Author: Zero Ponsdorf

Our pal CJ posted this on FB. I hadn’t noted it before, but maybe you had.

If not: International monitors at US polling places draw criticism

United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week. The intervention has drawn criticism from a prominent conservative-leaning group combating election fraud.

NB: I have NOT explored the details. YMMV

Military Personnel Campaign Funds Favor Obama Over Romney

The Lede:

President Barack Obama has received almost twice as much in campaign contributions from U.S. military and Defense Department personnel as his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, despite Romney’s promises to boost defense spending and his criticism of military cuts set to take place in January.

Goes against everything I believe, but…

I figured Jonn, or TSO at least, would have covered this.

Deployed soldier begins sex change

The lede:

She’s a lesbian, and almost everyone in her unit knows it.

She wears her hair cropped short and has a distinctly boyish appearance.

And she’s becoming manlier by the day, now that she’s started taking male hormones.

Call her Keith. That’s the name this 26-year-old specialist, now deployed to Afghanistan, plans to take when she completes a transition begun several months ago when she started giving herself testosterone injections every other week, under the direction of a civilian doctor who specializes in gender changes.

He/she is giving interviews except that:

Keith declined to be identified by her real name because under military policy, troops diagnosed with “gender identity disorder” are deemed medically unfit for service and face administrative separation.

Now I’m 40+ years separated from my military service and I KNOW things have changed, but this strikes me as a less than positive development .

We have someone knowingly breaking regulations and doing it in a very public way.  Somehow a righteous PC armor is magically protecting this soldier it seems.

And this is NO LONGER the person who enlisted. Even among males testosterone therapy has some serious psychological side effects. I can’t imagine the changes he/she is going through, and in a war zone to boot.

I could rant on about stuff like unit cohesion and/or morale but I’ll just ask that someone here PLEASE explain how this is a good thing!

I dunno quite what to make of this depiction of a possible future. I wish I could post this as a Sunday Silly, but this article has the appropriate bona-fides  in place.

A retired Army colonel and a professor of history at the University of Kansas have co-written an article instructing the U.S. Army how to properly destroy “…extremist militia [insurgents] motivated by the goals of the ‘tea party’ movement.” (1)

Colonel Kevin Benson, who teaches modern warfare to soldiers at the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies at Ft. Leavenworth and Associate Professor Jennifer Weber have created a scenario in which activists under the influence of that apogee of American terrorism—Tea Party members—“…take over the government of Darlington, South Carolina, occupying City Hall, disbanding the city council, and placing the mayor under house arrest.” (1)

Lookit folks I am paranoid  by any definition, but…. There is a thread here worthy of note.

Please forgive : Stolen from FaceBook and Hal Moore

Hal Moore, the Army, and America mourn the loss of SGM Basil Plumley today. He now rejoins his wife Duerice in heaven to enjoy eternal peace. Basil Plumley is an American hero; a combat infantryman in three wars, a man of tremendous character and honor, and an iconic role model for generations of Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines that have followed his path. Above all, Hal Moore and Basil Plumley were loyal comrades and lifelong friends. Basil Plumley will be missed on this earth but he has left a legacy that lives on in the values and fighting spirit of America’s servicemen and women. God Bless you Sergeant Major. We know you have St. Peter doing pushups! Drive On!

Dunno who actually wrote it (some say the page is fan based), but it seems so right. I think “We know you have St. Peter doing pushups! ” pushed me over the edge and I had to share here.