine, I came up as the second listing when one coming to my blog searched for the phrase:

i am not drunk or stoned please help me stop this feeling

Oh, the things people search for…

The political commentary and maneuvering these days shows something of the character of the Congress and the Democratic Party in particular that is, how shall I say this delicately? Well, I can’t. Blood lust. Pure and simple lust for the shedding of blood, specifically in the physical sense, while carrying it out in the figurative manner.

The “buzz word” of the times: “Slow Bleed” says Carl Levin (D-MI) and John Murtha (D-PA), supported by the Democrats of the House, and 17 Republicans, too. You know the ones, the ones running to the sound of the polls, as is the collective daily wisdom of the electorate, measured in quantities of about 1000 to guage, with scientific processes,
to sense the mood.

So, if the Democrats get their way through obfuscation, their slow bleed strategy, will, in their estimation, bleed the support of the voters from the President and the Republicans in general.

What will the “bleeding” look like? Well, not funding more equipment, not funding supplies, and not funding the transport of the replacement and reinforcement troops.

This, if accomplished, will most certainly lead to the withdrawal of the political will to continue the campaign in Iraq in the Global War on Terror. How So? Simple. The troops on the front line, deprived of more compatriots to show the enemy we mean business, short supply on basic combat items, such as ammo and other equipment.

What next? The extrapolated condition is our troops, faced with an already brutal and further emboldened enemy, witll begin to take casualties they should not. THEY.WILL.BLEED. Not figuratively, but literally.

Why? Simple? So Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, John Murtha and their acolytes will then be “given” positions of power, with the reward of the voters by placing a Democratic president in the White House, and securing a majority on the Senate.

Who provides the “life blood” of this path to power? The troops. The troops they support.

The same troops who weren’t supplied with armored HUMVEES, body armor and the many other things the Democrats screamed about. The troops who have changed lives by placing themselves in danger to protect the lives of Iraqis. The troops, who, despite the hypocritical posturing of the Democrats, continue to suit up and enter the streets of Baghdad to face a foe who is little more than the analog of a viral infection in civilization, but a nasty one in any case.

You know, they don’t have to spit on the troops anymore. In the 70s, most of “them” were young people and not in positions where they could control the expenditure of Federal dollars. No, I predict the “spitting” phenomena will be minimal, but this time, the troops could be bled white, like animals slaughtered, all in the name of the blood lust of politicians wanting power, unfettered by dialog with those across the aisle.

Trackbacked at: Third World County, The Pirate’s Cove

These are strange days, indeed. And interesting. Stand by for “stream of consciousness” transmission.

I’m a process guy. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed dismantling times to see what makes them go. In my adult years, that has taken the form of “how does it work and is there room for improvement?” more often than not. I despise those who can can only manage to lift themselves intellectually enough to identify a problem and go no further. far too many of those people, when we need problem solvers. Implied the same “problem solvers” will, because it has to be this way, get their hands, and maybe the rest of them quite “dirty” in the pursuit of making things better.

In looking at processes, I enjoy trying to find the core of the problem so that the “fix” might be done with the least amount of effort, while the effort in some cases will be enormous, going to cut the tap root directly is still superior to trying to kill a tree by plucking each of it’s leaves…

With those thoughts in mind, I get to the point of my current wondering:

What happened to the Republican Party? The title of this post conveys some of the problem, and thank God we have a number of our countrymen who still run to the sound of battle to offset the current trend at just about every level of government these days.

I think back to the President’s news conference and actions on November 8th, 2006. President Bush did not stand tall and face the changed balance of votes in the Congress with forthright consistency. I believe this was the day things went south. Well, actually the night of November 7th to be more precise, but the interviews and “conciliatory attitudes” couldn’t be showcased until the next morning. I am a supporter of the President, but wonder why he has stepped back from his upright stance he had from 9/12/2001 through the days before the 2006 election.

How does this factor in? The Republicans have fractured and jumped on the band wagon to try to exercise non-Constitutional control of the military operations of the country. It’s as though the team has lost its coach, and, seeing tough sledding ahead, they “separate” and believe running alone will up their chances of survival politically. Not a chance I’d postulate. That thought process doesn’t work well in the wilderness, nor when lost at sea. “we” as humans do better when we work together (which goes a lot further when trying to solve problems, too). This will be something I think history, and the electorate will not judge in a positive light when our days are looked back on.

I think the Republicans have lost their rudder and I just hope someone can step up to the plate to pull them back together.

Watching the Democrats since 11/8/2006, all I see is a more shrill “voice” to impose their way on the entire nation. They said they would bring a new conversation to Washington, and I’d have to agree, but it is in the form of demanding they have their way, not in bi-partisan open discussions to solve the problems of this nation. Frankly, there are big issues facing this country, and the majority party is frittering away valuable time by spending their waking hours merely trying to oppose the President.

That being said, for those on the opposing side of the political scale than I, it’s one thing to just stand up and vote your power in funding as a Constitutionally valid method to exercise “checks and balances” and quite another to waste time putting forth legislative work that will most certainly be turned down when reviewed in a court of law. You want a prime example of “waste, fraud and abuse?” The “slow bleed” strategy of the Democrats in the House is just that. For those who complain about $400 toilet seats in military aircraft projects, will you also put your elected Federal representatives on notice that they are mis-handling your tax dollars now, or will you give them a pass?

As many others have said, if Congress believes the will of the people is to get out of the Middle East and bring the troops home, that can be communicated loudly and clearly by just not giving money to the military.

“Revoting” how much authority the President was given is also a time wasting, cheap shot at halting the gears of the Nation. At least I have to acknowledge that John Edwards has the courage to say he voted one way and now has changed his mind. Hillary (the smartest women in the world, some would claim) just wants to pretend she was out-foxed. Think about that one: The “Shrub” who is the stupidest man/president ever according to many, out thought the smartest women in the world. If I were Hillary, I’d shut up now, before people realize a dumb man convinced her to do something she shouldn’t have…..

Lately I have heard accusations that the President didn’t plan adequately for this war. I agree, wholeheartedly. In retrospect, and in his favor, who could have predicted that after the deaths of 2996 people on our own soil, in a deliberate attack, that the response would have had to have included plans to counter a national and world press that would consciously not seek the truth, would accept as “news” fabricated stories, photographs and videos provided without fact checking from the enemy in caves and alleys of war torn towns, showing more Americans dying at the hands of a driven, brutal enemy, and then let the same culture demand they not be spoken of in terms to describe, at best their apathy and at worst their clearly stated blood lust and murderously conducted actions?

Who would have known to plan for those same things, pushed in the face of the world daily would be blamed on the man who was in a classroom of an elementary reading class, not having planned to, in cold blood, execute 2996 people on the same day? And, further, that that accepted meme would then cause a party out of power to use this as fodder to re-gain those positions where they could personally gain in political stature? Besides having to plan on how to combat an effort on an world-wide, internal to the nation and from without, war against us, by an enemy who would hide in plain sight, and chose to be stateless in order to confound the reaction to their attacks?

Just as the cry of concern that a fictional television show might influence someone to cross the line and commit crimes in and interrogation, the media is a powerful voice, and it’s not just “24” that may influence. Tipper Gore wanted music controlled, because of the influence. about 20 years ago, ads for smoking products were banned, as “the nation” agreed they were influential. As one talk show host said when wondering why only “24” was singled out: “If only ’24’ is influential, why are corporations spend $2.5M for 30 seconds of Super Bowl air time?” Because the media influences, plain and simple.

Quite honestly, I wonder at the depth of understanding of those in leadership who would trust the polls of the American public to guide their policy positions. For one, they were elected to be leaders, and not to just follow the crowd (which is why, duh!, we refer to them as leaders). Secondly, if they haven’t figured out we are kind of fickle in our positions, then they really have lost touch with the regular Americans and don’t comprehend the comings and goings of fashions, music, the “coolest” cellphone, the hottest movie, the “in” band/musician, do they?

So, to wrap up some random, yet connected thoughts on the state of the Union, it occurs to me that constancy, vision and dogged determination in the face of adversity has been the quality that has served this nation, in public and private affairs the best. Bickering over the “how” of the “how to get the job done/problem solved” is wasted energy and, with the issue of global warming being the impending death of Mother earth, I’d suggest the exhaled breath would serve us all better if it was used to form sounds of conversations about making the future safe for us now, and our heirs later, rather than used to call names and quibble over who had better grads in college/law school.

From here, I return to my regularly scheduled analysis of just what the heck is going on. I refuse to publish a timeline for my plan, just in case you are going to demand one.

Real solutions to the real problems can be submitted in the comments section below.

“Fairness” provided by comments section below.

Common sense and reality accepted.

Crossposted at: The Wide Awakes

Tracked back at: Third World County,

Freefire zone! Trackbacks (may show up as “pingbacks,” but they still show up! I think it’s a WordPress 2.1X issue…)

Last week, the conclusion of Episode 1 of Chief Mac stomps the “competition.”

This week, more of the same. If you’re “behind the power curve,” go back two weeks and catch up….I think it’s a great sea story, but it’s told in parts…

With the tenor of camaraderie between various vessels of COMSERVRON TWO having taken a turn towards more “active rivalry,” we received another tasker to conduct an intrusion drill (Z-5-O) against the USS SYLVANNIA (AFS-2). Chief Mac took this one one, too.

The Plan: Send the exercise tested ET2 Krutsch to get by the Quarterdeck watch, once more disguised as a Navy Exchange employee bearing delivery items. One other would be the following “distractor” to inject some confusion so Mike could escape the controlled environs of the entry point of the vessel to do his mischief.

This time the “delivery item” to cause attentive watch standers was one actual birthday cake, to be delivered to the Commanding Officer, CAPT Otto Will, USN. As with the prior event (I’m sure you have gone back and caught up by now), the Chief purchased the cake and a birthday card, complete with a birthday greeting inscribed on the top of the cake, visible through the clear plastic top of the cake box, real name and all….

Mike heads off, in his civvies and hair and beard/moustache pushing the envelope of “well groomed” and climbs the ladder. On arrival, he indicates he has a cake to deliver to a Captain Otto Will for his birthday. Of course he did his best to not act clued in as to the identity of the Ship’s CO….he stood off to the side of the Quarterdeck area, as directed (but not yet asked for an ID of any sort, nor questioned as to if he might be an intruder). About this time, of course, OS1 Blazak mounted the Quarterdeck, requesting permission to come aboard. His “mission” was to find the leading operations specialist to “borrow” some charts. As it turned out, the Officer of the Deck knew OS1, so he played it off as just looking for some info, but…the personall knowledge of who he was ruled him out as being able to be a bad guy for the drill purposes. However, it allowed cover for Mike to head inboard and begin he search for the CO’s Inport Cabin.

He wandered into the deckhouse and central area of the ship, and then to the outbaord side of the main deck. He didn’t know exactly where it was, so he took a chance and asked a sailor where the Captain’s cabin was. At first, he thought he was being led back to the Quarterdeck and the drill would be over, but he was delivered to the Captain’s door and the sailoer knocked, opened the door and announced a visitor the to Captain, who was talking to a Commander and a Master Chief Petty Officer.

Mike was invited in, saying he had a birthday cake for a Captain Will. As most people would be under such circumstances as this the Co was curious as to how this had become his birthday. He looked puzzled, but invited Mike in. Mike set the box on his desk and handed him the birthday card. Capt Will took the card out of the envelope, opened it and proceeded to read.

About this time the smiles began spreading on the faces of the Commander and Master Chief, who were debriefing a human resources assessment training of the ship, so they were not ship’s company, but knew “the drill” all too well (and I’m sure they were also relieved not to be ship’s company right about then). The Master Chief said: “Captain, I think you should read the back of the card.” There, as he closed it and scanned the handwriting on the back of the card, he read “This is a bomb!”

Might I just say Mike indicated Captain Will was not amused. But, on top of the card indicating the future failing grade from the Sqaurdon Commander. But, as Chief Mac had a humorous side, when he had the cake decorated, aroound the sides, in scrolled icing was the inscription “Tick*Tick*Tick.”

And so ends the tale of the days when the gentleman’s approach to “running drills” on each other in the Fat Ship Navy took a turn for the better, or worse, depending on which side of the grade sheet you were on.

I suspect I know the answer, but will be trying things out in a few moments. I suspect why one domain and assocaited blog moved so easily is that is wasn’t associated with my first domain and therefore main account. I thing two hosting sites, both pointing the blog and its clone to the same name servers didn’t help…..

Anyhow….I have arrived and even I can get to my blog the “right way.”

I believe I have all the links resetablished to keep the internal functions of the blog intact (going back to older posts), thanks to “find and replace” in WordPad….

Back “online” tomorrow…

For those who have re-found me, thanks for hanging around….

UPDATE:  Superceeded.  The move is over, this post remains for historical purposes.

***********************************************************************

I have been reluctant to post as my domain pointers in the big name server system in the sky has stil not occurred. I keep getting told to be patient, yet…I transferred one other blog in 10 minutes….and the first night I migrated this blog over, so it would pop up all ready to roll about midnight 2/13-14 and I could move back and forth between the two then to make sure I had everything over.

Anyhow, if I post it here, I have to move everything over again (but I believe I have the right sequence, so that the comments, categories, the blogroll and posts keep aligned. I have one more pleading email out to the new hosting place, asking why, after all the basic settings seem to be in place, that the transfer, despite even reclicking the “buttons” at the control panels on each end of the equation once more a few nights ago…..

So…I have everything set up as of the post before this one to re-import (actually reconstruct the databases via SQL) right away.

The good news at least this place has not vanished and the new one not available for the last few days….

Thanks for you regular visitors for clicking in to see if I wrote anything new….I have two posts in my head, not to mention on Wednesday, there will be more of the Z-5-O story in Ropeyarn Sunday and Open Trackbacks…

Dummy Test Link

Wouldn’t you like to see this one:

HT: History Mike – Toledo, OH

Dateline 15 February, 2007 – All Across the Northern Mid West through New England and South the DC Area:

Residents still reeling from the vicious winter attack by Mother Nature (aka Gaia) are now demanding Congress get on with the Global Warming issue…but in this strange turn of events, they want Congress to figure out how to make their localities warm once more.

Today, angry calls and emails flooded the Congressional Offices from constituents wondering why Congress wants to stop global warming. From the perspective of towns blanketed in over 100 inches of snow in the last few days, polls conducted by USA Today, the New York Times, CNN and other sources show a significant reversal of the sentiment about how global warming is hurting the planet.

Scientists who have been claiming Global Warming is a coming catastrophe are hearing remarks like this: “If it’s so warm, just where in the H*** did all this snow come from? I personally think they misread their temperature graphs and we’re headed into another ice age!”

So far, no statements have been released from the Speaker’s Office on the subject.

I admit, I’m no Scott Ott of Scrappleface, but…I try.

Tracked backed at:
History Mike
Eagle Speak

So my buddy and I are doing our almost daily dump of life’s adventures, and I mention the recent issues of the “lost” Iranian .50 caliber sniper rifles….

And he says (he lives in very Northern Georgia, not far from, as he finds out, from the Barrett Rifles Factory in Murfeesboro, TN) there was a news story just very recently:

Some “Middle Eastern Men” arrive at the Barrett Rifles factory, and ask for a tour of the facilities and would like to know about purchasing some quantities of weapons…..I jokingly quipped “so I guess the ‘quantities’ were not about 10?”The local and State of Tennessee law enforcement people got on this case, so….looks like the “Middle Eastern” men won’t be getting the tour, nor is Barrett Rifles selling them anything.It looks like this happened about the 26th of January, according to a post at Bear Creek Ledger. BCL linked to Nashville’s News Channel 5 site for the confirmation of the story. I can’t say this has made the rounds on the MilBlogs, and I’m a little surprised at that. It sounds like it was one man, in a pickup, with about $10K and he demanded access to the plant. Pretty “cheeky” as the Brits would say, if you ask me.Connecting the dots: CNN shows video of jihadi snipers killing our troops. The Information Warriors of the enemy see the response of the America public Congress and decide if some is good, more is better. In a “bang for the buck” analysis, the cost of a $12,900 rifle teamed up with a decent quality video camera, and and a semi-competent assistant to handle the recording…you can counter many billions of dollars spent by the US Government. So…when the media’b’Allah doesn’t think their reporting has anything to do with the effect on the war sentiment, all they have to know is (if they are American taxpayers) they are helping to fuel the budget outlays to counter the cheap publicity they willingly provide the enemy. Now, by demanding the dollars to stop in this endeavor is just handing the enemy a huge victory in addition to “paying it forward” for the defeat of our troops.Good on the employee at Barrett for reporting the case, bad for not stalling him long enough for the arrival of LE under the circumstances.Trackbacked at:

Third World County
Woman, Honor Thyself
The Pirate’s Cove
Stuck on Stupid
Right Truth

C’mon….someone must be writing good material out there…..

Anyhow, while I’m waiting, here’s more of the story I left you hanging with from last week…

Now, the tables had turned and it was going to be the crew of the USS SEATTLE (AOE-3) that would be holding the other end stick during an intrusion drill. Not to fear, OSC Mac, who had done some work with the SEALs in the South East Asian War Games, was in control. I was still and Ensign in training, so I didn’t comprehend all that was going on. Anyway, the Chief concocted a wonderful plan. Step one was to get three believable “intruders.”

• #1: ET2 Mike Krutsch. Disguise? Jeans, flannel shirt, hair pushing the regs. Story? Navy Exchange delivery guy with flowers for the SEATTLE XO.
• #2: OS3 Tom Mazzula. Disguise? Not really, he just wore his dungarees, but…he had a plastic baggie of “green vegetable matter” partially hanging out of his pocket.
• #3: OS2 Relph (I’m not completely sure I have this one right). No disguise either, and nothing special in hand/on his person.

“The Plan:” ET2, with a 3″x5″ card made black with magic marker, covering his red base sticker on the bumper of his personal Vega, drives down the pier (you actually could do that in those days), parking at the foot of the brow. Using his “excuse” of having to deliver the flowers, he would attempt to gain access to the ship. OS3 would, as soon as Mike got almost all the way up the ladder (about 30 feet long), would commence towards the quarterdeck, acting stoned/drunk. As he got the the top of the brow, OS2 Relph would also head aboard the ship. Saturation of the attention of the three watchstanders was the plan, in hopes of getting at least one past the security of the ship.

Well…the results were in quickly, once the “Plan” was put into motion….Krutsch parked right at the foot of the ladder and was hailed from the Quaterdeck. He replied he had flowers (Holding the box high) (oh, yeah, Chief Mac paid for the flowers), and was waved to come up. They never asked for any identification, but then a guy looking kinda drunk was coming up the ladder just now. All attention focused on Mazzula. Mike stood by, then quietly wandered aft on the main deck area and proceed to head for the after superstructure area, where the Executive Officer’s stateroom was. IN the background, imagine the hoots and hollers of the OOD, POOW and Messenger when they “caught a doper!” red-handed….Oh…OS2 Relph came up just as the commotion was in full swing and, not being fully questioned, inquired as to what happened. “WE just caught this guy!” (Holding up baggy of green vegetable matter as proof of the valiant response. Relph siddled off to the side, out of the gaze of the watchstanders….

Oh, yes…I almost forgot. SEATTLE was one of those ships that we could not confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard. Why does that matter? You had to have two response teams on call, the Security Alert Team (SAT) and Backup Alert Force (BAF), who would “respond to intrusion attempts and were 1) armed and 2) trained specifically in the use of “lethal force” rules of engagement (ROE).

Mike Krutsch made it to the XO’s office/stateroom and, finding no one in the space, left the box of flowers (with included note “THIS IS A BOMB”) on the desk of the Executive Officer of the USS SEATTLE (AOE-3), having never been challenged by any of the crew on his way through the ship, looking like a civilian or over scruffy sailor in “civies.” He then wandered back to the Quarterdeck area, at which time, the faces of the watch team went white, realizing they had been penetrated in a most unkind manner. “SECURITY ALERT! SECURITY ALERT! QUARTERDECK! AWAY THE SAT! AWAY THE BAF!” sounded on the 1MC General Announcing System. Mike, all grins, when asked if he was an intruder, answer “Yes” (the game rules) and then, realizing, as armed sailors came running, there was someone else unaccounted for…..

“Are you working alone?” “No.” “SECURITY ALERT! SECURITY ALERT!…” They finally found OS2 Relph in the forward part of the ship, where he had wandered off to.

Well, they were mightily embarrassed at being humiliated, but…it was nothing more than payback, with attitude. The Command Duty Officer was obligated to sign three Z-5-O letters, with two having to be indicated that they had been penetrated and failed the drill…..And, our manliness was feeling more intact, having paid the SEATTLE crew back in spades…

Oh, Chief Mac didn’t just roll over and go back to sleep after this operation….come back next Wednesday for the follow on report of sailors in port running drills.