A Former Sgt in the US Marines, US Army and Australian Federal Police - With an Attitude Problem - Looking at the Shits & Giggles of life from a Quasi-Conservative Point of View * * *
WARNING! STRONG LANGUAGE FOLLOWS! * * *
I was just over at Town Hall reading some of the columns when I ran across one by Mr Emmett Tyrrell entitled "Hysteria". In it he mentions a Dr. Rauck at the Carolina Pain Clinic.
For those of you who were around back then, you might remember that for much of September and October, I was out of my head with pain and withdrawals. This was because I was taking part in the exact same trials that Mr Tyrrell mentions!
By all means, go read what he has to say about the FDA and drugs, but keep this in mind - in the past the FDA has taken anywhere up to six or seven years testing before they released a new drug for use, and people bitched and moaned about that. Now they are having shit thrown at them because (mis) using a drug for ten years or more can have nasty side effects for a tiny fraction of the population.
Make up your minds, dammit! Either the FDA gives the long-term testing that the latest Vioxx scare would have needed or the drugs get released to the vast part of the population that desperately needs it.
I saw where Starbucks has given $100,000 so far to the disaster fund, with more to come. I think that's the cost of ten cups of coffee there, isn't it?
Michael Phelps, the Olympic Wunderkind, got done for DUI recently. He pleaded guilty and was very contrite, and got a $250 fine and community service. If he's a good boy, the conviction will be erased from his record. Got it? OK - so - that means that any subsequent DUI will be his first again. Another pat on the ass. Also, I believe he's 19 years old. That's another bucket of excreta that's been conveniently brushed aside.
Former Attorney GeneralRamsay Clark is going to be on Saddam's Dream Team. That was originally announced about 10 months ago. Clark is vehemently anti-was, but only if the U.S. is involved.
Speaking of war, the same people who bitch the loudest about how overcommitted we are, how the troops don't have the right weapons and armor, yada yada yada are usually the same ones that piss and moan about how much money the Pentagon gets that should go to schools, welfare, blah blah. Well, the Pentagon has announced that one aircraft carrier is being mothballed and the purchase of a Navy destroyer and a swag of F-22 Raptors is being wiped out due to budget cuts. This should put those assholes in a quandry - hurray! the defense loses out; or boo! the troops lose out. Should be interesting.
Finally, some dude from Georgetown Universary has come out in public and said that corruption exists on Capitol Hill! Damn!
Who'da Thunk It??
(Yeah, I know - 4 days in a row for me now - it can never last, can it?)
Just so's y'all know, as a New Years Resolution I'm gonna go thru all my blog roll listings. Just about anything that hasn't been updated in the last month or so is gonna get treated with extreme prejudice. It could be very bloody, and I refuse to be held responsible for my actions.
The last I'd heard, they were registering the earthquake that caused all this as about a 9 on the Richter Scale - but I've yet to hear about any aftershocks, which could easily be in the 7 to 8 range with a quake this big. What will that do for another tsunami and the relief people in place in the possibly endangered areas?
That cutesie little darling from the UN who called the US stingy because the government has "only" given $35 million so far - I wonder if he's spared a thought for the burden the French are placing on their people by giving $130,000 dollars? And does this mean that we here in America shouldn't be giving to UNICEF or any other UN relief agencies, since this prick obviously discounts that as well as all the donations and work being done by American NGO's?
Speaking of "cutesie", already people are talking about "bringing closure" to those affected by this. Closure! That precious little concept seems to have appeared sometime prior to Columbine - ask those involved in that if they will ever find closure. It don't f'kin exist, dammit!
We now have the leader of the richest government in the world (yes, the Vatican is an independent nation) calling for everyone to give 'til it hurts. I wonder how much cash they will be giving? Or will their help consist of sending priests to help all those Muslims and Buddhists find "closure". Just askin'.
With Indonesia gettin' hammered by this, I've yet to hear anything about Bali. I understand that tourism there dropped after the cowards bombed there, but Kuta beach and Denpassar are still popular, especially with Aussies.
While on the subject of Indonesia, I understand that, so far, there's been no animal carcasses found. That would be amazing since Sumatra was one of the worst hit by this and that's one of only two islands where Orang Utans are found. Sumatra also has rhinos and Elephants - lets hope they have survived this. The Rhinos are down to less than 1,000 there. Can we get thru to these asswipes that Viagra works, rhino horn doesn't??
Indonesia is also home to the Komodo Dragons. I wonder how they have fared thru all this?
Just random brain waves flittin' around. There may be more later if anything else worth comment arises.
Like most of you, I've been following the stories about the horrific loss of life in Southeast Asia from the Tsunami. One thing strikes me a being slightly odd about the coverage, though.
Every story I see on TV seems to revolve around what happened to the Westerners vacationing there. A Victoria's Secret model clings to a tree with a broken hip. People swimming for their lives. Some incredible stories, to be sure, but I can't help but feel that if it weren't for these people there'd be no story. Another case of thousands of little brown Asians killed by Nature, ho, hum. Just like the monsoon stories about Bangladesh or Calcutta.
As far as I can tell, no stations have interrupted their schedules for reports on this, yet over 40,000 lives have been lost!
When are we going to shed that lovely Liberal race bias that "they don't love their children like we do ours, so they shouldn't have so many"? As PJ O'Rourke puts it, just enough of me, way too much of you. These were human beings we're talking about. Some were saints, some were pricks - all are lost leaving families not knowing their fate.
So the Hippy Dippy Weatherman lives. George Carlin has apparently checked himself into detox because he was doing handsful of Vicodin and tankards of wine. He figured that since he finished his new book it was time.
I have some bad news - I read the book and he really should have detox'd before he wrote it. It's far and away the lamest attempt at humor I think I've ever read - not a single laugh in the book. Instead, Carlin buys in on every one of the fringe Left rumors and slanders of President Bush and Republicans in general. And they wern't even used in a humorous way, just tossed into skits or paragraphs where they wern't even germaine to the subject.
If, like me, you bought this book based on the name of George Carlin, you have my sympathies. If you haven't - don't! It's a waste of time, a waste of money and, sadly, a waste of a very talented man turned very, very bitter.
I presume that by now just about everyone has heard of the death of Reggie White (the former "Minister of Defense" who played football for Philadelphia, Green Bay and Carolina) at age 43. It was first reported that he had a massive heart attack but now they're talking sleep apnea. I hope people will forgive me for thinking that performancing-enhancing drugs could be involved.
One thing that Muslims have taken from the Old Testament are the dietary laws. This is the main reason shipments of live sheep are made from Australia to Saudi Arabia. All animals must not only be "kosher" but must be killed "kosher". Why is it that the Muslims (and Jews, for that matter) care more about how they kill a sheep than they do about how they kill a person?
Thomas Sowell over at Town Hall has started what may well turn into an annual event. Go read his column to see who the winner of this, the inaugural award, is. I promise the award was fairly won!
I have to file this one in the "Why Am I Not Surprised" file.
Apparently there are some families in the United States - I presume they would be the same ones who wish you a "Happy Pagan Solstice" - are leaving a little extra for Santa with the milk, cookies and carrots.
These families are putting a liability waiver out for Santa to sign.
Isn't that just too precious? A f'kin liability waiver for Santa. Now, this may just be me, but I'd be pretty certain that no matter how good I was that year, this would guarantee coal in the stockings. And be richly deserved.
Also - if you're wondering where Santa is right now, the good folks at NORAD - possibly misusing government equipment - can tell you. Just head here.
And I wish each and every one of you a safe, peaceful, joyful and Merry Christmas!
Remember that dickwad who bitched to Rumsfield about the armor on his vehicle? The one that was put up to the job by some reporter who felt the need to create the news instead of just reporting it? Remember?
Well, it now comes out that the vehicles in that precious little Specialist's outfit were All Armored before the visit be Rummy! At least about 830 out of 850 were already armored!
Doesn't that gives you the warm fuzzies? One of our enlisted pricks being put up to do a hit job on the government, and no one gives a shit about the facts?
A comment to my last post got me thinking - the strain was tremendous! Everyone has been acting so surprised the last few weeks about Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds and steroid usage - like this is a big shock. Bonds was what - 180 lbs when he broke in and was a success? All of a sudden he's at the twilight of his career, a time when everyone else's skills start to degrade, and he's Mister Musclebound, hitting 70 home runs a year. And people are stunned that he could be cheating! Yeah, right.
Anyone out there remember Lyle Alzado? As much as I hated the Raiders, I loved to watch him play. He was an absolute madman - and we all found out why. He died from the steroid use in his 40's. I guess the players today know that they're bulletproof against this fate.
Add to this the outright criminals in sports - Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis, both with the Baltimore Ravens come to mind immediately, along with Ron Artest of the Indiana Pacers - and you have a situation where the short-term shareholder profit outweighs the long-term effects.
The business of "sport", and let's face it - that's all it is, has long overruled anything remotely resembling "sportsmanship". Cheating is not only accepted, it's encouraged. When I was a kid I was taught that if you knew you were out at a base but the umpire called you safe, you didn't just stand there thinking you got away with something. You told the ump the truth. Try that now and no team will touch you.
I treat "sport" these days pretty much the same way I treat Mel Brooks movies - good fun and worth some laughs, but not something to take seriously.
Anyone who saw any football last weekend, or any sports highlights, has seen the "tackle" made in the Green Bay / Jacksonville game.
This was a dead set swinging arm bar to the head of an opponent - something that was outlawed from the game decades ago. The result of this was to shred the chin strap on the helmet and send it flying and sent the player to the hospital for 2 days. Initially the player was paralysed but the use of his limbs gradually returned.
The result of this? Besides being sent off immediately in the game, the NFL has come down with a $75,000 fine - not even one game check - and no suspension. That's about as close as the NFL can come to giving him a wink and a pat on the ass. On Monday I listened to Mike Ditka talking about how "no one knows his intent". Intent? Who gives a flying fuck? Intent is not in the rules and should not be a mitigating factor. I'm quite sure that a pure of heart intent can be found for anything.
Yeah - that pisses me off. Darius Donovan of the Jacksonville Jaguars walked off clean. Shame that Robert Ferguson couldn't walk off at all.
Isn't this jumping on Rumsfield getting a bit tiresome? I mean, I know I've been out for a loooong time, but I can remember when Battalions, Regiments, Divisions, etc right up through the Commandant had S-4 or G-4 or whatever. Logistics problems are supposed to get sorted out somewhere in that chain.
Besides that you still have the Joint Chiefs, SecNav (or SecArmy, etc) before you get to the SecDef level. What's with Rummy getting hammered with logistics questions like "why ain't my hummer armored?" Utter Bullshit!
Now they're all pissed off because he used an autopen to sign condolence letters - hell, I'm surprised they have the time to send all those hundreds of thousands of letters that the media and Democrats would have you believe. Has it occurred to anyone that he just might have other things on his plate?
Oh, yeah - "Zero Tolerance". Another bit of insanity came across the AP wires over the weekend:
Dec 11, 4:05 PM EST
Girl, 10, Cuffed for Scissors in School
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A 10-year-old girl was placed in handcuffs and taken to a police station because she took a pair of scissors to her elementary school.
School district officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten anyone with the 8-inch shears, but violated a rule that considers scissors to be potential weapons.
Administrators said they were following state law when they called police Thursday, and police said they were following department rules when they handcuffed Porsche Brown and took her away in a patrol wagon.
"My daughter cried and cried," said her mother, Rose Jackson. "She had no idea what she did was wrong. I think that was way too harsh."
Police officers decided the girl hadn't committed a crime and let her go. However, school officials suspended her for five days. Administrators will decide at a hearing whether she may return to class, or be expelled to a special disciplinary school.
The scissors were discovered while students' belongings were being searched for property missing from a teacher's desk.
School district officials have promised a crackdown on unruly students this year, and new policies give administrators the power to expel students for infractions as minor as violating the dress code, chronic tardiness or habitual swearing.
Administrators say the steps are needed to regain control over a notoriously unruly school system, but some parents have complained that discipline has been overly harsh and that school officials have been too quick to call police about minor problems.
Yeah, I know - posting on two consecutive days - wonder of wonders! I never have done this time of year very well, and that kinda pisses She Who Must Be Obeyed off, because she loves it.
I was working on something about how the UN has treated the Ivory Coast compared to Rwanda and the Sudan, but there's nothing left to be said about that "world body". Their charter has become a laughingstock and it is truly a case of the inmates running the asylum. So ... ...
Because two of my granddaughters are going to be spending Christmas this year with the Insignificant Others, we had a "Christmas Morning" today so that they wouldn't miss out down here. As usual, I've seen people with guns not do as well as they did - their haul was downright embarrassing! Of course, that means we'll be eating beans here until about Memorial Day, but it was worth it - I might put some pictures up later today.
The only one to miss out was The DevilDog, but we have him covered on the 25th, when we will have another Christmas for the one granddaughter staying here. Naturally, she didn't miss out today, either, so she's gonna make out like Carter and Lord Canarvon at Tut's Tomb!!
I should have mentioned this a week ago, but our house is now down to two families - kinda. My girl-child and her two offspring are now in their own place, but we still get the kids just about every day after school and on weekends when the girl-child is working.
The up side is that they have their own home to go to and we still get to see the kids pretty much daily. The down side is that, since we're still getting to see the kids daily, there are some days when this busted-up, laughable excuse for a body just isn't up to child-minding anymore.
Ya just suck it up and continue to march, doing whatever you can to help out, right?
I have gotten so very tired of all this "armor my Hummer" crap. The vehicles they're talking about - Humvees and some trucks - were never meant to be armored, and putting armor on these is gonna really screw up the suspension, tires, steering, etc. of them.
Do the troops deserve the best? Of course they do - they always have and always will. Will they get the best? You're joking! This is a government owned and operated outfit we're talking about here. Anytime something new is developed it has to get past the hide-bound military mind-set of "It was good enough for us, dammit - why do we need it now?" syndrome. Once it gets past that it has to go to tender, and I think we all know what the government bids are like.
Should they get armor? Certainly. I'm quite sure that all of us in the 60's and 70's would have loved it too! But it should be on a vehicle that's been beefed up enough to handle the added weight. If that can be the Humvee, fantastic - get on it immediately. If not, get another vehicle that CAN handle the weight and perform to the ability of one. Until then, all this whining by the troops that they don't have everything on their wish lists fulfilled has got to stop.
I know it's almost Christmas, but Santa is gonna be too busy to grant all their desires.
I know, I've been incredibly slack at updating this page. Put it down to a severe seasonal funk. One thing has brought me back, however - zero tolerance.
The latest use of this bullshit is Target, Kohls and Barnes & Noble. No Salvation Army bell-ringers can be near their stores because of their "Zero Tolerance" policy. No Girl Scout Cookies, no Poppy Day Veterans - nothing, and no exceptions.
This is an absolute bullshit cop-out, and the same applies to schools with their "He had an aspirin so he must be suspended" or "She had an inhaler" crap.
By using this "Zero Tolerance" as a cover, it allows everyone to ignore problems by showing no compassion or exceptions. Instead of taking the time and energy to view each case separately it's so much easier to just put blanket bans on behavior. Doing so requires no thought and gives the illusion that something is being done about societal problems. It's downright dishonest.
Besides the store bans mentioned above, two of the most insidious bans in our society now are against drugs and weapons - but who decides what is a drug or a weapon? In schools it appears to be left up to the teachers to decide what qualifies as a "drug" while we have all seen the outright stupidity being shown at airports when they decide what a weapon is. I'm a smoker and I've had some of my Zippo lighters for more than 30 years - do you think I'm going to hand that over because some brain-dead airport guard decides I could light my shoes with it?
We used to be a fairly enlightened nation until the "liberals" took charge of our education system. Until we can get a more balanced education for our children, this kind of Stalinist "Zero Tolerance" shit is going to not only continue but expand into other areas of our lives.
Sorry, but I have zero tolerance for "Zero Tolerance".
If you find these funny, you either have been there or you don't have kids. If the latter, consider the following from an anonymous woman in Austin, Texas, as birth control:
1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. foot house 4
inches deep.
2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller
blades, they can ignite.
3.) A 3-year old boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded
restaurant.
4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong
enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When
using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too
late.
8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9.) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a
36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
10.) Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old
boy.
11.) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same
sentence.
12.) Super glue is forever.
13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15.) VCR's do not eject "PB & J" sandwiches even though TV commercials
show they do.
16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not
like ovens.
20.) The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.
21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms
dizzy.
22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.
23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24.) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake
fluid.
Location: Winston Salem, North Carolina, United States
AN OUNCE OF IMAGE IS WORTH A POUND OF PERFORMANCE
At a very young age I suffered from a crossing of the anal and optic nerves. It gave me a very shitty outlook on life
