H&I* Fires 22 OCT 2006

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

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Not that I want to make the French angry or anything, but what the hell is up with continued rioting/violence in the ‘burbs that were the scenes of the big melee last year?
It’s a fight about identity and culture.
A real culture war instead of the nonsense we have over here on this side of the Atlantic. Some times the way to go Chai, Mud Huts, and Villages with No Name and other times the way to go is “Clobberin Time!” to restore order and authority. Hard part is knowing when to do each.

And it’s not just Fundementalist Moslems that are seeing this as a culture war/battle over content either. Listen to this piece from NPR about how Pootty-poot(President of Russia Putin) is using the Russian analog of the IRS to go after NGOs that spread ideas he doesn’t like. Next time some nitwit tells you it is our foreign policy that is making people mad you should slap them with a flounder. It’s our content overflow. I can’t take credit for that observation. That comes from the Thrice Damned, at least by certain Personages around here, Barnett.

Further developments in something Herr Flea was on the other day caught my eye as well. Look, people would be up in arms if a Christian Fundie or KKK hanger-on was trying to be a teacher’s aide---like there aren’t lawsuits here in the US over wearing a Crucifix in public schools by teachers and aides. This lady has connections similar to a KKK hanger-on AND seems to adhere to one of the least liberal minded sects of a religion(the Christian Fundie element). There’s no way she should be a teacher’s aide anymore. She just does not represent values we want taught to kids.

Something you wouldn’t expect to see. The HuffPuff (Huffington Post) is actually making an argument against the recent Lancet study and citing other journals to back the argument? I guess at the end of the day if you thought the Lancet study was spot on you still will and if you thought it was wrong you haven’t budged either. But not all the criticism of it is political. It could be flawed. It could be entirely correct. Call me when another group goes over and gets similar figures using the similar methodology. Otherwise, the boat is definitely out on this sucker.

Now excuse me while I prepare the bathroom for me to drive the porcelain bus in the near future. Gollum’s runnin’ a fever and feelin’ not so good(Fuzzy, can I have the Rally Monkey back while I moan and groan on my couch? He's good company dontchaknow.). No Big Boots or Hairy Eyeballs today, please. Unless you don't mind something extra coming away with your Boot.
ry

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*hands Rally Monkey back to Ry*

Guess what? The NY Times Public Editor has decided that maybe publishing secret info about tracking terrorist financing might have been a bit of overkill.

Continuing the theme of clueless journalists... this time on the subject of the CNN sniper video:

Dvorkin, with the Committee of Concerned Journalists, said Hunter and others were free to criticize CNN, a frequent target of conservative media critics. But he noted the timing of the complaints: a few weeks before the midterm elections.

Yes, the video was broadcast only two days ago. Talk about blaming the victim!!!- FbL

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Jeff Jacoby responds to Jonah Goldberg's column (referenced in the Gloom and Doom Moment post below).

In 1812, Congress declared war on Great Britain, in part because of Britain's crippling blockade of US ports and the forced impressment of American seamen into the Royal Navy. Butif Americans had known in 1812 what they found out in 1814 -- that the enemy would capture Washington and burn the Capitol, the Treasury, and the White House -- would they have gone to war with Britain? Perhaps not. Does that mean the war was a mistake?

We know now that the War of 1812 ended not with a US defeat, but with Britain, a superpower of the day, fought to a stalemate by its former colonies. As a consequence, the young republic earned international esteem; never again would Britain challenge American independence. Indeed, never again would the two nations go to war. If Congress had known that in 1812, would it have voted for war? Quite likely. Maybe by an even larger majority.

Ah, if only it were that simple, eh? -the Armorer

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Jules Crittenden of the Boston Herald weighs in on the DC-area Guard unit that has been tasked with monitoring the active-duty milblogs. I don't have *quite* as bad an attitude about it as Jules (and others, like Matt of Blackfive) but I do know, from experience, how little people who don't blog understand blogs and blogging - and it *is* the military - which means they'll over-react first, and think about it later. And I say that from an insider's perspective. -the Armorer

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Captain's Quarters addresses the NYT "apology" I linked above, in much better fashion than I did on my blog. Actually, just start at the top today and scroll down; he's got a lot of good stuff. - FbL

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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.

Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.

Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*

The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.

I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to. It's also an open trackback, so if (Don Surber uses it this way a lot) someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".