December 31, 2007

Species: Fool, Genus: Lawyer


Anti-Military Lawyer Damages Marine's Car on Eve of Deployment
 
 The Basics: US Marine Sgt Mike McNulty 's car was vandalized by dipshit Chicago lawyer Jay Grodner to the tune of $2400 in damages.

BlackFive has the story.


It’s probably too much to hope that - even with Grodner's history of unethical behavior - the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission will do anything to discipline him.

BTW, His website is disabled.

If you call Mr Grodner to express your contempt (his phone lines: (847) 444-1500 and (312) 236-1142 were disconnected) be polite - which is more than the contemptible ass was to Sgt. McNulty.

December 30, 2007

2008: Year of the Rat


Also a hotly contested election year.


Somehow apropos, eh?


The (Chinese) Year of the Rat begins February 7, 2008, and ends January 25, 2009.

This Sign is motivated by its own interests, which often include money.

The Key Word: Ambitious

Those born in the year of the Rat are: highly ambitious, charming, stubborn, strong-willed, obstinate, controlling, secretive, cunning, crafty, opportunistic, critical, resentful, vengeful, intolerant, and manipulative.

Rat people are prone to spend freely, but can be quite greedy.
Greed can become a problem if the Rat isn't careful to keep its priorities straight.

They are keen and unapologetic promoters of their own agendas, which often include money and power.

They can usually find their way around obstacles, and adapt to various environments easily.

Rats are highly exclusive and selective when choosing friends and so often have only a few very close friends whom they trust.

Rats are masters of mind games and can be very dangerous, calculative and downright cruel if the need arises.

Quick-tempered and aggressive, they will not think twice about exacting revenge on those that hurt them in any way.

Rats need to learn to relax sometimes, as they can be quite obsessed with detail, demanding order, obedience, and perfection.
Being perfectionists, they can be difficult to work with and seldom make lasting friendships.

Rats can be deeply affronted if they feel they have been deceived or that their trust has been abused.

Sometimes they set their targets too high, whether in relation to their friends or in their career.

Rats dislike doing without things they want, strict time keeping, any routines, being at the end of the line.

Although born a year too early (She's a Boar), do these characteristics remind of us
anyone ?

An alternative title could be: Year of the Hildebeast.


December 27, 2007

Sail on, Ship of State

Continuing the Naval tradition of naming U.S. Navy ships after U.S. Presidents:




Thanks to the Opinionated Fool for the Photos!

December 24, 2007

Dogs of War: Lex

In the news this week is the story of two Marines, Cpl. Dustin Lee and Lex the war dog.

Lex was an explosives sniffing dog, and his and Cpl. Lee’s job was to smell out IEDs and save Marines' lives.

On March 21st 2007 Cpl Lee and Lex were on patrol in the Fallujah area.

They had six weeks left on their tour.

During combat operations that day, Cpl. Lee and Lex were wounded by shrapnel from the same blast. Lex survived, 20 year-old Cpl. Lee did not. He would have turned 21 on April 7th.

Rachel Lee, Dustin’s mother, believes her son’s spirit lives on through Lex because of their close bond, because they were wounded together and because Lex was there as Dustin died.

The Lee family wanted to adopt the 8 year-old war dog, but Lex still had two years of military service left.

 In the history of the Marine Corps War Dog program, no dog had ever been retired early so he could be adopted out. 

That did not deter the Lee family.

  The Lees lobbied the Marine Corps for months, getting their congressman involved. Their efforts paid off and on Friday, December 21st, exactly 9 months after Dustin was killed, Lex was retired from the Corps and adopted by the Lee family during a ceremony at MCLB Albany, GA.

Requiescat In Pace, Marine
There'd be a lot more than 50,000 names on the Vietnam Wall without these dogs, and I don't think the average American even knows the role they played." - Dr. John Kubisz,  a veterinarian who served with the 764th Veterinary detachment in Vietnam.

NoBoddie's Winter Holiday Message


TO ALL MY DEMOCRAT FRIE
NDS:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere.
 
Also, this wish is made without regard to race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference.
Have a Happy Non-Denomination Winter Holiday!

TO ALL MY REPUBLICAN FRIENDS:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


December 20, 2007

Normandale Community College and Mosque


H/T to Hot Air:



And this is how it will go ...

"inch by inch, prayer room by prayer room.
Aggression works".


News of the Week


The big news this week, which you can avoid only by turning off everything electronic in your house, is the somehow unsurprising revelation that Britney Spears' sister, age 16, is pregnant.


And in a brief, hardly noticed mention found in 'Field Notes', which NBC News describes as 'stories that don't always make the headlines':

Arlington National Cemetery Buries Its 400th Iraq Casualty


Chief Petty Officer Mark T. Carter, 27, of Fallbrook, CA, died Dec. 11, as a result of enemy action while conducting combat operations in Iraq. 
 
He was permanently assigned as an East Coast-based Navy SEAL.

Chief Petty Officer Mark Carter

Requiescat in Pace, Chief

It's About Damn Time!


After months of congressional pressure, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation of Army General Frank Kearney.

North Carolina Representative Walter Jones said he believes Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney has overstepped his authority.

"I am troubled by the premeditated-murder charges levied against Master Sergeant Troy Anderson and Captain Dave Staffel of Special Forces. Based on his own statements, Lieutenant General Frank Kearney directed that charges be brought against these two American heroes despite the fact that the two soldiers were exonerated by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command."
(letter to Defense Scty Gates, October)
In October 2006, Kearney demanded a THIRD inquiry into two Green Berets who killed an Afghan enemy combatant as Afghan police tried to take him into custody, and who were cleared of wrongdoing after two investigations.

They were cleared again after the third investigation.


Then, following a March 4,2007 car bomb ambush of a Marine convoy in Bandikot, Afghanistan, a firefight ensued which ended with 19 Afghan civilians reported dead and an Army colonel apologizing for the incident that he called "a stain on the forces' honor." The colonel authorized payment of reparations to the victim's families before a military criminal investigation was complete.
Kearney, who at the time was in charge of Special Operations in Afghanistan, ordered the unit pulled out of Afghanistan.

The Marines ordered their own investigation.
In November, Marine Major General Dennis Hejlik, head of USMC Special Operations Command said the Marines took the appropriate action in the ambush against them and should not have been pulled from the region.

According to professor Jeffrey F. Addicott, a former senior legal adviser to the Green Berets and director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio:
"This is a very serious, serious charge in the military. If this inspector general investigation finds that command influence occurred, then General Kearney could be fired from his job by his superior or forced to resign or retire. In my opinion, there is clear evidence that he exerted command influence."
Write your congressmen and senators and let them know General Kearney needs to find a job he can handle.  
 
Perhaps Disneyland needs a Goofy.
 
 

December 16, 2007

The Bubba Clinton Presidential Liebrary

Note: Liebrary is not an accidental misspelling.

"The library is an imposing glass and metal structure overlooking the Arkansas River. Also on its landscaped grounds is the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service."

The motto of which is: "If it gets me off, it must be right".

Okay, I was kidding about that.


A presidential library is a repository for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of a former POTUS.

In Bubba's case, those documents which survived shredding, and those which have rewritten history according to the Clintons.


A president's library is supposed to reflect the character of the president, assuming they have any.


This looks like it belongs in a trailer park.


So, who paid for this $165 million monstrous eyesore?

No one knows exactly because, according to the Clinton Library the donors were promised confidentiality - and -
the William J. Clinton Foundation, which funds the library, is considered a charity whose contributors can remain anonymous.

One wonders how much of that $165 million was actually spent on the library.

UPDATE:
Bill Clinton's presidential library raised more than 10 percent of the cost of its $165 million facility from foreign sources, with the most generous overseas donation coming from Saudi Arabia, according to interviews yesterday.

In addition, a handful of Middle Eastern business executives and officials also gave at least $1 million each, according to the interviews. They include Saudi businessmen Abdullah al-Dabbagh, Nasser al-Rashid and Walid Juffali, as well as Issam Fares, a U.S. citizen who previously served as deputy prime minister of Lebanon.

Spokesmen for Kuwait and Taiwan confirmed that each government has given the library $1 million. Both governments also donated to other presidential libraries. Kuwait contributed at least $1 million to the library of former president George H.W. Bush, and Taiwan gave $2 million to the Ronald Reagan library.


Wreaths Across America


at Arlington National Cemetery

Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.
Know the line has held, your job is done.
Rest easy, sleep well.
Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held.
Peace, peace, and farewell …

December 15, 2007

Beat Feet, Bubba


Bill Clinton.
The ex-president who just will not go away or shut up.

Peggy Noonan writes:

"A thought on the presence of Bill Clinton. He is showing up all over in Iowa and New Hampshire, speaking, shaking hands, drawing crowds. But when he speaks, he has a tendency to speak about himself...

...The way it was supposed to work, the logic, was this: People miss Bill. They miss the '90s. They miss the pre-9/11 world. So they'll love seeing him back in the White House. So they'll vote for Hillary. Because she'll bring him. "Two for the price of one."

It appears not to be working. Might it be that they don't miss Bill as much as everyone thought? That they don't actually want Bill back in the White House?"

No, we don't miss the arrogant, inept ass.
No, we don't want the two-for-one, co-president deal.

I do not understand the media's kiss-ass attention they give this political buffoon and general idiot.

Do they not remember back in January 2001 when Bubba took his time leaving the trashed and vandalized White House, when he stalled for hours before boarding Air Force One to leave Washington, apparently reluctant to give up the spotlight?

Do they not remember the rudeness to the White House press and military by the Clintons and their staffers?

Do they not remember the myriad political and personal scandals during the 8 years of the Clinton Follies? The impeachment? Hello?

Go away, Bubba, far, far away.
And shut the hell up.

How to Say Thank You








Salute to LC 0311 crunchie I.M.H. , Anti-Idiotarian
Thanks for sharing this!

December 13, 2007

Happy Birthday, National Guard

What is a few years younger than the Mayflower Compact (1620)?


What is a lot older than the Declaration of Independence (1776) and U.S. Constitution (1787)?


What predates the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps by 139 years?


What is 311 years older than the Air Force?
The National Guard


Now celebrating 371 years –
or
19 generations of lifers

Happy Birthday and Thank you, Guardsmen and Ladies

December 12, 2007

The Fur Flies in Portland


Portland Winter Hawks fans threw what was reportedly a world record 20,372 stuffed animals on the ice after their t
eam's first goal of the season.




According to Wikipedia:

A Teddy bear toss is a popular Christmas season promotion at many minor and junior hockey arenas throughout North America.

Fans are encouraged to bring teddy bears to the game, and to throw them onto the ice when the home team scores its first goal.

The toys are then gathered up to be donated as Christmas presents to hospitals and charities.

In many cases, the players themselves personally donate some of the bears to children at area hospitals.

The tradition is said to have started in Kitchener, Ontario at Kitchener Rangers games.


What a great tradition!

December 09, 2007

Poetry in Motion

Cannon Cockers at Camp Lejeune





Genesis of the Field Artillery - MOS 0802

In the beginning, there was chaos, and the chaos was the infantry, the queen of battle. However, the queen was alone. And fear was with the infantry, so she cried out unto the Lord saying, "Lord save me for I am afraid!"

And the Lord heard her grunts and set some of the infantry on beasts of burden, and these he called the cavalry, and the cavalry became armor. And when the Lord saw what he had done, he laughed saying, "Well, you can't win them all!"

As time passed, the infantry and the armor again cried out unto the Lord saying, "Lord save us, for we are afraid." The Lord heard their cries and decided to end their weepings.

The Lord said unto them, "I shall send unto you a race of men noble in heart and spirit."

And the Lord created the Field Artillery, and named them the King of Battle.

And the Lord said unto the infantry and armor, "When it is dark, the King shall light your way. And when you need smoke, there shall be smoke, and when you need it to rain down death and destruction upon the enemy, you shall have it."

And the Lord gave the King big guns and big bullets. And the infantry and armor were jealous, for they had not. And the Lord gave the artillery rockets and missiles and nukes.

And when the infantry and armor saw this, they fell to their knees in awesome wonder, saying surely the Lord is on the side of the artillery, the King of Battle.

And the Lord said, "CHECK!"




Yes, I married one
.






December 07, 2007

Not Forgotten: Pearl Harbor


On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed
at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
By planning the attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet at Pearl Harbor, but as luck would have it, the aircraft carriers and one of the battleships were not in port.

When it was over, the U.S. losses were:

US Navy: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA
US Army: 218 KIA, 364 WIA
USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA
Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA


the USS Shaw, Destroyer, exploding


1,177 service members perished on the USS Arizona, making it the greatest loss of life on any U.S. warship in American history.
The majority of the USS Arizona’s crew members went down with the ship; 337 service members s
urvived.

The USS Arizona sank in nine minutes
and burned for over two days.
There were 1.4 million gallons of fuel on the USS Arizona when she sank.

Over 60 years later, approximately two quarts of oil a day still surface from the ship which
Pearl Harbor survivors refer to as “black tears.”
The bond between USS Arizona shipmates went beyond being comrades; there were 37 sets of brothers assigned to the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941.
Today, interments for deceased USS Arizona survivors are conducted on the ship.

An interesting site: The Sacred Relics of Pearl Harbor


December 04, 2007

Patriotism: Sea-Tac Style


Last month at Seattle-Tacoma airport, an honor guard of Fort Le
wis soldiers was escorting a fallen colleague back to his family in Virginia.

After a ceremony on the tarmac, the soldiers went into the terminal to board the plane, presented their ID, and walked through the metal detectors, which were set off by their combat ribbons and medals.

What to do, if you’re the Transportation Security Administration screener on duty?

What this inept and insensitive idiot did is unbelievable.

The two soldiers were told to put down the American flag they were carrying - the flag that had draped the fallen soldier's coffin.

The TSA screener then had the soldiers strip to their t-shirts, pants and socks in full view of everyone in line.

Is the humiliation of passengers part of the TSA job description?
How about disrespect?
Total absence of good sense?
None of those things are listed as a requirement for employment.
UPDATE:

Congressman Norm Dicks of Washington's 6th Congressional District read the commentary on-line and had detailed conversations with TSA and The Department of Homeland Security officials back in D.C.

The TSA says that protocols and training will be updated to assure nothing like this happens again;
military personnel escorting a body for burial will go from the airport tarmac directly to the boarding area. All other military travelers in uniform will, if necessary, be taken to a private area if a more detailed search is required.

The two Fort Lewis soldiers will be getting a formal apology from TSA officials for what they were made to endure out at Sea-Tac.


It has yet to be decided what, if any, disciplinary action will be taken against the screener at Sea-Tac.

How about sending the asshole back to Somalia or whatever shithole he crawled out of?

December 03, 2007

Hell Has Only Frosted Over!


Apparently Hell Hath No Fury like a Pelosi crossed:


"Following a headline-grabbing uproar, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, moved swiftly Friday to clarify earlier remarks that seemed to suggest the Iraq surge policy was working.

The surge, he said in a statement, “has created a window of opportunity for the Iraqi government,’’ but so far the Iraqi government has “failed to capitalize on the political and diplomatic steps that the surge was designed to provide.”

“The fact remains that the war in Iraq cannot be won militarily, and that we must begin an orderly redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as practicable,” said the chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee." -- The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review