Author: TSO

I wouldn’t normally care on any of this, since pageants aren’t my thing, but….I actually met this young lady.

Anyway, first, the video:
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This is a travesty:

A former Indiana mayor who won four terms in the 1930s and 1950s is proving less popular with modern-day city leaders, who say they probably won’t name a new government center for him because of the jokes his moniker could inspire.

Harry Baals is the runaway favorite in online voting to name the new building in Fort Wayne, about 120 miles northeast of Indianapolis. But Deputy Mayor Beth Malloy said that probably won’t be enough to put the name of the city’s longest-tenured mayor on the center.

The issue is pronunciation. The former mayor pronounced his last name “balls.” His descendants have since changed it to “bales.”

Look, Harry Baals did a great job as Mayor. Harry Baals probably went through a lot to become Mayor. Harry Baals probably took a lot of guff (yes, I said guff) in school for his unfortunate name. The man deserves a building. This is probably just the lame stream media trying to hurt him because he was a Republican.

Therefore, I am thinking of going up and protesting this attrocious decision. Could use some help on signs, and if anyone knows some union thugs I can hire to accompany me, that would be just grand. For signs, I am thinking:

No Harry Baals, no peace; know Harry Baals, know peace.
Huzzah, Huzzah, Harry Baals, put his name up for one and alls!
Ted Kennedy’s car has killed more folks than my Harry Baals!
If Harry Baals causes laughter, then Michael Moore will eat another child.

Of course, this building naming debacle comes on the heels of other similiar controversies regarding statues.

The Detriot Mayor is taking heat over this decision:

And in Quohog, Mayor West got into trouble for his tribute to fallen servicemembers:

Look, if Dick Sweat can be elected Congressman for New Hampshire, haven’t we matured enough as a society to erect the name of Harry Baals on a YMCA or something?

“Although neither DoD nor the FBI had specific information concerning the time, place, or nature of the attack, they collectively had sufficient information to have detected Hasan’s radicalization to violent Islamist extremism but failed both to understand and to act all it. Our investigation found specific and systemic failures in the government’s handling of the Hasan case and raises additional concerns about what may be broader systemic issues.”

Unsurprisingly, there were a host of errors that were unveiled by this report from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The report was a bipartisan product led by Senator Lieberman of Connecticut, and my birth-state Senator Susan Collins of Maine. Apparently everyone just looked the other way to avoid a PC problem. Well done there I’d say….

Here are some key excerpts:

Major Nidal Hasan’s public displays of radicalization toward violent Islamist extremism during his medical residency and post-residency fellowship were clear and led two officers to describe him as a “ticking time bomb.”

During his medical residency and post-residency fellowship, his vicws were no secret to his superiors and colleagues, and he showed clear evidencc of escalating radicalization to violent Islamist extremism. Witnesses reported that Hasan expressed support in open class presentations for many of the principles of violent lslamist extremism, and this support is reflected in written academic papers Hasan prepared during this time frame.

That conduct disturbed many of his superiors and colleagues, yet no action was taken against him. In fact, his Officer Evaluation Reports were uniformly positive – and even described his exploration of violent lslamist cxtremism as something praiseworthy and useful to U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Notwithstanding his manifestations of violent Islamist extremism and his concomitant poor performance as a psychiatrist, Hasan was not removed from the military but instead was promoted to the rank of major in May 2009 and eventually ordered to be deployed to Afghanistan in the fall of 2009.

Apparently there was one guy that got it:

While Hasan’s evident radicalization to violent Islamist extremism occurred gradually and escalated over time, the fact that he obviously had strong religious views that created conflicts with his military service manifested during the early part of his residency (2003-2006). One classmate told investigators that Hasan openly questioned whether he could engage in combat against other Muslims.

During the third year of his residency, Hasan’s conflicts with service obligations ripened to the point that one of his supervisors tried twice to convince him to leave the military. The first time, Hasan’s superior told him, “I don’t think you and the military will fit,” and offered Hasan “a way out” to “just say goodbye.” Later, after that adviser and Hasan unsuccessfully explored whether Hasan qualified for conscientious objector status, that supervisor again tried to convince Hasan to resign.

Just how obvious was it that this guy was fruitier than bat guano? You judge:
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This is what you are advocating for:

I’m not going to pretend to understand what it is all about, although at first blush I would say the good money is on Mike needing donations. Nonetheless, apparently Mike feels that you shouldn’t comment on anything unless you have actual experience in the specific field. This is curious, since Mike comments on combat all the time, and yet never served as a soldier in one. Apparently Jimbo’s lack of an MOH is a noteworthy indictment of his street cred, this coming from a guy who openly cites to an individual who also writes on military issues and uses the name “Captain” despite having never served in the military.

Nonetheless, I think it is all shit. Jimbo never lied about what he has done, CJ was brave in talking about his ongoing issues, and WOTN has done an outstanding piece, and I have no clue whether he served in theater or not. But, one really doesn’t need to be a participant to ruminate on things. Were that the case the entire media would be just Joe Scarborough and Elliot Spitzer, which would be a disaster.

But to prove my point, I give you a non-expert in the field of art, discussing art in a wonderful fashion.

Perhaps (as Mr Bean might suggest) it is possible that Mr. Yon simply has a cactus lodged up his backside.