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

Category: Antiwar crowd

  • Dropping all of the balls

    While the Obama Administration focuses on what it considers important, namely the take over of health care, balls are dropping every where else. They’ve proved themselves to be a Carter-esque paper tiger with Russia when they disappointed Eastern Europe by capitulating to Putin’s pressure to stop building the missile shield to protect our allies.

    Putting pressure on New York’s accidental governor to withdraw from next year’s race has only made David Paterson dig in for a tough battle against his own party.

    The Obama Administration has allowed Hillary Clinton to fight their battles in Honduras, according to Wall Street Journal’s Mary O’Grady, and fighting against the Constitutional law of Honduras has proved to be a fool’s errand.

    General Stanley McChrystal has asked for more troops in Afghanistan which has opened an opportunity for cash-starved anti-war groups who are planning an assault on the Obama war policy next week.

    Andrew Breitbart is promising that even more videos are coming from the O’Keefe/Giles team against the Obama allies in ACORN.

    Obviously, actual leadership is harder than campaigning, but focusing on taking over the economy isn’t so important as letting shallow reasoning govern the nation isn’t working. It seems that Obama’s foreign policy seems to be “do the opposite of Bush” and it doesn’t seem to be us any good.

  • Hot Chicks with Douchebags; TAH Edition

    You’ve probably heard of the Hot Chicks with Douchebags blog. Well this is the This Ain’t Hell version.

    This was actually TSO’s idea, but the line and the picture are just too good to pass up, so here it is below the fold.

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  • Oath Keepers and IVAW

    I’ve been receiving emails over the last few months about Oath Keepers and my initial impressions of the organization were good. I mean, I’m all for military and law enforcement officers pledging to keep their respective oaths. And the Southern Poverty Law Center is scared by them, so that’s always good.

    A week or so ago, one of my RSS feeds took me to an article on Oathkeepers’ website that was written by Eric T Orseske, an IVAW member. At the time, I let it slide to see what Oath Keepers would do about it – within a few days, the post came down. Well, the same post popped up again today;

    eric-t-orseske1a

    Well, i just think it’s odd that Oath Keepers would associate itself with someone blatantly opposed to oaths. The IVAW has recently, at least at Fort Hood, encouraged soldiers to break their oath to serve. The IVAW won’t even vote to boot members who encourage violence against our troops.

    So what about the IVAW lends itself to cooperation with an otherwise commendable organization like Oath Keepers?

  • New twist on the DADT policy

    Sniper sent me this story about Bethany Smith (aka Skyler James). It seems Ms. Smith, or Mr. James, was stationed at Fort Campbell a few years back when she was spotted in a local mall holding hands with another woman. Smith tells this story to the Canadian Broadcast Corporation;

    “I had to endure not only verbal and physical harassment, but death threats and harassment letters on my door every day,” Smith told reporters Tuesday outside the court. Following the hearing, she said she was staying positive and hoping for the best.

    Smith, who now lives in Ottawa, said she was treated as “less than human” by other soldiers at the base in Fort Campbell, Ky., after they saw her holding hands with another woman at a local mall and found out she was a lesbian. One soldier who worked with her on the base’s fleet of vehicles would pick her up, shake her and throw her to the ground on a daily basis, she told CBC News.

    “There were sergeants standing around laughing with him,” she added.

    I find that REAL hard to believe – sergeants laughing at one soldier manhandling another? I’ve known some shitbags before, but none that would do that. No matter what their respective sexual orientation.

    Fearing for her life, she asked her first sergeant for a discharge, which is usually granted automatically to soldiers who admit to homosexuality.

    “He told me straight up, ‘We’ll figure out the paperwork when we get back from deployment,” she recalled. At the time, Smith was scheduled to be sent to Afghanistan.

    So, she went to Canada instead. Now the Canadians have refused her refugee status and she’s working her way through the courts. These deserters tend towards hyperbole in their defense in foreign courts. Andre Shepherd tells the Germans he’ll be put to death if he returns, and Ms. Smith/Mr. James claims she/he will be tortured by her peers.

    I’ll tell you, I have lesbian tendencies, too, and I’ve never been persecuted for them.

    Usually, gays are complaining that they’re getting tossed out of the military because of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and this one complains that she wasn’t tossed out. Can you guys tell us when we’re supposed to throw you out and when we have to let you stay – the rest of us are confused.

    In related news, 1stCavRVN sent me a link to a Free Republic discussion about new legislation the Canadian Liberals are trying to get through the legislature that would make Canada a safe haven for US deserters.

    The bill, introduced by the Liberal Party’s Gerard Kennedy, would allow other countries’ military deserters to stay in Canada if their refusal to serve is based on sincere moral, political or religious objections.

    Parliament has already voted twice to support war resisters, but those were non-binding motions.

    Kennedy’s bill would be binding because it would amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

    Well, it doesn’t say US deserters, but unless the Russians have a deserter problem, or the North Pole, who else would desert to Canada? In my opinion, they should keep them. Who cares? All of the resisters who’ve fled to Canada were dirt bags anyway. Let the Canadian tax payers support that fat-ass baby-factory Kimberly Rivera and her lay-about husband and dumbass Corey Glass who absconded to Canada and the Army isn’t even looking for him.

    If Canadians are willing to support those scroungy dirt balls, let ’em.

  • IVAW member complains that Army was good to him

    josh-noelsomethingorother

    Meet Josh Noehrenberg, a new IVAW member – so new that he doesn’t have a profile on IVAW’s website, yet. Or maybe it’s for a good reason he doesn’t have a profile. He’s another of the IVAW members who haven’t been to Iraq or Afghanistan, yet he’s in the IRAQ VETERANS Against the War. He fought against Germans;

    “Technically you only need to serve in the global war on terror which took place in a number of different theaters not just Iraq,” Noehrenberg said. Noehrenberg said that serving in Germany was easy and uneventful until he returned home. “When we came back to the states we got reports later that there was in fact a terrorist plot over in Germany and that the [Military Police] uncovered it,” Noehrenberg said. Noehrenberg said he knew the terrorists that were uncovered in the plot and said one of them worked as a store clerk at the Post Exchange on his base. “It just struck home like, holy cow her and her boyfriend had pipe bombs ready to blow us to pieces,” Noehrenberg said.

    Well, there you go, he’s going to be claiming PTSD from hearing about this terrorist activity – the Matthis Chiroux syndrome. Then he went to Fort Polk and admits he didn’t oppose the war until it was his turn to go;

    Noehrenberg said after that event they received their orders that the company was going to be deployed to Iraq and that started a pattern of nonviolent resistance with Noehrenberg and other soldiers in his company. “We formed our own opinion about the matter,” Noehrenberg said. Noehrenberg said him and other troops tried to convince other troops in their company that “this war is not our war,” and purposely performed poorly during military exercises and marksmen tests. Noehrenberg said he realized that this company was being “poorly” trained and under supplied by his commanding officers. “I saw that our unit was not ready for the mission that was being handed down,” Noehrenberg said.

    In all of his years of experience, Noehrenberg determined his unit wasn’t ready to deploy and tried to leave his buddies behind to deploy unprepared for war. Yep, that’s how it happened, I swear.

    Noehrenberg said him and other soldiers held a teleconference with Sen. Richard Durbin to try and explain their views on how prepared the company was. “We’ll never know for sure whether or not it was our efforts per sea that was the turning point in the decision but we ended up not going on that deployment,” Noehrenberg said. “The entire battalion went home and got much needed rest.”

    I wish I’d been his First Sergeant – I’d have worn his young ass out – push ups for days. Then he applies for a hardship discharge and gets it to help his family through some tough times – I understand that, but is Noehrenberg grateful for the Army’s decision to release him from his obligation to care for his family? You guessed it – nope;

    Noehrenberg currently works for the Iraq Veterans Against the War by talking to young people who are thinking about joining the military. He talks about his time in the military, and he hopes he can change their mind.

    Yup, cuz the Army so mistreated him. Here’s an article about Joshie-pooh when he showed up at an Immgrant-rights march in Chicago – you tell me what his politics are;

    Josh Noehrenberg, 25, of Lombard, showed up carrying a red and black anarchy flag, a skateboard and the book “The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism” by Todd May. “These people are being exploited in a very real way,” said Noehrenberg, a political science major at Roosevelt University, referring to low-income workers.

    I’m guessing he’s another ISO member, but I might be wrong.

  • Peace movement plans protest against Obama

    A gaggle of peace movement organizations wrote an open letter to the President urging that he adopt their platform for peace. However, they forget the time line of some important events;

    We feel you are stuck in the same trap, which ensnared President Lyndon Johnson. His decision to continue that awful war in Vietnam brought down his presidency. He failed to listen to the peace movement, and history has not been kind to him.

    Um, Lyndon Johnson didn’t “continue” the war in Vietnam, he escalated the operations in Vietnam to an actual combat role. US combat forces were introduced to Vietnam at Da Nang March 8, 1965 – at the beginning of the Johnson Administration.

    The letter continues;

    Today’s peace movement is baffled by your persistence to wage war on the people of Afghanistan. Not only is your policy flawed, but it is doomed to failure. Afghanistan surely does not need more killing and destruction. It needs financial assistance and the willingness of the United States to build roads, schools and clinics. The people, especially the women and children, need food, medicine, shelter and an end to the fighting. Moreover, the U.S. military is unsuited to do humanitarian work in Afghanistan.

    What have the US forces been doing in Afghanistan? Oh, that’s right, they’ve been “air raiding villages”, I forgot. And were they “unsuited to do humanitarian work in” Bosnia and Kosovo, too?

    We protested the belligerency of the Bush administration, and now we are demonstrating against your misguided efforts in Afghanistan. We are mystified that in the midst of a horrible economic crisis, you are wasting precious tax dollars and other resources in a futile war without end. To call this a war of necessity is an attempt to rewrite history.

    I’ll bet you clowns are mystified about a lot of things, mostly simple tasks like tying your shoes and changing your underwear. To not refer to this war as a war of necessity is to ignore history.

    But on the upside, this coalition of misinformed idiots are planning to protest against the Obama White House on Monday, October 5th.

    I wonder if Jimmy Carter will call them racists.

  • Evil doin’s at Fort Hood

    Apparently Fort Hood has become the focus of the anti-war and “soldier resistance” movement. You’ll remember that we wrote about Victor Agosto who was shipped off to the Bell County jail in texas after he refused to deploy with his unit. When he finished his 30 day sentence, he was celebrated as a returning hero by about 50 Leftist clowns according to an article in Socialist Worker;

    On an unusually pleasant 95-degree afternoon at Under the Hood Café, the G.I. café just outside Fort Hood, there was a celebration for a hero, a barbecue and fundraiser, and a rally to continue the fight for the other men, women and families victimized by the war machine and inspired by Victor’s courage.

    Sweet, huh? I wonder how many of Agosto’s fellow soldiers get the same treatment when they return from their deployment – will Victor greet them with the amenities that he got upon his “return”?.
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  • Mullen calls for more troops

    Stars and Stripes reports this morning that Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress yesterday that he may need more toops and more resources to win in Afghanistan;

    Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the war is growing more complicated and the enemy gaining in sophistication. Winning will require more resources from outside Afghanistan, including more troops, Mullen told Congress.

    “A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces, and without question, more time” and dedication, Mullen said.

    Last week, as reported by McQ at Blackfive, Nancy Pelost doesn’t see the “support” for increasing forces and resources in Afghanistan. Uncle Jimbo reminds us that this is just an echo from our past.

    Also echoing from our recent past is Pete Hegseth and the Vets For Freedom who are passing around a petition asking Congress to give our troops the funding they need and give our military leaders the resources they need to fight this war. You can sign the petition at this link.