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

Category: Who knows

  • “The Tree Is Safe, Your Excellency”

    This is . . . sad.  Just sad.

    The POTUS arrived in Israel yesterday for his first state visit to that nation.  He and the Israeli President, Shimon Peres, planted a US magnolia tree as part of the arrival ceremony.

    Accounts vary on what happened later.  According to Israeli accounts, the tree was dug up later that day.  A White House spokesman denied this, saying that the tree’s roots were “wrapped in plastic mesh”.  My guess is that both are correct – e.g., the tree was unearthed, then plastic-wrapped and put back in place.

    Why?  Well, it seems any plants brought from abroad require a check by the Israeli Agricultural Ministry before they can be planted in Israel.  And it also appears that the POTUS’s staff was made aware of that fact beforehand by officials in the Israeli government, but elected not to send the tree ahead of time to allow inspection.

    I’m not joking.  See the entry for 19:54 yesterday in the article.

    I mean, really.  For crying out loud:  the state where the POTUS grew up (Hawaii) has some pretty strict quarantine requirements.  The US has pretty stiff restrictions on foreign plants and agricultural products entering the US, too.  So figuring out that import restrictions on plants might exist in other countries shouldn’t exactly be rocket science.

    (sigh)  First they don’t plan ahead regarding the POTUS’s food “taster” at a recent Capitol Hill luncheon. Here, they didn’t bother perform the due diligence necessary to prevent a major international faux pas (or simply didn’t care).  Suppose the Israelis had told the POTUS at the ceremony, “Um, no . . . you can’t plant that; it goes to quarantine first”?

    What’s next?  Are they going to forget to tell British authorities ahead of time that they’re coming and just show up at Buckingham Palace’s front door one evening expecting to see the Queen?

    It also looks like someone forgot what kind of fuel the POTUS’s limo uses during his latest trip, too.

    Our nation deserves better than this.  It’s one thing to look foolish at home.  This time, we’re looking foolish in front of the whole world.

  • PETA Really Loves Animals, Right?

    Remember those PETA ads?  The ones that equate wearing fur with killing pets?  And saying they’d rather go naked than wear fur?

    OK, we get it PETA.  You don’t wear fur.  But you also don’t exactly seem to have much use for animals, either.

    1,843 animals were left at PETA’s shelter at their Virginia HQ last year – 1,110 cats and 733 dogs.  130  (22 cats, 108 dogs) were transferred to another shelter.  The disposition of 41 others (34 cats, 7 dogs) was listed as “miscellaneous”.  5 (2 cats, 3 dogs) were reclaimed by their owners.

    A grand total of 20 were placed in new homes.  (The linked article says 19, but the math seems off – 7 cats and 13 dogs aren’t accounted for when you do the math.)

    Do I really need to spell out what happened to the other 1,647 (1,045 cats and 602 dogs)?  Or to a total of 29,398 animals since 1998?

    Hypocritical bastards.  With as much $$$ as PETA pulls in from donations, you think maybe they could find a way to find homes for more than 10.64% of the animals left at their shelter.  And that 10.64% is best case.  I’m guessing not all of the 130 dogs and cats transferred to another shelter ended up placed in new homes.  And God only knows what “miscellaneous” means.

    Maybe that “E” in PETA doesn’t stand for “Ethical” after all.   Given the above another word beginning with “E” comes to mind that certainly seems more apropos.

  • Claims of alleged corruption and sexual misconduct in 841st Engineer Battalion.

    I found this when it was posted by our friends at ARMY WTF. It seems that there are things going on at the 841st Engineer Battalion according to this Captain.

    The following is a video on the falsification of Army training documents, the endangering of Soldiers’ lives, concealment of a sexual assault, and the perpetuation of an atmosphere a sexual harassment at the 841st Engineer Battalion in Miami, Florida.

    To date no one has been held responsible for any of these actions.

    I made this video as a record of my last official act as a commissioned officer in the United States Army.

    The 841st EN BN has fostered a command climate ripe in the demoralizing atmosphere of sexual harassment and corruption.

    Not only have the officers of the 841st EN BN fallen disgracefully short of meeting their moral, ethical and legal obligations to the Soldiers assigned to the unit, but our higher commands – the 926th EN BDE and the 412th Theater Engineer Command, are equally responsible for their lack of oversight and their tacit complicity following my initial reporting of these issues over 1 ½ year ago.

    This is my last avenue for addressing these issues, as I have utilized my chain-of-command, the office of the inspector-general, and even my former-congressional representative, the Honorable Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart and my current representative, the Honorable Ms. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

    I personally cannot understand why no one has been held accountable for falsifying training documents, endangering the lives of Soldiers, concealing a sexual assault, and perpetuating an atmosphere a sexual harassment, given the amount of evidence I and others have provided or offered to provide.

    Very respectfully,

    CPT Marcelo A. Lucero
    United States Army

    Not sure what is going on but if any of this is true it needs to be looked into.

  • Raging against the great good night

    So, this week it’s popular to be against the Iraq War again. Yes, it’s the 10th anniversary of the assault on Hussein’s Iraq, so all of the bleeding hearts are out in force to explain to us why it was such a mistake. At the Washington Post, David Ignatius calls it a “disastrous mistake”. But it was anything but that. It was inevitable as I explained earlier in the week.

    But you know why you went to Iraq more than these blivet-headed reporters, or at least you should. And you don’t blame Bush or Cheney or Rumsfeld, or anyone else – like this Tomas Young who writes a F*** You to President Bush. He was shot by a sniper and has had a rough time of it for the last nine years or so, well, except when Eddie Vetter was writing songs about him and he was feted by many anti-war figures.

    Well, in addition to blaming politicians for his maladies, he’s decided that he’s packing it in and going on a hunger strike until he expires. I understand how he feels, I really do, staring into the great maw of the future with our respective illnesses and the uncertainty that goes along with it. My disease seems to be somehow connected to my service, too, but my service was my choice, like Young. I don’t blame anyone and I accept the future that I’ve been given. And, I’ll admit that at times it crosses my mind to end it, but then, I think about the people who didn’t have that choice. The people I’ve tried to honor here above all else. I owe it to them to continue.

    This morning, I got an email from a dear friend’s daughter. Tim Martin died in Mogadishu and left behind three daughters and a wife. His daughter emailed me last night to thank me for the post I wrote about him years ago. She told me that she printed it out and rereads it when she needs a bit of her father’s strength. She rereads your comments to remember what a great man her father was and the lives that he affected before he left us.

    So, if I never write another word on this blog, it has accomplished more than I ever expected in this one regard. And I think that’s what we should all strive for – to preserve the memory of our friends who won’t come back, who won’t have the chance to do the things that they sacrificed for us to enjoy. To preserve the memory of their deeds in life for those who won’t know what it was like to have them among us. That is our responsibility – they paid for us to assume that responsibility. Screw the David Ignatius.

    And to Tomas Young, I’m reminded of the poem by Dylan Thomas;

    Do not go gentle into that good night,
    Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

    Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
    Because their words had forked no lightning they
    Do not go gentle into that good night.

    Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
    Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

    Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
    And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
    Do not go gentle into that good night.

    Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
    Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

    And you, my father, there on the sad height,
    Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
    Do not go gentle into that good night.
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

  • A Breath of Fresh Air

    Well, I have to say I’m surprised.  Apparently there is still some amount of respect for private property in Europe.

    The Parliament of Cyprus yesterday refused to approve the law required to seize place a tax on bank deposits.  The EU bailout of Cypriot banks is now in question.

    That in and of itself wasn’t too surprising.  But I did find it surprising that the vote against was unanimous.

    Let’s see what happens next.  Things could get interesting.

  • Sunday Evening Entertainment

    Perhaps my personal favorite for best TV ad ever.  Make sure you keep watching as the door closes.

    Enjoy. (smile)

  • Nonchalance

    I can’t say I saw this with my own two eyes.  But the story was related to me by one of the people involved shortly afterwards.  From his reactions and demeanor, I believe it to be true.

    It happened in Baghdad, on the Victory Base Complex.

    A couple of US soldiers were attempting to locate a facility on the base complex. The facility was run by troops from one of our allies.  It wasn’t particularly well marked (many if not most of the buildings in the complex weren’t well marked).  And although one of the soldiers had been there before, it had been a while.

    They though they’d found it, so they stopped and went inside the building. They were almost right – the building they were looking for was fairly close by.

    Unfortunately, by mistake they’d wandered into the residence of an allied general.

    The general was there, and asked them what they were doing.  The soldiers apologized, and explained what they were looking for.

    Turned out the general was a really decent guy.  He wasn’t pissed; he knew where the facility they were looking for was, and told them.

    However, our guys were visibly very nervous and rather embarrassed during the visit. And it wasn’t all due to their mistake, or the rank of the guy who’s quarters they’d accidentally crashed.

    Apparently they’d caught the allied general coming out of the shower or getting dressed. He was wearing only a pair of sweatpants, and it was rather obvious that . . . how to put this . . . well, the general apparently had really been missing female companionship. Either that, or he was thoroughly turned-on by the sounds of small-arms fire from a nearby indoor firing range (one of our allies actually ran one of those on the base complex). (smile)

    The general was perplexed at the soldiers’ embarrassment, until he happened to glance down.

    Then he said, without any noticeable hesitation: “Oh. Please excuse the chubby.” And he continued the conversation without any hint of embarrassment.

    The soldiers thanked the general, left, found the facility in question, and completed their mission.  Needless to say, the soldiers also had one helluva good laugh about the whole situation.

    Well after leaving the general’s quarters, of course. (smile)

  • “The Food is Safe, Your Excellency”

    Apparently the POTUS recently attended lunch with Senate Republicans.  However, he passed on eating lunch himself.

    The reason?  According to Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the President couldn’t eat because his “taster” was not there.

    I’m not joking.

    “He looked longingly at it,” Collins continued. “He honestly did look longingly at it, but apparently he has to have essentially a taster, and I pointed out to him that we were all tasters for him, that if the food had been poisoned all of us would have keeled over so, but he did look longingly at it and he remarked that we have far better food than the Democrats do, and I said that was because I was hosting.”

    Geez.  And people called the Nixon Administration an “Imperial Presidency”.