This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Operator Dan

  • Sean Penn At His Finest

    Sean Penn takes himself WAY too seriously. In what has unfortunately become quite typical in Hollywood, Sean Penn believes that his time as an actor gave him extensive experience and knowledge in world affairs. He also believes that it makes him above criticism. When Trey Parker and Matt Stone parodied him in Team America, he wrote them an angry letter that ended with “Fuck You“. In regards to his involvement in Haitian relief efforts, Penn believes that if you question his motives that you should die of rectal cancer. But the one thing that pisses Sean off the most is when you criticize his best friend in the whole wide world, Hugo Chavez. In fact Sean thinks so highly of Hugo, that he believes that you should go to jail if you call him a dictator.

    Sean Penn made that statement on Bill Maher’s show (anybody really surprised about that?). I’ve found the video on Youtube, but it is cut up. The first part is here and he starts talking about his BFF at about 7:20:

    Here is the second part where Penn picks up where he left off:

    Penn makes a big deal about how Chavez was “democratically elected”. Hitler also came to power through a democratic system in Germany. Nobody could get away justifying Hitler’s policies by saying “Well he was democratically elected, so you all need to shut up.” But Penn thinks this justifies all the crap that Chavez has pulled in Venezuela. Chavez has shut down opposition media outlets, aligned himself with Iran, supported the terrorist group FARC in Colombia, and even has gone after Golf in Venezuela. Not to mention he openly admires Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and we all know they established the worst dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere. After considering all of these things, how can anybody call Chavez anything BUT a dictator?

    If Penn thinks you should be in jail for stating the obvious, then he would be right at home in Venezuela or Cuba. But of course, just like the rest of his fellow Marxists in Hollywood, he will never abandon the comfort and security of America. Its a lot easier to talk the talk than walk the walk.

  • The Truthers Have A Friend in Iran

    From the AP/Yahoo:

    TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has again questioned the official version of the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., calling it a “big lie” used as an excuse to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.

    This is of course from the same guy who denies the Holocaust ever happened.  This is also the same nut we are expected to negotiate with and reach a diplomatic solution over his country’s nuclear program? Ridiculous.

  • I’m Not On Welfare You Entitled Asshole

    The big controversy at Arizona State right now is the planned increase of tuition by about ten percent and a $1000 dollar “economic recovery surcharge” for students. Of course everybody is playing the blame game about the tuition hikes. As a result, some pretty ridiculous claims and demands are being made about the whole issue of tuition hikes and funding for colleges.  In this post, I want to discuss how many students feel entitled to a free higher education.

    More below the fold…

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  • Iranian Influence in Iraq: Getting the Facts Straight

    A frequent argument against American policies in Iraq is that we have in essence made Iraq a proxy state of Iran by removing the Baathist regime and allowing the Shia majority to take control of a majority of the new government. This argument has become more frequently used to the attack the war in Iraq, especially in the wake of the Surge and declining violence in Iraq. With the parliamentary elections next week, some in the media have said that these elections will in effect enable Iran to dominate Iraq. However, to say that Iran currently wields or will eventually gain complete control over the current Iraqi government or Shia majority is to ignore many facts about the complexities of Iraq’s cultural and politics. There is no doubt that Iran has influence over certain Shia political groups and armed militias. However, there are ethnic, political, and foreign factors that prevent Iran from completely dominating Iraq.

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  • Napolitano FINALLY Admits The Obvious About The Ft. Hood Massacre

    From Fox News (Emphasis my own):

    “Violent Islamic terrorism … was part and parcel of the Ft. Hood killings,” Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday morning. “There is violent Islamic terrorism, be it Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen or anywhere else, [and] that is indeed a major focus of this department and its efforts.”

    Political correctness has governed the Army’s and DHS’s handling of the Ft. Hood massacre since day one, blatantly ignoring Hassan’s ties to Islamic extremists in this country and overseas. The fact that the Napolitano now admits that this was act of Islamic terrorism does not make up for the fact that the DHS and Army deliberately ignored the obvious for months.

    More importantly, it does not make up for the fact that the Army and DHS bear responsibility for the deaths of those 13 American soldiers at Ft. Hood by repeatedly ignoring the fact that Hassan was an Islamic radical.

  • General Casey Breaks Ranks

    I’m not a George Casey fan. His handling of the Ft. Hood massacre and its aftermath were absolutely horrible. But I need to give credit when credit is due and commend him and for breaking ranks with his bosses in the administration by raising legitimate questions about the repeal of DADT in front of the Senate.

    From Reuters:

    A key senator suggested a possible compromise: suspending discharges of gays from the military under the current policy, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” for a while.

    “That would mean that if for some reason it is not repealed, down the road, the current discharge policy would stay in place,” Senator Carl Levin said.

    Some polling says most Americans favor repealing the policy requiring gay service members to keep quiet about their homosexuality. But any change must be approved by Congress, and some lawmakers say they will be guided by the military brass.

    Both Army General George Casey and Air Force General Norton Schwartz told lawmakers they were worried about the impact of such a change on a U.S. military under stress after years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Like I said in my last post about DADT, this is not a priority for the Obama administration. They punted by saying it was up to Congress to repeal the ban and the closer we get to the elections the less we will hear about it.

  • The US Military and “Wehrmacht penis envy”

    Alternet has reposted an article from TomDispatch about the US military’s “surprising fascination with failed German war thinking” and the US military’s “Wehrmacht penis envy”. The article was written by William Astore, a retried Air Force Lt. Col who is a frequent critic of the US military in his writings on TomDispatch. In this particular article, Astore argues that the United States military has embraced flawed German military strategy and implies that many US military officers are closet Nazis.  Alternet added their own introduction which was pretty much made the same the point. They even added this lovely picture:

    C’mon Alternet, I know its easy to play the Nazi card and it gets you guys web traffic from the anti-military left, but could you at least try to be original for once? Just for me? Please? PLEASE? (I said please)

    Aside from the fact that this is just a blatant attempt to bash the US military, Astore is factually inaccurate and displays a very shallow understanding of modern US military doctrine.

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  • Operation New Dawn: WTF?

    The people who came up with the name Operation New Dawn

    When I woke up this morning, I got a message from my friend and paratrooper James who is currently in Afghanistan fighting the good fight. He asked me if I was “ready” for Operation New Dawn. Right away I assumed it was one of two things: 1.) the name of the bar-hopping campaign James and I will conduct when James is on R&R or 2.) the name the DoD is giving to  the operation to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. However, I was wrong. Operation New Dawn will be the new name for Operation Iraqi Freedom, starting September 1st. My reaction to this new name was a combination of laughter, disbelief, and anger.

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