Setting: It's the standard morning in suberbia. Birds chirping, the sun just coming up, all the pretty houses sitting in a row, kind of like the scene from "The Truman Show". Enter John F. Kerry in a blue and George W. Bush in a red bathrobe walking out to get the morning paper.
GWB: Morning John.
JFK: Morning George.
They both walk out to the edge of their driveway, bend down to pick it up and look over towards their property line. There are two great big, steaming dog turds on their lawns, one on each side of the property.
JFK: How dare you George! How dare you allow your attack dogs to deficate on my Vietnamese Swift Grass! I demand a full apology and for you to put those foul beasts down! The smell is atrocious and it will invariably leave a big brown post on my beautifully pristine lawn!
GWB: Now hold on just a second John. You're not the only one staring crap in the face. I believe the pile on my property is Moore than yours and quite possibly stinks worse. Besides, I don't know what you're talking about by attack dogs. All I have is Barney and India and there is no way on earth that either of them could have dropped something that big.
JFK: That is of no consequence to me. It's your crap, now clean it up. It was one of your dogs who crapped on McCain's Prisoner-o-War Grass across the street and it must be one of your dogs doing it now.
GWB: Whatever John, both piles stink to high heaven and need to be gotten rid of. Give me a hand, you go grab a plastic bag and I'll get a shovel and we'll clean all 527 pieces of crap up. And it wasn't my dog that crapped on McCain's lawn. It was the guy down the street, you know the one, the one who's financing my plane, He's the one who dumped on his lawn and, come to think of it, that looks like one of his dog's stool on your lawn.
JFK: HA!! So you admit it. It was one of your dogs that did the deed! Shame on you Mr. Bush for lying about it! All of our neighbors will never forgive you when they find out! Now clean up this mess you made!
GWB: Now wait a minute here, I just said it wasn't my dog but the guy who financed my plane. Didn't that part get burnt into your memory? Now could you give me a hand and help clean up all of this crap?
JFK: Yes it was!
GWB: No it wasn't.
JFK: Yes it was!
GWB: No it wasn't.
JFK: Yes it was.
(This portion inspired by Jane.)
Bush begins to walk away to get a bag and a shovel.
JFK: Hey! Where do you think you're going?
--SQUISH!--
Kerry just stepped in his pile of of crap. Bush hears the squish and looks back with that "EEWW!" look on his face.
Bush: Well, I do believe you've just stepped in it. You may as well get rid of those flip-flops now. They're ruined.
JFK: I'd really be for getting rid of them if I wasn't so against it. Me and my wife took a vote earlier about funding for some new flip flops but I voted against it. Now, it looks like I'll be voting FOR the flip flop funding.
Bush: Huh? Let me get this straight. You were against the funding before you were for it? The flip flops I mean. Is that right?
At this point Conan O'Brien comes by walking his dog, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
Conan: Hey guys, what's going on?
JFK: One of his attack dogs left a giant load of crap in my yard and now I've ruined my flip plops in it.
Conan: Triumph, do you know anything about this?
Triumph: Yes! It was me. John kicked me out of his party. So I pooped on his lawn. And the other one, Mr. Bush, it looked like such a beautiful lawn...FOR ME TO POOP ON!
Radiocyborg is a buddy of mine from before, during and after 9/11/2001. He's was also a USS Ramage sailor but this one decided to stay in, Lifer. Anyway, he's just starting out and has a couple posts up already. It should be interesting. Here's the link. Ciao.
I was watching The O'reilly Factor last night and managed to catch his two minute interview with Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York. Lets just say he really didn't sound like a Democrat. As I was not really paying attention I only caught three statements but the were pretty damning. Now I'm wondering if he's just our mole into the DNC. Here's what I heard:
1. I believe questioning Kerry's military record is wrong, just like questioning Bush's military record is wrong.
If you've noticed, this is only the second time I've mentioned anything about a candidate's record on this blog. I think it's complete crap to be questioning the war record of anybody, especially one that happened over 30 years ago. (Noted correction by Toni) Jesse "TheBody/governor" Ventura admitted to some fairly spicy things that went on in Vietnam. He turned out to be quite possibly the best percieved governor of Minnesota but in reality screwed up the state worse than it already was. A man's war record shows absolutely nothing about how well he will do in office. Many great chickens have been even greater leaders. If you don't believe me check out Redhunter's assessment of veterans vs. non-veterans in time of war. It's wrong and it doesn't prove a damn thing.
This is why I've done my best to boycott the subject. If you want to comment on it feel free, I'll listen, I may even debate talking points. However, this is the first and last time I'm going to do it. Back to Ed Koch:
2. The Democratic party doesn't have the stomach to defeat terrorism.
No, I didn't type it wrong. These are the words he said. I just about had to clean my shorts on that one. He sounded more Republican than just about anybody I've ever heard. Are we sure this guy's a Democrat? If you've noticed, the Democratic party has found a line of almost complete jingoism. It is close to impossible to find one, a democrat, saying anything negative right now. Did he just wake up one morning and forget what party he's with? Whatever happened to him, I think I like it.
We've always known that the Democratic party is weak when it comes to the military. They have never once gone out on a limb and say that war is the right thing to start now. They have always ben the one's suckling on the UN's teat and seeing how far they could bury their heads up their UN posteriors. Honestly, I can't remember when the last time the UN has actually decided on a military action. Can anybody else think of one?
This next one echoes my sentiments exactly:
3. It's better for us to be over there killing them (the terrorists) than for them to be over here killing us.
I couldn't have said it better myself. I could care less about any WMD. The terrorists on 9/11/2001 HAD BOXCUTTERS! If some shmuck with a box cutter can take over a plane and blow the snot out of around 4,000 people I don't think our problems are WMD. The problem is the terrorists, not the nukes.
If you can actually remember back to the time when Powell was presenting their case he stated that the terrorist camps that were already in Iraq Would have the potential to use dirty bombs. This was absolutely true. To make a dirty bomb you do not need to use Plutonium or Uranium. It's actually more effective with other chemicals like cobalt-60 or strontium. These chemicals were taken out of Iraq along with enough low-enriched uranium to make a nuke if enriched further.
One of the first things we did upon our arrival in Iraq was to take out a large terrorist training facility north of Baghdad. Since our arrival and attempt at keeping the peace we've killed more terrorists than anyone had expected. It's amazing to me how many Syrians and Palestinians are in the mix over there. They are trying to fight us on someone else's soil, not our own. Strategically, this was probably the best move our president could have made. I know it sounds as if I'm talking about sacrificing one people for another but...Well...I AM. I'll say it too Mr. Koch: It's better for us to be over there killing them, than for them to be over here killing us.
Update: Ed Koch, the Democrat, will be speaking at the RNC and voting for Bush! He also stated that after this election all bets are off and he'll be looking for his new Republican contacts to convert.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Iraqis have added a brand new, built from scratch, 28 Megawatt generator that can power 84,000 homes in and around the Nasiriya Power Station near Al Amarah. If you've ever been to Riverbend's Blog I'm sure you've heard her whine and complain about crappy electricity. Well guess what, America was listening and is doing something about it. As the report from Centcom states (which you will probably never see in the REAL news) the Iraqi power grid can now service 15.6 million homes with 5,200 Megawatts.
If you would like to know what else the Corps is doing in Iraq you can go here. Please be patient as the pictures take a while to load.
This was e-mailed to me from Michael over at Whine & Jeez (love the title). He adds a bit more perspective to black and white issues. With age comes wisdom.
-----------------------
Jeremy,
I tried to post a comment to that entry but my character length was too great. Here's my response:
Black man: "Hey white boy!" (completely fine)
I don't think it's fine. It's meant as a term of denigration. You know it. They know it. Don't allow someone to characterize you that way. It's wrong.
I'm somewhat older than you and it gives me longer perspective since I've watched the situation evolve since I was a child in the sixties.
The term 'boy' was originally applied by whites toward black men. It was meant as an emasculating slight. You can actually hear it in many old movies, including classics like Casablanca. It's current manifestation, white boy, began in the late sixties, if I remember right - though it may go back farther than that, and was meant to return the disrespect.
The use of the term 'nigger' by blacks toward other blacks is also an older phenomenon than you might think. It was originally used by them toward each other because that's how white people referred to them. They simply picked up the term and used it. By the 50's and 60's is was being used as a term of defiant self definition; we niggers versus those whites. In a sense, it's never lost its defiant cache. Similar to the term brother or brotha.
Lately, say the last ten years or so, there's been controversy within the black community regarding its use. It's seen - rightly so, IMAO - as a throwback, racist term. Something that needs to be eliminated.
Coming from the longer perspective, I'm actually impressed with how far the black community has come in this country considering the baggage they started with. When I was a child there essentially no integration of the races in our society. There was a black community and a white community. The two only mixed when absolutely necessary. They certainly did not share neighborhoods. They never socialized with one another. The disparity in income and education was enormous. I remember it clearly.
I also agree completely that Jesse Jackson and others often play the race card and race baiting game unfairly and do a lot of damage when they do it. I also think it's just as transparent to many blacks as it is to us, especially the middle class blacks. I also think as better education and economic gains spread throughout the black community it's going to slowly fade away. The younger generation of black leaders, Barack Obama for instance, sound just like any other politician these days and are often implicitly critical of those playing the race card unfairly.
It's going to take to time to heal the deep wounds and overcome the deep and very real damage done to the black community in the US, but it's happening. Slowly. But it's happening.
~Mike
--------------------------------
For a bit of reference, I ranted here because of a thoughtless post here. (scroll down to "Neglecting the bigot vote".) One note I'd like to add to the "homophobe" claim is the popularity of Jeff over at Beautiful Atrocities. He says he feels left out by Republicans because he's gay but feels left out by Gays because he's Republican. I think he feels left out because he hasn't been invited by Homespun Bloggers yet (joke). I'm proud of Jeff for coming out of the closet and admitting to being both gay and Republican! If you haven't read him you should.
I am the sole bread winner for my family. When I was in the military I really disliked how much Uncle Sam was taking from single people with no dependents. It felt like I was being gang raped by the IRS. I was barely making enough as it was, but what they took from me was just too much. It was at that point I knew that there were two things guaranteed for me: death and taxes.
A short while later I found love, got married and had a kid. Okay, now what? I'm barely making enough for ME to survive and I now have two dependents, neither of which are working. In order for me to survive in the world I realized that it was time for me to do something about it. Yes, since I had a wife and a son I was paying a bit less on my taxes (I was also promoted so that helped a bit too.) but it still wasn't enough to live comfortably. (I believe squalor is the term most often used.)
Ever since then I have been busting my butt to try and get ahead, not for me but for my family. I have been working a full job as the sole bread winner, going to school as much as possible (only taking two classes this semester, usually three), and doing what I can to maintain a happy family. My wife, by the way, has chosen to stay at home with our son because we would like to raise our child instead of having day care providers and babysitters do it for us.
When I see someone come out and say how horrible their life is and that they pay too much in taxes so that they can't afford to buy bread, or formula, or whatever it irritates me. Here I am, working for everything that I've earned, paying 15% in taxes. (thanks to Bush or it would have been 20%) When I hear them whine about what they haven't got I usually see them just sitting around, talking about how they can't get a job. I rarely ever see one of them with a book or at the library trying to get a better education for a better job.
One thing to note for people who say that there's no college opportunity for them: Pehl grants are given to people like me who are making enough to get by. They will definitely give them to someone less fortunate than myself. In fact, if the people that the Pehl program was created for were using it then people of my wealth (not that I'm rich) would not be able to get these grants. Cash is not the problem when you're talking about schooling, the problem is reaching for a hand-out when you should be reaching for a hand-up.
I used to work with this girl that was a single mother. She was a third class (E-4) and I was a second (E-5). I have the utmost respect for what she was doing. When tax time rolled around we looked at each others returns. She was taking out almost exactly what I was taking in! She was working no harder than me. She was even doing the same job as me. Yet she was taking out while I was putting in because she had her child in day care while mine was at home with my domestically employed wife. (Caveat: If you even think about calling me some sort of chauvinist for having my wife at home while I work you are dead wrong. If my wife told me she wanted to go get a job you would be hard pressed to find someone work harder to make it happen and accommodate those needs than me.) This was my first major hit against Democrats. It felt like they were saying "We prefer for you to be a single parent and have the system raise your kids".
After about two full years (summers included) I finally got my associates degree and managed to cram in a couple of Microsoft certifications. I had already decided that even though the military had given me a lot it was time for me to move on (not .org). I had come to a point in my professional career that I either stay for a full 20 year career or get out and get what some people would call "a real job". So, with 9 1/2 years in and a full belt of fresh new education I made my transition into civilian life. Luckily, there have been many get out before me to pave the way so my transition was not too difficult. My boss, which is still my boss today, had been my Master Chief when I was in. Everything was going great until we hit tax time this year. Like I said before, I paid 15% for taxes that I would have paid 20% for had Bush not given us a tax break. Hallelujah! It was like a ray of light had hit me. If I work hard then the Republican ideal is to reward me. If I don't then I should hope for a Democrat to be president. My new political credo had arrived: The harder I work the more Republican I become!
Parental Warning
Explicit Lyrics
I have heard for many years how everything right down to our language is against the "black man". I'm personally rather sick of it. I find myself hesitating to direct someone to "the black guy over there" when it's obvious that he's black and there's five white guys in the vicinity. It's pretty obvious what feature can be used to quickly identify him but I hesitate. Should I say "black man", "African-American man", "Afro-American man", or should I peer over there and try and find some other distinguishing characteristic? If it were a female it would be no problem to say the lady over there. Do black people have the same problem pointing out the white guy in a crew of black guys? Does this whole post make me some sort of racist bigot? What are the rules? I want to friggin' know! I'm sick of walking on eggshells!
Anyway, here's a few terms that appear to be put in a double standard with relation to race:
Black man: "Hey white boy!" (completely fine)
White man: "Hey black boy!" (I ain't your BOY!)
White man: "You're the black man" (usually fine)
Black man: "You're the white man" (Are you trying to say I'm oppressing you?)
Black man: "Cracker" (Excuse me? Are you trying to say something?)
White man: "Cracker" (No thanks. I'm on a low-carb diet.)
Black man: "Wassup nigga!" (Wassup G')
White man: "Wassup nigga!" (Aww,...look at the stupid white boy. Lets kick his ass.)
NAACP = Justified
NAAWP = Racist
Black Panthers = rebel activist
KKK = racist murderers
Does anyone see what I'm trying to get at here? Who made these double standards? This crap is just plain stupid! I started thinking about this because of a website, The Black Commentator. I have nothing against the site. I just thought to myself: What does Black have to do with it? Why not just "The Commentator". Both commentator.com and thecommentator.com are available domains, why the need to exclude other races? (try not to go to either of them though, unless you want to change your homepage to Seeq.com) How about B.E.T. (Black Entertainment Television)? How about just entertainment television or R & B Television so as not to compete with the other E.T.?
A post I found from Dan at BushWhackedUSA's blog saying "I'm waiting for someone in the GOP to stand up and say, "I'm a bigoted American, and proud of it." ". What makes me a bigoted american? What the hell did I do? Is Bush a bigot or a racist because he didn't speak at any NAACP functions? Would it mean he hates white people because he didn't attend any NAAWP meetings? Is halting affirmative action a negative action? As far as I know he hasn't attended any terrorist rallies, would that make him hate all muslims? I know that last one was a bit much but where's the line?
Please Hide children's eye's Here (color changed for non-discriminating eyes, highlight to discriminate)
Anyway, back on the language thing: When did the word nigger become worse than the word fuck? Both of these words are horribly bad words and would not suggest using either of them but it's worse to use the nigger than fuck. If you used the fuck you're just a potty mouth. If you say nigger you're a racist. I first really paid attention to the change when I saw Brendan Frasier in "Blast from the Past" and hear the line "Oh my lucky stars a Negro!" "Say What?". If they'd have made the move 10 years earlier they would not have said negro. Let's go back ten years or more shall we? Lets take Cleavon Little and the great film "Blazing Saddles". "Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little) "Nobody move or the nigger gets it!" This was okay language then. Now they bleep the crap out of the whole film. I do not use either of these terms and would prefer if the black community would refrain from using them as well. In fact I say this because of the fact that it is okay for the black community to use these words. Here's a good essay on the word nigger.
To try and point out a few inconsistencies, a friend of mine, a black lady, pointed out a list of terms that referred to black in the negative. I think I'd seen them before somewhere but can't remember where. Anyway, here's my list:
Black balled
Black listed
Black Ops
black cat
black hole
black lung
black head
etc.
There are many more but that doesn't really matter. Here's a list of POSITIVE black associated words:
in the black
ebony
chocolate
black tie affair
(Edward C. Smith even pointed out here: "the most important, for me at least, is that black is the universal color of the printed word; the paper is white."
So again; what does BLACK have to do with it?
I took a peek at Centcom's website and here's what I found. I don't believe the PFC recieved a purple heart to go with his silver star and the burns covering his hands. I'm not sure it would be allowed considering they were "technically" self inflicted. Maybe John Kerry could donate one of his to a more worthy cause?
FreeRepublic has a couple of pics of this absolute kid getting his award here.
For all those that have a problem with McGreevey denying the people of New Jersey the right to vote, you can submit your signature for the petition here. I've never actually seen one of these things turn out successfully, but who knows. Currently, there are about 420 signatures for him to resign effective immediately in order for a special run-off election to take place. So if you want to keep the right to vote intact for the people of New Jersey, sign the petition.
Mud & Phud has invited me to become a Homespun Blogger. I have accepted. Does this constitute assimilation?
--This is part I of II. This paper is proving a bit more difficult to write than previously expected. Most of the stuff involved with this part is rather dry but has at least provided me with a better understanding of what is involved with nuclear technology.
Enjoy--
I went out on an Internet fact-finding mission for nukes in Iraq and this is what I found: Nothing. As far as the world knows we don't have jack, nada, nothing, zilch, goose egg. Reading what I have read assures me that we did the right thing. As far as we knew Saddam had nuclear capabilities. Hell, as far as Saddam knew he had nuclear capabilities. He was sure as hell working on it. We all know that. For those of you who don't, this is what I'll try and explain to you in this posting/research paper.
Today, looking back, we have but two things: we have the evidence that has been found on the ground, and we have the historical data of events that have taken place. If you understand the significance of each piece in both categories you can catch a glimpse at what was really going on in Iraq. The first direction in this paper therefore needs to be what it takes to create a nuclear missile. This is, after all, what this whole thing is about: nuclear capability. The next step will be the physical evidence of Nuclear weapon potential. As there is no "smoking gun" we will need to focus on how close to a smoking gun there was. The third will be what actions were noted to increase the belief that nuclear weapon capabilities had been reached or soon would be. This is perhaps the most important of the three. It shows what actions were taken with what people and who sold what to whom. Finally, since this paper will soon prove to be lengthy a summation will be needed to tie things up. This summation will be slightly forward thinking as I am planning on making the case for chemical weapons and terrorism in later papers. Lets get started then shall we?
In order to create a nuclear missile you need four primary items. You need a projectile that is capable of delivering the payload as accurately as possible. Then you need the raw fuel in which to detonate the bomb. In this case it is usually either uranium or plutonium. The raw fuel is not enough though; you need to refine the fuel in order to make it less stable and therefore create a greater explosion, or to make it even bigger, implosion. The fourth part of this is sometimes not necessary as it deals mostly with the implosion part but is still a significant as this is the type of device believed to be in the country.
Unless you are making yourself a dirty or suitcase bomb to be carried out by some suicide bomber you need a delivery system. Since the payload for such device is radioactive in nature the entire guidance and navigation system needs to be shielded or risk turning into just another type of S.C.U.D. missile. Lead is usually considered a good candidate for shielding. A better form of shielding is actually the solid metal form of Uranium-238 which actually reflects the unstable particles back to their source.
Contrary to popular belief, the most effective detonation altitude is not at ground zero, but a point some distance above the ground. You see, the friction of the ground through absorption, the geography of the land, and various man-made obstacles, such as office buildings and apartment complexes, restrict a ground detonation. (Water and underwater physics provide for completely different physics. In order to provide maximum impact you need to detonate the explosion from about 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the ground. I'm sure some of you may refute the numbers but they're not stated for accuracy, they're there to show that it's more destructive to use an air pressure based detonator than a contact based detonator.
In addition to the altimeter, or air pressure based detonator referred to above, a good missile needs to have an ample guidance system. you can have nuclear power all day long but if you can't get it to the target you've only succeeded in making a bunch of green glass. Two means of doing this are with a simple gyroscope setup or with built in GPS mapping, tracking, and onboard map correction. The latter system is what gives the Tomahawk missile its trademark "hovering" before redirecting itself at the target.
The last factor in the delivery system would be the actual propulsion technology involved. In order to get the payload of this nature to its intended destination you need to worry about actually including yourself in the blast zone. I would depict this as the old battle scene where the crappy general shoots his arrows at the melee battle, hence killing both the enemy and his own men. On a battlefield scale it could be called M.A.D., or Mutually Assured Destruction. This is only a borrowed term from the greater M.A.D. referred to in global thermo-nuclear war ("War Games" movie). In order to propel the bomb far enough away from yourself, it is commonly believed that a multi-staged rocket would be sufficient in this task.
In order to enact a detonation capable enough to be called nuclear one of two elements must be used; either Plutonium-239 or Uranium-235. Other less difficult chemicals to locate can be used in the creation of a dirty bomb. Stated in the article highlighted, the chemical cobalt-60, found in sanitization plants throughout the world (about 160 plants worldwide), is capable of killing a man within a couple weeks after about one minute in unshielded handling time. What makes this a dirty bomb is when you turn it into a breathable agent or a gas.
Plutonium-239 is the element created when Uranium-238 is used in a nuclear reactor for an extended (years) period of time and picks up an extra neutron. It is the by-product of the nuclear fission found in power plants. It is also found naturally but usually only in trace elements. There is, however, one location in Gabon, West Africa that is a known "natural reactor" inside of what is now a uranium mine. The supercritical mass, or the amount needed to create a nuclear detonation is 32.6 Lbs (16kgs) or 22 Lbs (10 kgs) with a U-238 casing. Because of the few methods for creation or mining of this element it is extremely hard to come by.
Uranium-235, by contrast is a naturally occurring chemical found mixed with Uranium-238 at a rate of 0.6%. To create a supercritical mass with U-235 you need to accumulate 110Lbs (50kgs). So, to do a bit of quick math, you need about 18.5 tons (18,333.333...Lbs) of U-238 to get enough U-235 to make a nuke. Considering the naturally occurring nature of Uranium and the ability to freely acquire the chemical it is not too horribly difficult to come across enough of it if a nation or rich organization were to try. The difficulty factor involved in this is that U-235 and U-238 are both the same element and normally impossible to separate with chemical means.
There are two standard means of refining Uranium to the point it can be used to create a nuclear detonation. The first is called gaseous diffusion in which the Uranium is turned into a gas and basically pushed through a strainer since U-235 is lighter/smaller than U-238. The other is the gas centrifuge that utilizes the greater weight of U-238 once again but instead of pumping it through screens, it effectively spins the gas making the heavier gas go to the outside and the lighter gas to the middle and sucked out. Other known methods that may be used are Laser Isotropic Separation (LIS), Chemical solvent and Ion Exchange (both together will produce low-grade enhancements), and Electro-Magnetic Isotope Separation (EMIS) or "Calutron". As a note, all of these methods were used in Iraq prior to Gulf War I. For the sake of my sanity and yours I will not go in depth on the refinement processes.
The last part in the detonation of a nuclear bomb is the capability of creating a nuclear implosion. Although not required specifically for nuclear detonation, it greatly increases the blast area, as well as decreasing the amount of fissile material required. In order to create an implosion you need to create equal pressure on all sides of the supercritical mass precise enough that no material will leak out but only be able to collapse on itself. One of the primary tools used in the testing and calculations for the precision of an implosive detonation is the rail gun. A rail gun is effectively a positive and a negative pole that shoots an electric current between the poles, thus pushing the projectile/bullet further up the pole repeatedly until it is released at the end of the poles. The potential speed of the bullet being released is calculated at up to 23,175 Mph (14,400 Km/h) (The original number I read was 4 km/s. I believe I did the math right.) At this speed certain properties are different with the projectiles being shot and allow the super lab rats to better understand certain principles at a molecular level. I don't understand it completely, but apparently it relates with how certain particles collide with one another in an atom...or something like that.
--The second half will include:
- proof for physical evidence
- proof for attempted aquisitions
- summation or "What it all means"
My CCNP professor is making me do some weird xml blog thing on this site. I didn't think that many people knew about this place other than internet weenies...Well...I guess he's an internet weenie so I guess it's okay. Just thought it was sort of ironic that a couple of weeks after I start blogging a professor of mine has the class start up a blog on the exact same site. Anyway, my geek side will be portrayed at: http://jhbol.blogspot.com Currently, the only stuff that's there are a couple of xml hierarchy trees for the class but will eventually have some xml research stuff and later still (once class is over) I'll turn it into a standard techno-geek blog.
One last note: The nuke post is nearing completion. It'll be done on Monday night I promise. I am planning on expending about a full college term paper worth of digital ink on this. I've written a few of term papers before but this is the first one I'm doing just for fun (maybe I'm ill, research=fun?). After this one, let me know what you think and I'll either continue with more of them or just get back to the basics.
(quick last note: the spell check here recognizes "blogging" as "flogging". Talk about subliminal.)
(As a pre-warning, nothing in this is meant to disrespect the more than 13 people who have lost their lives in Hurricane Charlie. It's just a spur of the moment parody I threw together. Enjoy.)
Setting: Hurricane Charlie has just hit west Florida hard, 13 people are confirmed dead and more are expected. The governor, Jeb Bush, has already visited the primarily effected areas. The Insurance Information Institute has the understanding that repairs will cost several billion dollars. There are 1,500 national guardsmen that were pre-deployed to the area but many more will need to be sent in to assist. President Bush, the governor's brother, declared Florida a federal disaster area. The president planned a visit Sunday to survey damage, and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, in a statement, offered "heartfelt sympathies".
Enter the Kerry war room:
Kerry: Did I sound better than Bush? Did I sound "Heartfelt"?
Former Clinton Intern: I don't really know. You were both about the same if you ask me.
Kerry: [expletive deleted]! We need a way to spin this so that Bush looks incompetent. Anybody got any ideas?
John Edwards: We could try and sue NOAA for the Hurricane?
John Kerry: What an idea! Could somebody get Edwards a new diaper, because he just spewed forth yet another load of crap! What are you thinking John? Get in the game!
John Edwards: Uhh...sorry John.
Mary Beth Cahil (The campaign manager): What we need to do is make it look like Bush as slow and ineffective. They need more national guardsmen right? Maybe we could say that there should have been more activated but weren't because they were all off in Iraq?
Former Clinton Intern: What are you stupid? There's plenty of guardsmen on standby and should be there by Tuesday or so. That will never work.
John Kerry: Now I see why Bill always kept something in your mouth. Will someone send the Intern on an errand. Hey intern! Where's Edwards' diaper? Fetch!
John Kerry: Sounds interesting. What else you got?
Mary Beth Cahil: Let me see, 13 people died, how can we play that?
John Edwards: Were they Democrats or Republicans?
Former Clinton Intern: I think it was a mixture of both.
John Kerry: Damn those murderous dogs; killing my Democrats. I bet those republicans were plants by Bush to try and sway the election by taking out the REAL voters.
Mary Beth Cahil: Lets get back to the angle; 13 people died, there were 13 original colonies. Hey, we could try and and go the old patriotic route. Sort of draw a parallel between the 13 people that fought and died to save Florida.
Former Clinton Intern: Are you nuts? They died because they got caught in a hurricane. The only thing they fought were wind and rain.
John Kerry: There you go intern girl. They fought the storm with their lives. They died valiantly in the face of adversity and its all Bush's fault. He let those 13 people down like he would have let the original 13 colonies down. [expletive deleted] brilliant!
Mary Beth Cahil: The only problem is if more than 13 people die. We need to find a way to stop the death reports. Kerry, now it's time for you to think. How can we stop the news?
John Kerry: Hmm..Ahh! I got it! We'll get Larry King to say only 13 people died. Let me call him up.
(Kerry punches a few buttons on his cell phone)
John Kerry: Hey, Larry. I've got a favor to ask. Is there any way you could keep the body count in Florida down to 13?
Larry King: It's already past 13 John; Why do you need this anyway?
John Kerry: It's for the campaign. I'm trying to spin something.
Larry King: Say no more John, I'm on it. How's this: I won't even announce it, I'll just have it run as a banner on the bottom of the screen and not even cut away to some putz on the ground who might slip up and give a bigger number. How's that sound?
John Kerry: Perfect! No one watches anything but you anyway. This should put us over the top! Talk to you later Larry. I think a new cabinet position may have just become available for you.
-FIN-
My apolgies to anyone who has been reading me. I've been trying to learn a bit of the HTML in this site. I really stink at it but I'm getting better. Eventually, I plan on completely revamping it but that is well into the future. Although I've been writing papers for many years, this is the first time I've thrown it on the net.
Above and beyond that, the other thing that has been sapping all my time and energy has been refinancing my mortgage. Something of note for anyone who wants a kick-but rate on a first or refinanced mortgage is to wait for bad jobless rates on the news. I know it sounds like kicking the unempoloyed when they're down but it really works. Last Friday, the new job rate was much lower than expected. It caused the mortgage rates to fall about 1/2 to a full point overnight. I called my mortgage company and locked in my rate at 5.5% for a 30year VA streamline refinance. The next day the rate had jumped back up to 5.825%. It's still better than the 6+percent it was the week before though. Hopefully, these words of wisdom passed to me from a 15 year veteran of the home mortgage business will be benificial to someone else out there.
Until then, enjoy some of the links I finally figured out how to do while I work on a research paper dealing with nukes in Iraq. It should be posted before Monday.
P.S. If anyone has a problem with me linking to them let me know and I'll take you off. I really don't want to do something to piss any of you off. You've all been very good to this blog n00b.
I think I may have slightly misrepresented myself by accident. By reading Jeff's link to me, some people may believe I am still active duty military. I spent 9 1/2 good years (none bad) as a Cryptologic Technician in the Navy. However, when it came to making it to the retirement years I opted to become a government contractor in Norfolk, VA. I do network security work for the Navy's intranet project, NMCI . It keeps me at home and pays better. I served my time in service to my country. I separated from the military in 2002. Now it's time for me to indulge in what I swore to protect: FREEDOM.
When the first plane hit I was on board the USS Ramage assisting some people with opening a safe that no longer had a combination but still contained classified material. That was my need for being there as I was a Cryptologist and had the clearance to decipher the material. Someone from combat (an area next to ours and the control center of the ship) asked me if we had the scoop on what was going on with the world trade center. I gave him one of those deer in the headlights stares. What the hell was this guy talking about?
I followed him to the mess hall where they had a big screen television (the largest of probably only 10 televisions on the ship and most are only about 20 inches) just in time to see the second plane hit. What the hell was going on? When the first plane hit I thought it was just some idiot that can't steer like that guy they found flying a crop duster around the White house a few years back. When the second plane hit I knew something was wrong. After a few minutes to figure out what I was actually seeing I went back to the place where we were working and told my supervisor at the time what I was seeing. He went to the mess hall, as I could not leave the people cutting into the safe because of the potential classified material.
Much of the next hour was a blur. I remember seeing the pentagon get hit (this is when I finally saw in my own mind what was happening). I remember seeing the towers actually fall. I remember seeing the huge dust cloud and the people running down the streets of New York. I remember the captain of the ship saying that something terrible had happened and we would be conducting an emergency deployment in about an hour (we were probably about an hour into this event). I remember trying to check CNN.com but couldn't get through (I blamed the crappy internet connection that the ship had at the time). I even called my house a couple times before we were deployed and received no answer. I clearly remember though that something horrible had happened in New York and we were going north to make sure it didn't get worse.
Within 2 hours of the first plane hit we were deployed and going north. What I found out a few days later was that we were actually the first ship to pull out of Norfolk (a point of pride). We had about one third of our crew because we were getting ready for a deployment and many people were on leave or otherwise unable to get to the ships because of a base lock-down. I only had about two pair of good underwear on the ship as I did not expect to be deployed and did not believe I needed that stuff on the ship at the time. Luckily, a buddy of mine had a few extra tee shirts and some unused underwear or I would have come back rather crusty. Another piece of good fortune is that they had just restocked the galley so we at least had a good deal of edible food (I say edible because ship food is rarely if ever considered good).
So with none of our gear, (it was stored at a different location from the ship, It's a classified information thing you wouldn't...er...I don't even understand.) and only a third of our crew, we went forth and played "plane guard" for New York. Our job was to listen in on the different radio signals to see if we could hear anything special going on or as a second ear for the bridge when planes wanted to land in New York. (Lets just say we weren't too friendly about people flying around at the time..."This is U.S. Navy WAR Ship. State your name, call sign, .........". We didn't even say what ship we were. The response I remember most was some brit pilot scared half out of his wits saying " this is such-and-such airlines flight xxx-xxxx...umm...please don't shoot."
At the time I thought it was sort of funny but after about an hour or two I started thinking about the guy and how we sounded and realized that yes, we probably would knock him out of the air if he even thought the words "Allah akbar" (god is great). This is not anything against Muslims, they have every right to be here and be free, just like non-Muslims, if not more. It was just as though a small dog came up to the rotweiler on the porch and took a chunk out of his soft underbelly. We were on the complete defensive and wanting something, anything to tear limb from limb.
After about a week (10 days) of this routine, we were relived and went home to our families. When we got home it was like we had missed the most important week in the world. Everyone else in the world had the opportunity to see what was going on, watch the footage, analyze it in your own mind, to mourn the loss. We were not afforded that opportunity. We were on a ship, away from the news, and had to rely on the information our captain told us, and a few snippets of e-mail that managed to slip through to find out what was going on . (I got none by the way.)
Pretty much everybody on the ship did not show any emotion for what had happened. It's not that we were a bunch of crass, unfeeling monsters. We feel all of it, everyday. It's just that we've been trained to do a job no matter what and we realize that if we don't do that job efficiently lives can be lost. We don't have the luxury of thinking about whose fault it is, or how we screwed up, or some hair-brained theory about how Bush planned the whole thing. It is not up to us to decide what it means. It is, however, our obligation to act out the wishes of those in leadership even if it costs us our lives, or time away from our families, nasty living conditions in a hostile environment, etc.
Something that many civilians don't realize is that we've seen MANY more lives lost than you have. I'm not speaking of actually watching people die. I'm speaking of having people that are close to you or associates in your company dieing. These are people that could have been you in a slightly different circumstance. Here's a short list of losses I have been forced to recognize in the same way civilians recognize 9/11: The USS Cole bombing, Khobar towers Bombing, the USS Forestall fire, multiple plane crashes. These are the ones you have read about. Here are a couple you haven't heard about unless you really, really watch the news: USS Leyte Gulf lost part of a boat crew in the Persian Gulf while doing boarding operations, serviceman gets blown up by a lose mine planted by North Korea while on patrol on the DMZ.
I think the thing that stands out most of all are these Monday morning quarterbacks. Where was the outpour of emotion when the OTHER (Khobar) towers were hit? Did any civilians or news agencies demand results when the USS Cole was hit? No. Sure, there was outrage for a bit but everyone said "Well, it's the military and that's what they're paid to do. You know, risking their lives and all. It's okay for our president to sit on his fat ass and collect knobbers like collecting stamps and embarrass the United States and all it stands for. We are all well aware that other presidents have had the same affliction but this was the only time I personally have had to endure the international embarrassment when a president disrespects his position like that. When you're overseas and talking to someone from the host country what do you say? Anyway, this is supposed to be about 9/11 so let me wrap this up.
For me, 9/11 was just one of many losses. As a military member I had to accept what happened and move on to the continued defense of Democracy throughout the world. Apparently, I'm the only one who did. As people complain about how we need to concentrate more on Afghanistan I see they will be having their first free elections on October. The only reason I have a link to this is the median was trying to show how we're failing over there by highlighting how we lost 23 people in Afghanistan this year. Yeah, right, failing; of the over 9 million registered to vote, (about 90 percent of the estimated eligible electorate) 41.4 percent are women. Gee, that just says failure to me. It's a loss to me but I can accept it. We have other, more pressing matters to attend to in the world. We need to make the hard decisions in the world. No one else will make them. The UN has been proven corrupt; I'll prove it if you want. Many of our allies turned their backs to us because we took the path less traveled by. Unfortunately, what we need to do in the world isn't always "PC". Sometimes you need to do the internationally unpopular thing to ensure American safety. Peace isn’t always the right answer. If my opinions makes me just another American warmonger, (blatant plug) then so be it.
I just saw a report on CNN (yes, CNN the Liberal News Network, LNN?) getting a poll from the Iraqi people about their feelings towards America and the American election. Unless I was listening wrong, they resoundingly said they hate Bush but don't want him to leave. They feel it would make things much worse than they currently are to have Kerry remove the troops. I'm unable to find a text link and too cheap to pay CNN for one of their silly Superpasses to see the video feed. If anyone out there is less cheap than me please let me know if I heard them correctly.
I just read an interesting article on CNN about an ad run by Swift Boats for truth. The ad was not run by the GOP but by people supporting the GOP. I guess that makes it soft money right? The rules of engagement on this thing are pretty interesting. Does this mean that it's perfectly okay for rich democrats like George Soros and MoveOn to do things outside of the DNC but not the other way around? (I know the link does not have the DNC reporting this as acceptable but they did not deplore it either.)
Of course, I really don't think the Kerry people will be stupid enough to bite on this piece of bait. Do you really think they would bite the hand that feeds them? Could you imagine what would happen if they did though? Sorry Mr. Soros, move on MoveOn, the show's over BandsAgainstBush. Does anyone think for a moment that Kerry would stand a chance if he didn't have the great acting and editing skills of Hollywood behind him? I guess it makes for slightly better entertainment. We don't really need to see the entire election turned into a name calling match .
Congratulations to Jane . She is the first person to confess to reading my blog. I shall cherrish her always. Once I learn a bit more about how to do this stuff I'll even give her a permanent link. I was also going to do a letter between Michael Stipe and Ted Nugent but she's already covered that. Betrayed by Rock N Roll
Dear Whoopi,
I'm sort of on the fence about this whole election. Who should I vote for? What are the pros and cons of each candidate?
Sincerely,
Confused Voter
Dear Confused Voter,
Thank you for contacting me on this issue. As you should know, I've been studying the issues very closely and have taken everything that each candidate stands for into consideration. I have completely foregone anything my friends like Janeane Garofolo have told me about all the candidates and am completely going on the facts. I have come to the conclusion that we need to "keep Bush where it belongs and not in The White House". He's an evil war monger that eats small children. At least that's what I read from a good report in the Weekly World News.
Vote Kerry,
Whoopi
---------------------------------------------------------
Dear actors guild,
I recently recieved a letter from you that there will be a mandatory appearance at one or more of the Democratic events being held before the election. I've been a card carrying member of the Actor's Guild for 16 years now and this is the first time I've been requested to do something of this nature. I'm a bit confused about the whole thing. See, I am a Republican and would like a little clarification on this. Are you meaning Democratic in the broad sence of the word, like "we live in a Democratic society", or do you mean it in the party sence, like "Democrats have an ass for a moscott"? If it is the latter, I don't think I will be able to attend at it would be against my beliefs in government.
Sincerely,
Concientous Actor
Actors Guild Number: 000666
Dear Concientous Actor,
We are sorry to inform you that you are apparently misinformed about your status. It is readily known that anyone invloved in the Actor's Guild is a Democrat. In fact, did a little checking and per bylaw A184-69 Section 42 anyone claiming they are Republican or conservative will be immediately stricken from the afforementioned guild. It is known as the "You'll never work in this town again" clause. You may consider youself hereby banned from the guild and banished to no acting for the rest of your life.
Vote for Kerry,
Actor's Guild
As the first post, I guess it would be appropriate to tell a bit about myself. I doubt anyone will care or even read this because it will more than likely get burried in the sea of the blogosphere. Anyway, I'm Jeremy Bol, living in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA. I'm 30 years old with a Korean wife and a 6 year old son. I'm currently working on my bachelors degree in internetworking technologies and work for the U.S. government doing network security work.
The title "American War Monger" is supposed to mean something about how Americans are stereotyped as evil destroyers of the world. This is where I'm supposed to say we're not all bad guys and go on and on about how I really love peace, and the war in Iraq is wrong on all sides. Well, that's not going to happen. I'm not saying peace is bad or that war is good. Both have their purpose. Rarely has anything changed in peace. Rarely has their been a war without death. There's the dilemma, you can LIVE in a horribly oppressed society, or you can DIE to make the world a better place. The big question is whether or not your cause is worth fighting and potentially diying for.
I'm not going to make this just a war blog or a peace blog. I'd like to try and go somewhere in the middle. I will try and stick to politics and media just because there's so much fodder out there. I'll probably stray from the topic when I feel there's something to say about a new invention or something funny, or weird, etc. None of this really matters though, because I'm just another voice in the crowd of American War Mongers.