H&I* Fires, 27 APR 2007

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.

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

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I wonder if I'd get the same treatment, if I was a convicted felon found to be in possession of dope and a gun?

Snoop Dogg has avoided a jail sentence after pleading no contest to gun and drug charges in a Californian court.

The 35-year-old rapper, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr, was given five years probation and 800 hours of community service.

Well, the Judge sure gave Mr. Broadus the smack-down and put his gangsta-a$$ on notice!

Broadus was also told that only half of his community service could be with the youth American football league he runs.

Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling also ruled that the star must not have any gang members in his entourage.

Heh. Just, heh.

The Aussies took a slightly different approach.

Rapper Snoop Dogg has been banned from entering Australia after failing a character test, according to officials.

The star - real name Calvin Broadus - was due to co-host the MTV Australian Video Music Awards on Sunday.

The 35-year-old had his visa cancelled after recently pleading no contest to gun and drug charges in the US.

"He doesn't seem the sort of bloke we want in this country," Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews told Sydney's Macquarie Radio.

There goes the Girls Gone Wyld shoot in Australia! -the Armorer

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Blogfather Jonah went to Oxford to debate (in Opposition) the question "This House Regrets The Founding Of The United States."

You'll be happy to know the vote was 2-to-1 in favor of the Founding. However, some Brits still carry a grudge over the Tea Party, I guess.

Fair's fair. I propose a new debate. "The Castle Regrets the Foundering of England." Just a thought. -the Armorer

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Note for Senator Obama. We're *always* "one signature away from ending" a war. At the bottom of a surrender document. Jules has more. -the Armorer

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Apparently you're never too old to attend college. Congratulations to Ms. Nola Ochs!

Don't know how I missed this intersection between Iraq and VA-Tech, but I wanted to share: "Bloodied but unbowed, the young of Iraq are with us."

For your Friday Cat-Blogging pleasure, Lex points out another way that cats are not like dogs.

Raven brings her nursing expertise to an article on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). With typical dark humor, wounded veterans call it "Can't Remember S***."

Remember the UC Santa Cruz activists who drove recruiters out of a campus job fair? They've succeeded again: UCSC Activists Celebrate Victory Against Military Recruiters. Yes, they celebrated. [h/t Yankee Mom]

And for those wondered how she knocked your socks off from 2,000 miles away: The Art of the Military Love Letter. - FbL

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I fear Dick Durbin has finally gone off the deep end. Powerline summarizes:

Durbin accuses himself of cowardice, but it's hard to know what he would say about the other Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee: as the Times notes, five of the nine Democrats on the committee voted for the war, and at least two of them, Levin and Rockefeller, specifically said before the war that Saddam was pursuing nuclear weapons. Apparently they didn't get access to the double-secret information Durbin now talks about, four years after the fact.

On balance, I would acquit Durbin of cowardice and convict him of mendacity.

The ability of our elected "leaders" to stand there and tell us baldfaced lies still amazes me. Or are they just suffering from delusions and memory loss? - FbL

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Information War: the Media as a Weapon

Great Wall of Indifference discusses the wall around Adhamiya, it's purpose and, in light of the article above on the media as a weapon, how the insurgents used the media and its aversion to the "apartheid wall" in Israel to stop the security wall in their neighborhood. Thus, letting the Shia death sqauds, Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists run free.

Finally, for those in the area, I know it is short notice, but tomorrow, Saturday 28th, the 24th Marine returns home. PGR, Soldiers' Angels and the City of Belton will be welcoming them home in a two stage program. Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) and persons desiring to participate will first welcome the Marines home at the KCI airport and then escort them to Belton.

If you would like to participate in the ride/escort (cars are welcome), meet at the Airport Marriott at 5pm, April 28th. If you would like to participate in the avenue of flags in Belton, please go to KC Soldiers' Angels for details.

As always, thank you for supporting our men and women in uniform.
-Kat

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So you understand the extent of the war: Saudis arrest 172 alleged terrorists plotting to blow up Saudis #1 oil refinery and others inside and out of the country. Some were sent to other countries to learn to fly airplanes as some part of the attack, though exact details are not released. $32.4mil in funds were captured along with a giant weapons cache buried in the desert and in the target house.

Even had they not succeeded completely, the damage to security inside Saudi Arabia, thus it's stability, would be tremendous and we'd be paying for it at the gas pumps.

-kat

Active Duty Officer criticizes generals in Iraq. The AP insists that this, "suggests that misgivings about the conduct of the Iraq war are widespread in the officer corps at a critical time in the troubled U.S. military mission here" because it is a "rare occurance". The actual article he wrote is here. -kat

Oh. And just in case this is all too boring and long for you to read, check out the guy that says, "I should have had a V-8".

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I just heard this on the radio news headlines. so I don't have an online link. Apparently the Congress won't give the President the funding bill until Tuesday because... wait for it... they want to "commemorate" the 4th anniversary of his "mission accomplished speech." - FbL

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