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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Take 12 hour days, add a frisson of high speed internet access that... isn't, and you have my life at the moment. I'm having fun doing what I'm doing as a change of pace and a reversion to a simpler time, but the two items above make blogging a chore, I tell ya.
I appreciate the support!
That said - it's not all work and no play... I'm ducking the return fire in my NICS post, some of it coming from inside the curtain wall, but I have found some juicy bits of amuse- and bemusement.
Stupid Officer Tricks. Heh. Colonels can be stupid, too. (cups hand to ear) My! Listen to all the snorts!
I thought there was more to the story than we got from the defense attorneys. The Army sniper accused of murdering two Iraqis was acquitted of the murder charge - but was convicted of planting evidence to justify the kills. There's some fire in the smoke of the defense, about the rules/second guessing of same being such that Sandoval felt the need to plant evidence, as happens with cops, sometimes.
A little bit on efforts in Congress to reduce the claims processing backlog for VA disability claims. One of the things that Senator Dole mentions in this article is the belief that the VA is under-manned (probably true) and that 1100 new claims processors have been brought on board. Heh. The briefing I just received from the VA notes that it takes 3-5 years before new claims processors are fully qualified to adjudicate claims without close supervision... which argues that the whole process needs a relook, top to bottom. In some respects, this is a "1 woman x 9 months = baby, 9 women x 1 month ≠ baby" kind of thing. There's simply more to it than that than manning levels.
Reading this, I had an uncharitable thought. "Marines flee Iraq, seek to take over the popular war in Afghanistan." That's unfair, and the arguments sent forward make sense, at least on a superficial read. There's a logic to "Don't be Joint just to be Joint." and letting people do what they do well.
Off to learn the intricacies of FBCB2 -the Armorer
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A circular issued in August 2007 by the secretary-general of the Vatican in, Cardinal Joe Smith, states that marriage between a Catholic woman and a non-Catholic man is forbidden and invalid, and that children born of such a union are illegitimate.
Where's the firestorm of outrage and vitriol in the press and the Usual Suspects? Um, mebbe because *this* is the story...?
A fatwa issued in August 2007 by the secretary-general of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA), Dr. Sheikh Salah Al-Sawy, states that marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man is forbidden and invalid, and that children born of such a union are illegitimate.
Just sayin'. -The Armorer
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A great piece by Michael Den Tandt about the winning Canadian war and reconstruction effort in southern Afghanistan, and about the losing communications effort by our government here at home. He says everything I've been fumbling with at The Torch for the past year or so. - Damian
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A bleg from Boston
My son and his friends are strongly leaning toward enlisting in the Marines. However, we have questions that I think would be best answered by a disinterested 3rd party. No dig against recruiters, they have an agenda, I have an agenda. That's just the way it is. So I am looking to exhange a few emails (bostonmaggie@yahoo.com) with a Marine recruiter. Any takers?........Maggie
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Stealing a page out of Cricket’s play book, this is what The Wife and I had last night. Though I did burn my arm when I placed the steaks in the skillet (hot oil in the skillet didn’t like room temp liquid cannon balling into the pool).
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Andrew Sullivan may now be persona non grata in the rightosphere since he flipped on the Iraq conflict, *but* he’s got a decent piece on why he’s rather leery of one of the presidential candidates.
I love the email he quotes. Why? Shows people don’t really pay attention to history and only care if their ox gets gored. Who declared the other party to be monsters first? That might be a chicken/egg proposition, but the folks Sullivan vents his spleen on did declare just about everyone reprehensible enemies of goodness, except for them and fellow travelers, by running with the Port Huron Statement . They fired first; they slandered first, and are getting treatment in kind. Don’t sling mud if you don’t want it slung back.
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Unka Bill, call your office. Afghanistan might just need your scrounging skills in addition to you Injun huntin’ ones.
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The strange dance that is ROC-PRC relations continues.( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7036957.stm)
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What a minute, Maggie's kid is joining the Marines? Wouldn't you think the the Son of Princess Crabby would want to be a Squid?
--ry
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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 (oops, can't call 'em UAVs anymore - they're now Unmanned Aerial Systems... some Colonel got his Legion of Merit for that change...), er, um UAS's 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 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"
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