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

Category: Who knows

  • The Shane Osborn controversy

    The Shane Osborn controversy

    Osborn,_Shane_2013-11-04a

    I’m torn on this one. Apparently, Shane Osborn, the pilot for that Navy EP-3 that the Chinese Air Force knocked out the sky back in 2001, before the 9-11 attack (remember those days?), is running in a Republican primary in Nebraska for a Senate seat that was vacated by Tom Harkin, the actual phony Vietnam veteran. Some controversy arose, during the campaign, if Osborn had acted correctly that day when he landed the aircraft in China, or if he should have ditched the aircraft along with it’s classified cargo and the crew into the China Sea, most likely causing loss of life.

    To me that was dirty politics. I think questioning what most soldiers do in combat situations shouldn’t be political fodder. None of us were there nor were we faced with those decisions, so who are we to question it, just to win a campaign. Unless there was some evidence of gross neglect which caused death or severe injury.

    Anyway, Osborn approached a friend who was still in the Navy and at the Pentagon to provide unclassified information which would clear him of the accusations. That friend did exactly that and put it on official CNO stationary;

    NNNNNN

    The letter does exonerate Osborn from any wrong doing, that there was no restriction forbidding him from landing the aircraft in China under those circumstances. Osborn passed it around, even though is was on stationary from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations giving the impression that it was the official position of the CNO in regards to the landing in China, and it might well be, but it doesn’t have the approval of the CNO.

    So Osborn is taking fire from veterans in Nebraska now;

    I’m glad that I don’t have to vote in that Republican primary, because I’m torn. If the document contains true information, it does exonerate Osborne, however it’s the format in which it was presented that is dishonest and deceitful. I’m convinced that he made the right decision, with my 20/20 hindsight because the crew is all home, and no leader wants to make a decision that would result in a situation that would cost lives. On the other, third hand, it wasn’t very nice of his opponent to even spark the discussion in the first place. I don’t know…discuss.

    Thanks to whichever of you sent the links to us. All I know is your real name and I don’t want to blast that out to the world.

  • Left Hand, Meet . . . the Other Left Hand

    Recently, the Department of the Interior announced it was granting “green energy” producers operating wind farms 30-year permits to kill eagles.  In essence, it was a recognition of the fact that such “green energy” programs are not free of significant detrimental environmental effects despite the claims to the contrary.

    The permits are likely essential.  There’s really no good way to keep birds from flying into such wind farms.  For this form of “green energy” to be viable the companies operating wind farms need legal protection.

    So, all is good, right?  Um, well . . . not exactly.

    It seems that an environmental group – the American Bird Conservancy – takes exception to this new rule.  They’ve announced their intent to file a Federal lawsuit over this new rule.  They’re alleging it’s a violation of three major environmental laws:  the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

    I think this one is gonna be fun to watch.  (smile)

  • Yea, Verily, I Say Unto Thee . . .

    . . . the Millenia is at hand.  The signs have appeared.

    Wanna guess who’s calling for the POTUS’s impeachment now?  Go ahead – guess.

    Now, tell the truth:  did you guess Ralph Nader?

    You should have.   Seriously

    Just another example of the “stopped clock principle”, I guess.  Nader is a leftist idiot and a Progressive loon of the first magnitude.  The linked article makes that quite clear.

    But it’s still great to read about Nader calling for the POTUS’s impeachment.  (smile)

  • A Weekend “Blast From the Past”

    Jagger/Richards.   Anyone who knows modern popular music immediately thinks of the Rolling Stones on reading those names.

    Both are now 70+.  So today, most people likely think of them – and the Stones – as tired, aging old rock-n-rollers who still perform hits of yesteryear.  And I guess today that’s accurate.

    It’s also a shame.  Because thinking of them as they are today, sometimes we forget just how damn good these guys were at their peak.

    Their peak began in 1968, while the three primary members of the Stones (Jagger, Richards, and the late Brian Jones) were all facing potentially lengthy prison sentences.  Though the band had had success previously – and had released “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in 1965, nearly universally held to be perhaps the best rock & roll tune ever written – they still weren’t fully “locked in”.

    The experience of facing jail apparently caused them to focus their efforts.  And focus they did.

    They returned to their blues/rock&roll roots.  Musically, the result was good.  And it stayed good for four full years – from May 1968 to May 1972.

    Here’s a Baker’s dozen tunes from the Stones’ peak – the original versions. If it’s been a while since you’ve listened to them it might be worth the time to listen again, if for no other reason than to remind yourself just how good they were.  (And if you’ve never really listened to the Stones of that era, it might also be worth your while.)  The songs are presented roughly in chronological order.

    Here’s a bit of perspective.  “Midnight Rambler” is considered a quintessential Stones tune.  “Honky Tonk Woman” and “Brown Sugar” were #1 hits.  “Street Fighting Man” was hugely musically innovative and considered so subversive in it’s day (1968) that many US radio stations wouldn’t play it – but still made the top 50. 

    And IMO they are the four weakest tunes in the set.  The other nine tunes are better.

    Find a good set of headphones, crank up the volume a bit – and enjoy.  They’re from before the days of music videos, but the audio should be near CD-quality.

    During their 1969 US tour, the Stones  began billing themselves as  “the world’s greatest rock & roll band”.  The billing stuck as the group’s unofficial slogan.  They still use it today.

    Marketing hype is typically exactly that – hype. And calling the Stones “the world’s greatest rock&roll band” today is probably nothing but hype.

    But from 1968-1972, that slogan might well have been the truth.

  • About that Kennedy-Bisping Bout . . .

    Well, he didn’t knock him out, or even get him to completely shut up.  But Tim Kennedy did defeat Michael Bisping in their UFC bout earlier this week.

    The bout went the distance.

    The Army Times has further details.  I’ll leave it at that, since I’m sure TSO will want to weigh in with additional commentary when he has time.  (smile)

  • I think I will stick to self-medication and World of Warcraft.

    I’ve been struggling all day to find something to write about that isn’t Ft Hood related.  I think I found a winner:

    Meet Max:

    Max

    Lutz, Florida- Every year, millions of people in the United States are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, but for some a doctor’s office just isn’t enough.

    “There’s 554 books in my house,” says Max Sanchez, a Vietnam veteran with an extensive book, video and picture collection that focuses on moments of war.

    Surrounded by memories of the battlefield, Sanchez says his time in the army- “Four years, six months, three days,”- is something he’ll never forget. “I can’t change what happened. There’s things that were good, and things that were bad.”

    Now Max is a bit of a contradiction, in that he says he wants to forget his service, and yet he wears a military cap, has a gazillion military books, and is the only person I know with such a huge library of VHS tapes.

    Oh, and also, his “treatment” for PTSD involves walking around naked.

    According to Sanchez, he’s a part of a group of veterans who live at the Fountains at Paradise Lakes, a clothing-optional housing complex, where they find peace by going bare.

    “I forget about the whole world,” says Sanchez.

    Right now I would embrace virtually any way of excising from my memory the image of Max walking around naked, but to each their own I suppose.  But, since I am a giving sort of person, I give you the strange tale of naked Max:

    I suspect I am not the only one wondering “what did I just watch?”

    I think I will stick to playing World of Warcraft and walking my dog when I feel stressed out.  I like wearing shoes.

  • One of the Best “Put-Downs” Ever

    Gotta love a company president with a sense of humor.

    Taco Bell President Says Canada Will Get Breakfast ‘When You Take Justin Bieber Back’

    Now I absolutely gotta try Taco Bell’s new breakfast menu.  (smile)

  • Who Might This Be?

    I was perusing the Internet, and ran across this video.

    I must be getting old. It reminds me of someone – one of our fine poser “brethren”, I think. But I can’t quite decide which one.  It fits so many of them so well.

    Can you TAH readers help me out here? (smile)

    Just remember, some real “pieces of work” have been exposed here TAH.  They sometimes read the site, and TSO’s pretty busy already.  Keep that in mind when commenting, OK?