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

Category: Protests/Rallies

  • So Sad…

    When I read this I was concerned. Jonn works at this… It’s his hobby but he’s really not very good, I feel his pain.
    60 Elvis impersonators flee fire alarm

    The lookalikes were attending a charity function in Rochester, Kent, when the fire alarm sounded late on Saturday night.

    It is believed that it was set off by a faulty smoke machine that formed part of the Elvis act at the fundraiser.

    Guests leaving the hotel were stunned to see a group of around 60 impersonators, dressed in wigs and full rhinestone costume, gathered in the car park.

    It happened in England and that helped alleviate my concern.

    TSO impersonates Gerry Garcia, but that is less likely to make international headlines.

    You really don’t wanna know how I can prove this. The pictures might land me in jail.

    One way or another.

  • Bombs In Maine!!!

    Occupy Maine adjusts, beefs up security watches after chemical bomb attack

    PORTLAND, Maine — Members of Portland’s Occupy Maine encampment have increased security shifts and moved their kitchen area to within view of nearby Cumberland County Courthouse video cameras after a chemical bomb incident early Sunday morning.

    A description of the infernal device:

    Portland police Lt. Gary Rogers, speaking earlier in the day Tuesday, said “typically a chemical bomb is made in a plastic bottle with common household items, that, when combined, can cause some expansion and then an explosion.”

    If that description is accurate I’ve made more than a few of the devices myself. And no; I won’t describe the gizmo here! Makes a more of a POP than a boom though.

    I’ve been kinda expecting thrown fire crackers or maybe a stink bomb (who’d notice). Sure looks like no more than a kids prank regardless.

    These folks do enjoy their drama:

    “It was no small noise, that’s for sure,” Lamson told the Bangor Daily News. “It lifted a table up that would have taken two people to lift, so it was no small force, either. It didn’t cause a fire, but it was dangerous.”

    Exit question: I’m no EOD type, but aren’t ALL bombs chemical bombs? Except maybe Nukes… been 40 years since I went to THAT school.

  • Nobel Peace Prize Huh?

    It is quite apparent our current CINC is developing a curious track record?

    James Taranto notes with a certain irony:

    We are not the first to make this observation. “For a president who promised to end the gunslinger ways of his predecessor, Barack Obama has proven himself comfortable with the use of lethal force,” the Los Angeles Times reports. The paper counts Gadhafi as another “notch” on Obama’s “lethal-force belt,” along with Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and others. “All told this year,” the report adds, the president “has sent U.S. troops into action on land or in the skies of seven countries on two continents.”

    A New York Times “news analysis” describes Gadhafi’s death as “vindication, however harrowing,” of Obama’s “carefully calibrated response” in which “a reluctant commander in chief put strict limits on American military engagement and let NATO allies take the lead in backing the rebels”–a far less catchy way of saying “leading from behind.”

    Toss in the de facto (tacit?)  support for The Arab Spring and we have a foreign policy that is hardly Peace oriented.

    I’ll file Taranto’s closing paragraphs under “wish I’d said that”.

    One difference between Obama’s foreign and domestic policies is that the former are conducted in a relatively economical fashion. National Journal reports that “according to the Pentagon, [this] was the cost to U.S. taxpayers for Muammar el-Qaddafi’s head: $1.1 billion through September, the latest figure just out of the Defense Department.”

    At that rate, you could knock off 400 dictators for $440 billion–still less than Obama wants to waste on Stimulus Jr. That’s the best illustration yet of just how skewed this administration’s priorities are.

    Hey OWS… I think ya missed this!

  • Shamar Thomas: Adam Kokesh’s heir apparent.

    It seems our newest military street performer has hit facebook and doing his best follow the road taken by Adam Kokesh when he did fake patrols to protest the Iraq war.

    So in addition to the video that I talked he has been busy being a perfect photo prompt with Micheal Moore and Keith O’brien. Yep quite the busy guy.

    Also just like Kokesh, Thomas is admin according to Marine Online. Listed as 3051 which is listed as a Warehouse Clerk. Unlike Kokesh he has yet to be arrested, not for a lack of trying.

    Theatricals, that is all it is. Only with the next guy in line.

  • In Honor of the VVAW

    I didn’t see any heavy ground combat, and didn’t earn any heavy duty medals… But I do like a good sea story. They begin “This ain’t no shit…”

  • Useful Idiots

    I’ve made a fairly earnest effort to understand ANY point the OWS folks are trying to make. One of the oldest rules of warfare is “Know Your Enemy” after all. Simply pointing and laughing, although fun, is a dangerous tactic once the numbers reach a sort of critical mass. A herd made up of a couple of hundred clowns can trample you if they stampede.

    It’s rather obvious that one faction is using The Saul Alinsky Playbook, and some others are anarchists. However, the vast majority are simply useful idiots. Although I’m loathe to cite WND for anything more than Chuck Norris articles there IS a good precis on that subject by Ellis Washington over there.

    One analogy might be a gay man supporting the Islamists Arab Spring movement.

    But… I’m thinking martyrdom, or cannon fodder. NB, I am NOT using hyperbole when I suggest that the leaders of OWS will be seeking REAL violence. Something well beyond Kent State, in fact.

    So I’ve come to pity most of the OWS crowd.

    ETA: Perhaps I’ve communicated poorly? By saying “well beyond Kent State” I’m referring to a major earthquake. Think martial law type stuff. One governor has already joked(?) about calling off elections. YMMV

  • Rocks and Shoals

    Watching this crop of ‘hippies’ protesting whatever it is they are protesting has led me once again down memory lane.

    Follow along if you will?

    Until 1951 the US Navy was governed by the Articles for the Government of the United States Navy, also known as Rocks and Shoals for this bit:

    The punishment of death, or such other punishment as a court martial may adjudge, may be inflicted on any person in the naval service —

    10. Or intentionally or willfully suffers any vessel of the Navy to be stranded, or run upon rocks or shoals, or improperly hazarded or maliciously or willfully injures any vessel of the Navy, or any part of her tackle, armament, or equipment, whereby the safety the vessel is hazarded or the lives of the crew exposed to danger.

    When I was in (64-69) Rocks and Shoals was discussed freely by the old timers.

    At least as late as the ’60s corporal punishment was used in schools (and yes, I know from my own experience) .  Even my grandmother favored a willow switch to get my attention on occasion.

    I gotta wonder if this lot of occupiers has EVER been held responsible for their actions?

    Me… rather taking a swing at ’em, I’m considering finding a willow switch and putting them, one at time, across my knee.

  • Almost Heaven…

    The Wife and I will be heading out to vote shortly.  What happens here in West Virginia today might be a bellwether of sorts.

    GOP Sees Upset in W.Va. Governor Race

    Bill Maloney, a Republican running on an anti-establishment ticket, has enough momentum to become the next governor in true-blue West Virginia, party insiders hope.

    Even though Maloney never has run for office, he is just one point behind the Democratic incumbent in the election on Tuesday, according to a new Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey.

    And Maloney, one of the men behind the rescue of 33 trapped Chilean miners last year, has enough support among registered Democrats to snatch victory from Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin in the special election, Maloney’s campaign staffers believe.

    “The Democrat says he’s been around in politics for 36 years, and that’s true, but 34 of those years have been pretty lousy for West Virginians,” one Maloney staffer told Newsmax. “The thing about this campaign is we are not against the Democratic Party because there are too many Democrats in the state – we are against the establishment.”

    One turn of phrase strikes my fancy: “we are against the establishment.”

    The TEA Party needs to start using that line more!

    But, of course, the REAL twist is that those yahoos (What Jonn calls Hippies) currently protesting whatever it is they are fussing about have become part of  The Establishment in fact.