January 19, 2006

The Moon Is Simply Too Close...

...NASA needs a greater challenge.

NASA launches probe into Uranus to Pluto.

The mission will take approximately 9.5 years.

For the full story go here.

It will be interesting to see what this mission may yield. Stay tuned for the report in the year 2015.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:32 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 15, 2006

My Thoughts On A Little War On Terror News

Official: Saddam Judge Offers Resignation
Resignation!?!? Is this guy nuts?!?!? He could go down in history as the man who put Saddam away for life!

Pakistanis Condemn Purported CIA Attack
While I don't blame the local Pakistanis for condemning the attack they must realize if it was a U.S. strike they must have had good intel that the #2 man was actually there. The 17 (now 18) lives they lost were tragic but so were the nearly 3,000 Americans that lost their lives on September 11th, 2001.

Unfortunately it appears that the Al-Qaeda #2 man was not among the dead in Pakistan.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:31 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 14, 2006

Sad Update To A Tragic Story

I was just surfing the net and learned that the young man who pointed a pellet gun at Florida S.W.A.T. members has been pronounced brain dead.

Sad update to this story...

Lawyer: Teen Shot by Police Is Brain Dead By KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer

LONGWOOD, Fla. - The parents of a 15-year-old boy accused of terrorizing classmates with a pistol warned authorities the weapon likely was fake before police shot him in a middle school bathroom, a family attorney said Saturday.

Christopher Penley, of Winter Springs, was accused of pulling a pellet gun in a classroom Friday and pointing it at other students. When he later raised the weapon at a deputy, a SWAT team member shot him, authorities said. Penley was clinically brain dead Saturday, said family attorney Mark Nation.

"His organs are in the process of being harvested," Nation said.

Officers who had responded to the 1,100-student school in suburban Orlando believed the gun was a Beretta 9mm, and didn't learn until after the shooting that it was a pellet gun.

The boy's parents, Ralph and Donna Penley, were in contact with authorities during the incident and told them they believed Penley did not have a real gun, Nation said. Ralph Penley went to the school to attempt to talk his son out of the situation.

"When he got to the school, they would not let him in and he was later told Christopher had been shot," Nation said.

Sheriff's officials Saturday did not return several calls from The Associated Press seeking comment on the lawyer's allegations.

Friends and investigators say Penley was bullied and emotionally distraught, and went to school that day expecting to die.

Patrick Lafferty, a 15-year-old neighbor who has known Penley about six years, said he wasn't surprised by what happened. He said Penley was a loner who "told me he wanted to kill himself dozens of times."

"He would put his headphones on and walk up and down the street and he would work out a lot," preferring to keep to himself, Lafferty said.

Kelly Swofford, a family spokeswoman and neighbor of the boy's parents, said the boy had run away from home several times. Her 11-year-old son, Jeffery Swofford, said Penley had said he had something planned.

"He said `I hope I die today because I don't really like my life,'" Jeffery Swofford said.

Maurice Cotey, 13, told WKMG-TV in Orlando that he struggled with Penley over the gun after everyone else left the classroom.

"He got me towards the closet door, he turned me around, and ... started to point the gun at me, so I started to grab for it. And he pulled it away and then I grabbed for it one more time, .... twisted it and I pointed it at him."

Cotey said after he put the gun to Penley's legs, the gunman kicked him into the closet, where the two scuffled further, before Penley ran out of the classroom.

The school went into lockdown.

From there, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said, Penley traversed the Milwee Middle School campus before ending up in a bathroom. By then, more than 40 officers, including SWAT and negotiators, were on scene. He refused to drop the firearm, Eslinger said, and was shot after pointing it at a SWAT deputy.

Jeffery Swofford said Penley had been in a disagreement with someone, allegedly over a girl. There was going to be a fight Friday, he said. "I heard a rumor that he had a BB gun, but I didn't think he really had one," he added.

This is truly unfortunate. While I haven't had to suffer the loss of a family member such as my own child I have lost other family members and friends. Death is difficult no matter what the situation. My heart and prayers truly go out to the family and friends of young Christopher Penley.

I have to say, as I mentioned in my previous post, I am inclined to believe that the pellet gun must have been a very accurate replica, especially considering now that they say the S.W.A.T. members thought it was a Beretta 9mm. Every cop on the planet can identify a standard 9mm Beretta.

It mentioned that his organs were being harvested. I pray that some good will come of this and the life of another or even others can be saved by this tragedy.

lagleRock Out!

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SWAT Team Shoots Armed Florida 8th-Grader

This kid is lucky he was only wounded!

An 8th-grader at a Florida middle school was shot and wounded when SWAT fired on him in a restroom. The boy gestured several times that he was going to kill himself and also stated the same thing.

After pointing the weapon at Sheriff's deputies the boy was shot and wounded.

LONGWOOD, Fla. - An eighth-grader was shot and wounded by a SWAT team officer in a school bathroom Friday after he pulled out a pellet gun that resembled a real weapon, authorities said.

He was shot after raising the gun at deputies.

Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said the 15-year-old boy brought the gun to Milwee Middle School in his backpack. Eslinger said two students saw it and one persuaded the other to report it, causing a scuffle.

The alleged gunman told one of the students to go into a closet, ran from the classroom and "traveled with this firearm throughout the campus," Eslinger said. Deputies eventually isolated him in a restroom, and the school was evacuated.

"At one time he held the gun to his neck. As the deputies attempted to establish dialogue, he raised the firearm and lethal force was used by the sheriff's office," Eslinger said.

The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was on "advanced life support" Friday afternoon, Eslinger said.

"He was suicidal," Eslinger said. "During this standoff, and during the chase, the student said he was going to kill himself or die."

No one else was injured. The sheriff's office confirmed later that the weapon was a pellet gun fashioned to look like a 9mm handgun.

Classes were canceled for the rest of the day, and frantic parents arrived to pick up their children.

"When I saw the news, I just couldn't believe this was my daughter's school. I came right away," said Anil Santos, whose daughter, Aleister, is in eighth grade.

Sarah Tivy, 12, said some students were frightened, but she appeared calm.

"I just figured that if someone is going to bring a gun to school, then they need to be taken out of school," she said.

Wow, a pellet gun! Holy shit, notify the gun control Nazi's and fire up the liberal propaganda machine, this could be the story that gets them another 15 minutes of fame, NOT!

I spent my first 5 years in the Air Force working Law Enforcement and I know what it feels like to have a weapon pulled or even pointed at me.

As real as many "toy" weapons look these days it is easy to understand why the deputy reacted the way he did. Reports were that the boy had a real firearm and it looked real.

When the shit hits the fan, your brain doesn't say that's a Glock Model 17 in 9mm or don't shoot that is just a perfect replica, but it is really just a pellet gun. The brain, says FUCK, GUN! I know. The officer reacted properly. Now, I don't know what type of gun this boys pellet gun looked like, but I can tell you the minute he pointed it at law enforcement all they saw was gun. Fight or flight; remember that!?!

I agree with 12 year old Sarah Tivy, that boy has no business in an ordinary public school; at least not until he has been adequately punished and educated.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:15 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 11, 2006

Failed Grenade Attack On President Bush Earns Georgian Life In Prison

Ok, before you libs jump up and down thinking that someone in Atlanta tried to off the President this story is about Georgia the country.

Bush grenade attacker gets life

Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Posted: 1:01 p.m. EST (18:01 GMT)

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- A court has convicted a man of trying to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush and the leader of Georgia by throwing a grenade at them during a rally in May 2005, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

The court also on Wednesday convicted Vladimir Arutyunian of killing a policeman in the course of an operation to arrest him several weeks after the incident.

The grenade that Arutyunian threw during the huge rally attended by Bush and President Mikhail Saakashvili landed about 100 feet from the stage where they were standing behind a bulletproof barrier and did not explode. No one was hurt.

Arutyunian, whose trial began last month, has acknowledged that he threw a grenade in the direction of the stage and said he would try again to kill Bush if he had the chance.

Life in prison. Should have been a firing squad, but I'll settle for life in prison.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 05, 2006

Robertson Suggests God Smote Sharon And SlagleRock Suggests...

...Pat Robertson is an extremist.

Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and failed Presidential wannabe suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed.

Now, in the words of Forrest Gump, "I may not be a smart man..." Sharon is 77 years old, that is years past the average life span for a man. Do you suppose that maybe, just maybe his stroke was a result of his age. Give me a break Pat.

lagleRock Out!

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January 04, 2006

Update: Mine Collapse In W. Virginia, Rescue Efforts Yield One Survivor

Here is an update to this tragic story. One survivor is found in the mine collapse in W. Virginia.

More news to follow later...

lagleRock Out!

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January 02, 2006

2006 The First 48 Hours

So what's gone on in the first 48 hours of 2006? Well, better put, what's gone on in 2006 that I am remotely interested in...

Notre Dame lost to the Butt Eyes Buckeyes. What a load of crap! I mean I realize that they were the #4 and #5 teams (ND being the latter) but I really would have liked to see the Fighting Irish win the Fiesta Bowl!

13 coal miners were trapped by an explosion. An explosion left the miners more than a mile from the mouth of the mine.

The President chimes in with his perspective on the economy, he defends U.S. action in Iraq and challenges critics who claim his methods of fighting terrorists infringe on civil liberties.

Former Spook says the CIA is short on spies

These were a few of the "lame stream media" stories that caught my attention.

What about the sphere you ask?!?! Well here's what I found interesting:

The Emporer himself, of Anti-Idiotarian fame tells of one PC crowd attempting to sue another. If the libtards are going to start fighting amongst themselves they may as well give up. If they can't function as one collective weak mind they are doomed to fall in line with the right wing, LOL.

Matt at Blackfive tells us the amazing story about an amazing SSG in the U.S. Army. Follow the link to see how this amputee is changing jobs to stay in the Army.

Linda at Something and Half of Something has an interesting poem authored by Russ Vaughn, 101st Airborne.

Arklahomboy notes that this Xmas and New Year is just one more thousands of miles from home. I know the feeling arklahomboy, stay sharp, stay safe!

The one and only BlogMama, aka MamaMontezz asks that we keep her ailing Father in our prayers. Consider it done, Mama!

Uncle Burp introduces us to one BAD ASS Sniper, HUA Sgt Gilliland.

The Conservative Insurgent shows us that the "U.S. should free Saddam Hussein if it wants to end its problems". Must read!

Needless to say there were numerous other great entries throughout the blogosphere and I would have loved to mention them all, but life happens and I have a uniform to press and boots to shine. Stay tuned and see what gets me riled up next.

lagleRock Out!

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October 25, 2005

Rosa Parks dies at 92

Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies at 92 Long known as the 'mother of the civil rights movement'

(CNN) -- Rosa Parks, whose act of civil disobedience in 1955 inspired the modern civil rights movement, died Monday in Detroit, Michigan. She was 92.

Parks' moment in history began in December 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.

Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system by blacks that was organized by a 26-year-old Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The boycott led to a court ruling desegregating public transportation in Montgomery, but it wasn't until the 1964 Civil Rights Act that all public accommodations nationwide were desegregated.

Facing regular threats and having lost her department store job because of her activism, Parks moved from Alabama to Detroit in 1957. She later joined the staff of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat.

Conyers, who first met Parks during the early days of the civil rights struggle, recalled Monday that she worked on his original congressional staff when he first was elected to the House of Representatives in 1964.

"I think that she, as the mother of the new civil rights movement, has left an impact not just on the nation, but on the world," he told CNN in a telephone interview. "She was a real apostle of the nonviolence movement."

He remembered her as someone who never raised her voice -- an eloquent voice of the civil rights movement.

"You treated her with deference because she was so quiet, so serene -- just a very special person," he said, adding that "there was only one" Rosa Parks.

Gregory Reed, a longtime friend and attorney, said Parks died between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. of natural causes. He called Parks "a lady of great courage."

Parks co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development to help young people pursue educational opportunities, get them registered to vote and work toward racial peace.

"As long as there is unemployment, war, crime and all things that go to the infliction of man's inhumanity to man, regardless -- there is much to be done, and people need to work together," she once said.

Even into her 80s, she was active on the lecture circuit, speaking at civil rights groups and accepting awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.

"This medal is encouragement for all of us to continue until all have rights," she said at the June 1999 ceremony for the latter medal.

Parks was the subject of the documentary "Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks," which received a 2002 Oscar nomination for best documentary short.

In April, Parks and rap duo OutKast settled a lawsuit over the use of her name on a CD released in 1998. (Full story)

Bus boycott
She was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. Her marriage to Raymond Parks lasted from 1932 until his death in 1977.

Parks' father, James McCauley, was a carpenter, and her mother, Leona Edwards McCauley, a teacher.

Before her arrest in 1955, Parks was active in the voter registration movement and with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, where she also worked as a secretary in 1943.

At the time of her arrest, Parks was 42 and on her way home from work as a seamstress.

She took a seat in the front of the black section of a city bus in Montgomery. The bus filled up and the bus driver demanded that she move so a white male passenger could have her seat.

"The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't," she once said.

When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested her.

As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked, "Why do you push us around?"

The officer's response: "I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."

She added, "I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind."

Four days later, Parks was convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $14.

That same day, a group of blacks founded the Montgomery Improvement Association and named King, the young pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as its leader, and the bus boycott began.

For the next 381 days, blacks -- who according to Time magazine had comprised two-thirds of Montgomery bus riders -- boycotted public transportation to protest Parks' arrest and in turn the city's Jim Crow segregation laws.

Black people walked, rode taxis and used carpools in an effort that severely damaged the transit company's finances.

The mass movement marked one of the largest and most successful challenges of segregation and helped catapult King to the forefront of the civil rights movement.

The boycott ended on November 13, 1956, after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that Montgomery's segregated bus service was unconstitutional.

Parks' act of defiance came one year after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision that led to the end of racial segregation in public schools. (Full story)

U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a Democrat, told CNN Monday he watched the 1955-56 Montgomery drama unfold as a teenager and it inspired him to get active in the civil rights movement.

"It was so unbelievable that this woman -- this one woman -- had the courage to take a seat and refuse to get up and give it up to a white gentleman. By sitting down, she was standing up for all Americans," he said.

What more can be said. Millions of people have brave women and men like Rosa to thank for the civil rights and equal rights for all people in the United States.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:59 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

They Just Can't Help Themselves

Many of you have heard me refer to CNN as the Communist News Network, or the Clinton News Network among other things. They clearly have a penchant for overshadowing the important stories with their own agenda.

Todays coverage is a good example.

The draft resolution for the Iraqi constitution passed with a voter turnout of 63% but instead of focusing on that and writing it as a story of its own they chose to start it this way:

U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000

Iraqi draft constitution passes, election officials say

Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Posted: 12:17 p.m. EDT (16:17 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The war in Iraq saw two milestones Tuesday that reflect the country's path to democracy and its human toll as officials said the referendum on a draft constitution passed and the U.S. military's death toll reached 2,000.

CNN's count of U.S. fatalities reflects reports from military sources and includes deaths in Iraq, Kuwait and other units assigned to the Iraq campaign.

Among the latest casualties, an American soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb, and a roadside blast killed two Marines in combat Friday near Amariya in the western Anbar province, according to the U.S. military.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, more than 15,000 American service members have been wounded in the conflict, according to the Defense Department.

According to CNN's tally, 2,194 coalition troops have died in the war.

Turnout was 63 percent
Iraqi election officials touted the passage of the draft constitution, voted on October 15 after months of contentious, painstaking negotiations by the 275-member interim National Assembly.

A representative from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said these are "final provisional figures" that need to be certified. (Full story)

Authorities with the commission said 9.85 million people voted in the referendum, about 63 percent of registered voters. More than 78 percent of voters backed the constitution, officials said.

While passage required a simple majority, there was one obstacle the measure faced -- if two-thirds of the voters in at least three of 18 provinces had rejected it, the draft would have failed.

Supporters of the referendum were concerned about the voting in several provinces with significant populations of Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of Iraq's population and largely opposed the measure.

But figures show that the tally received a two-thirds "no" vote in only two provinces.

Anbar overwhelmingly voted against the document, with a "no" vote of 97 percent. In Salaheddin province, 82 percent rejected the charter.

On Monday, election officials said the vote count from the northern province of Nineveh would help determine the outcome. There was a "no" vote in Nineveh, but it was 55 percent.

In Diyala province, which has a slight Sunni Arab majority, 51 percent of voters said "yes."

When questioned about extreme results, including the 99 percent "yes" vote in one Kurdish province, electoral officials said U.N. experts and Iraqi teams verified the results.

Sunni Arab leaders actively boycotted the vote in January electing the National Assembly and found themselves with little voice in the interim government.

Government officials said they were gratified that Sunnis got involved in the political process this time, even though there was significant Sunni opposition to the draft. Shiites and Kurds have largely backed the constitution.

New parliamentary elections are set for December 15.

Other developments

Three explosions near two Baghdad hotels rocked Iraq's capital at sunset Monday, killing 10 people and wounding 22, Baghdad emergency police said. Police said suicide bombers used two car bombs and a cement truck, but journalists in one of the hotels said the first two explosions were rockets, followed by a vehicle bomb. A U.S. military statement said no coalition forces were injured. (Full story)

Coalition forces have killed "several" insurgents in the western Iraqi town of Ushsh, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Six insurgents also were detained, according to a military statement. Ushsh is near Qaim, an Anbar town near the Syrian border.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed Tuesday and one wounded when a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora.

Gunmen killed two Iraqi police officers transporting detainees to Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad on Tuesday. Seven officers were wounded in the attack.

Two roadside bombs targeting U.S. military convoys exploded Tuesday in western Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, killing two civilians and wounding five others, police said. No U.S. military personnel were wounded.

What we have here is two distinct stories, and while they occured on the same continent and in the same country they should have been reported seperately, but once again CNN tries to overshadow the importance of this draft resolution by starting the story with the tragedy that is the loss of 2,000 Americans.

Today is yet another giant leap towards a new Iraq and a new landscape in the Middle East.

The Slaughterhouse mourns the loss of our 2,000 American.

I also applaud the Iraqi people for their voter turnout in passing the draft resolution.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Identifying The Iceman...

According to the Communist News Network, or Clinton News Network or CNN whichever you prefer to call it:

Frozen airman flown to Hawaii for identification 'Very good possibility for identification'

Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Posted: 9:53 a.m. EDT (13:53 GMT)

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AP) -- A body believed to be that of a World War II airman, found frozen in the Sierra Nevada, arrived Monday in Hawaii for identification, officials said.

The body in an Army uniform was discovered earlier this month mostly encased in a glacier in Kings Canyon National Park.

It had been thawing since last week at the coroner's office in Fresno County.

The body was flown out of Travis Air Force Base to Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu.

The examination, which will take several weeks at least, will be done by the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.

An identification could solve part of a decades-old mystery -- the disappearance of a navigational training plane that left a Sacramento airfield in November 1942 carrying a crew of four on a routine flight.

I hope this Airman is in fact identified so that his family may finally have some answers and closure.
lagleRock Out!

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September 29, 2005

The Man Of Steel Returns

A long 11 year road in the making...

In 273 days Superman Returns

For any of you whom may be Superman fans there is a good article in Newsweek about the 11 year road that finally ended up with Bryan Singer producing "the most expensive film ever".

Here is an excerpt from the Newsweek article:

It's taken Warner Bros. 11 years to get 'Superman Returns' off the ground. Not exactly faster than a speeding bullet. Now 'X-Men' director Bryan Singer's at the helm in Australia. An exclusive visit.

By the time "Superman Returns" lands in theaters next summer, it will have taken Warner Bros. 11 torturous years to get the movie off the ground. At one point in the mid-1990s, Tim Burton was going to direct Nicolas Cage as the man in tights. The next big plan was "Superman vs. Batman," directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Then, a few years ago J. J. Abrams, creator of the shows "Alias" and "Lost," chipped in a "Superman" script that whipped up a frenzy around the lot. It was teeming with huge action sequences, but altered the Superman myth. (In Abrams's version, the planet Krypton survived.) Director McG was dying to direct it, but couldn't because he had committed to make "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." Brett Ratner signed on, but tussled with the studio over the budget—at one point it was estimated at more than $200 million—and left after six months. McG then stepped back in to direct, but location became a problem. By shooting in Australia, the studio could shave about $30 million off the budget. McG refused to fly, so the studio showed him the door.

Yeah, I know, I'm a dork. I just thought I'd share the picture and some info on the Man of Steel.

lagleRock Out!

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September 26, 2005

PFC England Convicted On Six Of Seven Counts

FORT HOOD, Texas Pfc. Lynndie England, 22, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She was acquitted on a second conspiracy count.

According to CNN.com:

Monday, September 26, 2005; Posted: 6:28 p.m. EDT (22:28 GMT)

U.S. Army Pfc. Lynndie England walks outside the courthouse Friday in Fort Hood, Texas.

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- Army Pfc. Lynndie England, whose smiling poses in photos of detainee abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison made her the face of the scandal, was convicted Monday by a military jury on six of seven counts.

England, 22, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She was acquitted on a second conspiracy count.

The jury of five male Army officers took about two hours to reach its verdict. Her case now moves to the sentencing phase, which will be heard by the same jury beginning Tuesday.

England tried to plead guilty in May to the same counts she faced this month in exchange for an undisclosed sentencing cap, but a judge threw out the plea deal. She now faces a maximum 10 years in prison.

England, wearing her dark green dress uniform, stood at attention Monday as the verdict was read by the jury foreman. She showed no obvious emotion afterward.

Asked for comment after the verdict, defense lawyer Capt. Jonathan Crisp said, "The only reaction I can say is, 'I understand."'

England's trial is the last for a group of nine Army reservists charged with mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, a scandal that badly damaged the United States' image in the Muslim world despite quick condemnation of the abuse by President Bush.

Two other troops were convicted in trials and the remaining six made plea deals. Several of those soldiers testified at England's trial.

Prosecutors used graphic photos of England to support their contention that she was a key figure in the abuse conspiracy. One photo shows England holding a naked detainee on a leash. In others, she smiles and points to prisoners in humiliating poses.

The conspiracy acquittal came on a count pertaining to the leash incident; she was found guilty of a maltreatment count stemming from the same incident.

Beyond the sordid photos, prosecutors pointed to England's statement to Army investigators in January 2004 that the mistreatment was done to amuse the U.S. guards at Abu Ghraib.

"The accused knew what she was doing," said Capt. Chris Graveline, the lead prosecutor. "She was laughing and joking. ... She is enjoying, she is participating, all for her own sick humor."

Crisp countered that England was only trying to please her soldier boyfriend, then-Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., labeled the abuse ringleader by prosecutors.

"She was a follower, she was an individual who was smitten with Graner," Crisp said. "She just did whatever he wanted her to do."

England, from Fort Ashby, West Virginia, has said that Graner, now serving a 10-year sentence, fathered her young son.

The defense argued that England suffered from depression and that she has an overly compliant personality, making her a heedless participant in the abuse.

England's earlier attempt to plead guilty under a deal with prosecutors was rejected by Col. James Pohl, the presiding judge. Pohl declared a mistrial during the sentencing phase when testimony by Graner contradicted England's guilty plea.

Graner, a defense witness at the sentencing, said pictures he took of England holding a prisoner on a leash were meant to be used as a training aid.

In her guilty plea, England had said the pictures were being taken purely for the amusement of Abu Ghraib guards.

Once in a while the system works. If you followed my previous posts on this subject you'll know how I felt about all of this. I believe those involved with this (from top to bottom) should have to pay for their actions. Anyone who tries to argue that they were just following orders must not be familiar with the term "lawful order". We all have an obligation to disobey any order that is unlawful or may hurt/harm themselves or those under their care. Let's hope for a reasonable sentence!

**UPDATE** England received 3 years!

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 04:19 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

August 02, 2005

The Bitch Is Back...

...Jane Fonda's second coming Cal Thomas July 28, 2005

We've all seen them: aging athletes, beyond their prime, trying to squeeze out one more fight, or one more season, but failing to bring back their glory days.

That seems an appropriate analogy for the return of Jane Fonda to the political stage. Having made her first movie in many years ("Monster-in-Law") that was a box office success, Fonda apparently thinks her new visibility gives her a certain credibility to comment on the Iraq war.

She has announced plans for an anti-war bus tour next March. Why is she waiting so long? The war might be over by then. The bus will run on vegetable oil. How 1960s! Will the riders grow their hair long, smoke pot, dress in tie-dyed T-shirts and sing "Blowin' in the Wind"? Fonda says she will be joined by her daughter and some families of Iraq War veterans. She says veterans came up to her during her book tour, encouraging her to protest the war.

In her memoir, "My Life So Far," and on numerous interview shows, Fonda has repeatedly apologized for going to North Vietnam in 1972 where she sat on an anti-aircraft gun and said things critical of her country that encouraged the enemy to fight on.

The North Vietnamese used her comments as propaganda in an effort to demoralize American troops and diminish the resolve of prisoners of war. Just what does she think will be the result of her forthcoming bus tour if not to encourage the terrorists and insurgents now fighting Americans and Iraqis in Iraq?

With high privilege also goes increased responsibility. If youthful indiscretion is an excuse she has used to explain her anti-war activities more than 30 years ago, what explanation will she have in her now mature years - temporary insanity?

"I have not taken a stand on any war since Vietnam," Fonda was quoted as saying. "I carry a lot of baggage from that." She certainly does, which makes it all the more perplexing why she is intent on adding even more baggage. It's peculiar that Fonda only protests what Americans do to resist evil, but she led no protests against Saddam Hussein's murderous regime that practiced evil. Why is that?

Jane Fonda might be described as one who is "always learning, but never able to acknowledge the truth," as the Bible she once read and claimed to believe says about people of shifting convictions and allegiances (see 2 Timothy 3:7). Except that she does not learn, much less arrive at any truth.

When Fonda announced she had been born again by accepting Christ as her savior, I investigated and concluded she was genuinely serious about her new faith. I wrote a column urging people not to judge or condemn her. Sadly, I must now write that by her own words, Jane Fonda has moved away from that initial faith into a universalism in which she says there are many ways to God and Jesus is not the only path. She has denied the essence of Christianity. One cannot truly be called a Christian unless one believes the uniqueness of the life, atoning death and resurrection of Christ.

When Jane Fonda protested the Vietnam War there were just three television networks and few media outlets for those who opposed her actions. We are now in a new media environment. While the major networks may practice their usual celebrity suck-up, cable television and talk radio are not about to give her a free pass. Look for Vietnam veterans still angry at "Hanoi Jane" to turn out along the bus route to protest her protest, then and now. It could get ugly.

[ Bugler! Sound 'assemble'!! -JB]

Jane Fonda has every right to freedom of speech, but so do those who believe she caused enough harm in the Vietnam War that they will not allow her to escape accountability or undermine America's efforts in this one. America survived its pullout from Vietnam. It cannot survive a similar outcome in this war. That's the big difference that Jane Fonda doesn't understand.

©2005 Tribune Media Services

As if this BITCH hasn't done enough in her lifetime to demoralize the troops and stand against all things American she needs to do it again as part of her mid life crisis?

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:18 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Simple Funeral For Saudi Arabian King Fahd

Simple funeral for King Fahd

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Muslim leaders and Saudi princes have bid a final farewell to King Fahd before his body was buried in an unmarked grave in a desert cemetery in keeping with Saudi Arabia's austere Islamic tradition.

The private ceremony in Riyadh Tuesday took place after prayers at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque where Fahd's body, draped in a brown robe, was carried by his sons on a wooden plank.

Mourners carried bright umbrellas to shield them from the sun at the al-Oud cemetery where small uninscribed stones mark the graves.

Fahd's body had been driven in an ambulance from the mosque where a crowd of thousands, including his successor, King Abdullah, paid their respects.

The mourners stood, raising their arms and chanting "Allahu akbar," or "God is great" during a two-minute prayer.

Security was tight in the capital for the ceremonies, with large crowds of ordinary Saudis participating alongside monarchs, presidents and other dignitaries from the Arab world and other Islamic nations.

Western leaders and dignitaries, including Britain's Prince Charles, French President Jacques Chirac and Australia's governor general were also offering condolences.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who has promised a "close partnership" with Saudi Arabia under Abdullah's leadership, sent a delegation. The leaders of Syria, Pakistan and other Muslim states also attended.

Saudi flags, emblazoned with "There is no God but Allah", were not lowered as this is deemed blasphemous.

After Fahd's death on Monday, Crown Prince Abdullah, the kingdom's de facto ruler for several years, became king.

Saudi officials say Abdullah, who has run day-to-day affairs since Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995, would maintain the Gulf state's oil policy and close alliance with the West.

King Fahd's exact age is unknown, but he was believed to be between 82 and 84.Fahd was the fifth ruler of the nation founded in 1932 by his father, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud.

His 23-year reign was marked by unprecedented prosperity, but his close ties with the United States stirred the passions of Islamic militants.

Saudi police regularly clash with gunmen linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network, and a spate of attacks in the past two years have targeted Westerners who worked in the oil industry or helped train and equip the kingdom's armed forces.

It was Fahd's decision to allow U.S. forces to be based out of Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq that outraged Islamic fundamentalists, among them al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, who criticized his homeland for allowing "infidels" to attack another Arab country from its soil.

Fifteen of the 19 suicide hijackers who carried out al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington were from Saudi Arabia, further straining ties.

Rihab Massoud, the Saudi charge d'affaires in Washington, acknowledged the "challenge" posed by the attacks in his remarks. But he said he expected Saudi relations with the United States "to continue and to grow" under Abdullah, who was a guest at President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch earlier this year.

"Saudi Arabia will not stand for an evil cult using the Islamic faith as an excuse for mass violence," Massoud said. "We stand shoulder to shoulder with all nations as strong allies."

See CNN for more on this story.

So what will this mean for world politics? I say not much is likely to change. Prince Abdullah has been the de facto fuler since King Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995.

What do you think?

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 26, 2005

Back In The Saddle Again...

Discovery Lifts Off

The space shuttle Discovery roared into the skies over Florida Tuesday morning as NASA returned to manned space flight for the first time since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

The spacecraft blasted off as scheduled at 10:39 a.m. ET, following days of troubleshooting to fix a faulty fuel sensor in its external tank.

A fuel sensor problem that scrubbed the shuttle's liftoff nearly two weeks ago did not recur Tuesday, NASA said.

Discovery crew members, who awoke after midnight, appeared at a traditional photo opportunity wearing matching Hawaiian shirts in the crew dining room as astronaut Steve Robinson strummed a guitar. Later the crew donned space suits for their journey and, by 8:22 a.m. ET, all seven were aboard and strapped in.

Commander Eileen Collins was the first to board, giving a confident wave to NASA cameras before entering the cockpit.

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi held up signs saying: "Get out of quarantine free" and "OUT TO LAUNCH."

At 9 a.m. ET, the hatch was closed.

About 10 miles from launch pad 39B, scores of shuttle-watchers who had camped out overnight along the Banana River were waking up excited about the liftoff.

"We were here when they tried to launch the first time," said Kai Novak, 41, of Hamburg, Germany. "When it didn't go, we were all really depressed. We're looking forward to seeing this today."

Also among the crowd was Thor Hurlen, 46, of Aalesund, Norway. "I think it's going to happen today," he said.

On July 13, NASA scrubbed Discovery's launch just 2 1/2 hours before liftoff when a test showed one of Discovery's four sensors in its hydrogen fuel tank was not working.

On Monday, after 12 days of troubleshooting, officials said they were again ready for liftoff but still weren't sure what caused the problem.

"We don't completely [know] because it looks like a grounding issue," said Discovery vehicle manager Scott Thurston.

An array of cameras was positioned to videotape the launch.

The cameras are among many new safety measures implemented after the Columbia disaster. They include cameras aboard two WB-57 aircraft that took off from nearby Patrick Air Force Base, according to a base spokesman. The planes are equipped with a video recording system that can capture visible and infrared images to look for any damage to Discovery during liftoff.

Columbia disintegrated on re-entry when super-heated gases entered the spacecraft through a hole created during liftoff by a falling piece of insulation foam, according to an investigative panel. All seven crew members died.

Discovery's crew is scheduled to test a battery of tools and techniques that NASA engineers developed after the loss of Columbia to inspect the spacecraft's heat-resistant exterior tiles for any damage that might occur during liftoff.

Discovery's mission also takes it to the international space station to deliver supplies and conduct repairs.

First lady Laura Bush and several members of Congress watched Tuesday's launch from a VIP observation area.

The mission is scheduled to last 12 days.

Here's to the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery...

Good luck and Godspeed!

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:51 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

June 03, 2005

They Call It "Fight Or Flight" For A Reason

H/T to Delftsman and Mamamontezz for pointing me to this story....

According to The Salt Lake Tribune:

CONCEALED WEAPONS: Firearms do not make people 'nice' Living in fear Not having been present at the episode, and lacking any legal determinations, we will not presume to judge the behavior of one well-known and well-armed computer entrepreneur and that of a group of people gathered to express extreme displeasure with his motoring habits. We are, however, prepared to evaluate the philosophy the impossible-to-embarrass "Super Dell" Schanze employed to justify using a gun, or at least reference to a gun, to deter hostile people during said confrontation. Bunk. Dangerous, potentially deadly, bunk. Apparently threatened by a man with a rock - a rock aimed not at Schanze or his child, but at his luxury car - Schanze is alleged to have produced a previously, and legally, concealed Glock 10 mm in self-defense. Well, auto-defense, anyway. If that's what happened, Schanze faces both a misdemeanor charge and the loss of his concealed-weapon permit. An outspoken advocate of the right to keep and bear arms, even when exhibiting behavior that would not be acceptable in any well-regulated militia, Schanze denies committing a crime but was happy to describe the change in attitude that his little friend elicited among his antagonists. "They decided to be really nice once they knew I was armed," he said. "Their whole personality changed. It was amazing." Amazing? Amazing that people will change their behavior when the alternative may well be sudden death? Seems pretty predictable to us. Of course the whole point of the free coinage of concealed-weapons permits in Utah - there are some 62,000 of them out there - is that a heavily armed populace is a well-behaved populace. Maybe. But people who think they may be shot are not being "nice." They are afraid. Some of them ought to be afraid, as they might otherwise commit some sort of mayhem. But the majority of us do not want or deserve to live in fear, threatened by someone whose concealed-weapons permit is one traffic accident or domestic quarrel away from being among the some 200 a year that are revoked for criminal, sometimes violent, behavior. Some people, who carry large sums of money or have specific reasons to feel endangered, may be safer if they are armed. The rest of us are not.

OK, so what did we get from this editorial? First, where are the facts? This story is clearly written from the liberal/anti-gun standpoint where the author wants to depict Mr. Schanze as a gun toting, trigger happy, "right-wing nut job".

I can't say whether or not Mr. Schanze felt like his life was in danger or if the life of his child was threatened, but what I can say is it is clear that he was outnumbered and the crowd was not friendly. All it may have taken to incite a riot that he couldn't have stopped or contained would have been one word, one punch or one throw of the rock. It doesn't sound like he pointed it at anyone just showed that he had it and would defend himself and his family.

Fear, I absolutely hope the crowd felt fear. That is exactly the reaction that is needed to make someone second guess whether or not they want to attempt to harm you or your loved ones.

The Salt Lake Tribune should be embarrassed for publishing this tripe. You will notice that there is no authors name on this article. Probably for a reason!

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:08 PM | Comments (5)

June 01, 2005

What No Child Molestation Or Prisoner Torture, These Stories Can't Be Worth Reporting...

Kim Du Toit has a couple of stories you won't likely see in the lame stream media. There are no rock stars fondling little boys, or terrible pictures of Abu Ghraib, there is nothing to pin on the military or our President except Kudos.

Take a second, hop on over read the stories and let me know what you think.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 02:45 PM | Comments (3)

May 06, 2005

Punishment Reaches The Top

The Abu Ghraib scandal rocked the world and nearly as quickly as the Libs forgot 9/11 it appeared to fall off the radar. First a couple of enlisted troops got hammered and apparently for most of America that was enough for the story to start to fizzle. In fact until recently when I heard of PFC England's attempt to plea her way out, I hadn't heard that much about it (keep in mind I am in Europe and I miss quite a bit of the news).

Well First England’s case was declared a mistrial after the judge refused to accept her plea, now a top General has felt the wrath.

According to Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON - The Army has offered its last word on holding its generals accountable in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, but Congress is going to have the final say.

The Army announced that it demoted Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, whose Army Reserve unit was in charge of the prison compound during the period of abuse. Dropping her in rank to colonel required approval from President Bush, and officials said that he granted it on Thursday.

The Army also said it cleared three other, more senior generals of wrongdoing in the prisoner abuse cases, actions that had been previously reported but not publicly confirmed by the Army.

That means Karpinski is the only general to be disciplined thus far. The demotion means her career in the military, where officers must rise in rank or leave, is effectively over. Messages left at her home in Hilton Head, S.C., and with her attorney were not immediately returned.

Some in Congress have sharply criticized the Pentagon for failing to hold the more senior officers in Iraq accountable and instead pinning most of the blame on low-ranking soldiers like Pfc. Lynndie England. She pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of conspiracy to maltreat prisoners, four counts of maltreating prisoners and one count of committing an indecent act, many of which were captured in photographs that shocked the world when published a year ago. But the military judge rejected the plea agreement she had reached with prosecutors.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has said it intends to hold hearings soon to assess whether senior Defense Department civilian and military leaders were adequately held accountable for Abu Ghraib.

The Army described its investigations as exhaustive, requiring six months of work including sworn-statement interviews with 82 people, including L. Paul Bremer, who was the top civilian authority in Iraq at the time, and Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Among those cleared by the Army was Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who was the top Army general in Iraq at the time of the prisoner abuses. He has been faulted by some for leadership failures but has never been accused of ordering or sanctioning any abuse of prisoners.

The Army said it could not substantiate two allegations against Sanchez: dereliction in the performance of duties pertaining to detention and interrogation operations and improperly communicating interrogation policies.

Sanchez is currently the commander of 5th Corps, headquartered at Heidelberg, Germany.

In addition to being demoted, Karpinski received a written reprimand and was formally relieved of command of the 800th Military Police Brigade on April 8, the Army said in a statement.

The Army's inspector general investigated four allegations against Karpinski: dereliction of duty, making a "material misrepresentation" to investigators, failure to obey a lawful order and shoplifting. Only the shoplifting and dereliction of duty allegations were substantiated.

Neal A. Puckett, Karpinski's attorney, told The Washington Post that the Army is saying "she's the only senior leader that had any part in this, but they're saying she didn't have a direct part in it." The Army is severing the chain of command "right at her eyeball level, and not letting it go higher," Puckett told the newspaper.

The Army did not explain the specifics of the allegations, but a number of previous investigations of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses have accused Karpinski of failing to maintain order and prevent the abuses. She has said publicly that she was not given full authority over Abu Ghraib and that when photographs of the abuse became public she was made a scapegoat.

A U.S. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Karpinski was accused of shoplifting a cosmetic item from a shop at a domestic Air Force base while she held the rank of colonel. Karpinski did not report her arrest for this misdemeanor on a later background check, the official said. In an interview with CBS News last year, Karpinski denied shoplifting.

The generals who were cleared, in addition to Sanchez, were Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, who was Sanchez's deputy in Iraq at the time, and Sanchez's intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast. Both were accused of dereliction of duty, but the allegations were not substantiated.

Without providing their names, the Army also said Thursday that one colonel and two lieutenant colonels linked to detainee abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan were given unspecified administrative punishment. Also, two other lieutenant colonels were given letters of reprimand.

More than a dozen other lower-ranking officers, whose names were not released, also received various punishments.

_ Three majors were given letters of reprimand and one of the three also was given an unspecified administrative punishment.

_ Three captains were court-martialed, one captain was given an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army, five captains received letters of reprimand, and one was given an unspecified administrative punishment.

_ Two first lieutenants were court-martialed, another got a letter of reprimand and one was given administrative punishment.

_ One second lieutenant was given an other-than-honorable discharge and another was given a letter of reprimand.

_ Two chief warrant officers were court-martialed.

The Army said other cases involving officers linked to detainee abuse are still open, but it did not say how many.

It is always unfortunate to hear that a career is ending, but either way this General should be held accountable. Either she didn't know what was going, which is dereliction of duty or she knew and was covering.

Abu Ghraib is without a doubt a blackeye, but like a true black eye it will heal and it will pass. As much as certain libs would like to believe it this is not representative of the fine young men and women that serve our nation!

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 01:48 AM | Comments (2)

May 03, 2005

PFC England Attempts To Plea Her Way Out

FORT HOOD, Texas - Pfc. Lynndie England took responsibility for the smiling, thumbs-up poses she struck for photographs taken at Abu Ghraib prison camp, which made her the face of the prisoner abuse scandal. Now, with the sentencing phase in her military trial set to begin Tuesday, England's goal is to minimize the punishment.

England, 22, pleaded guilty Monday to seven counts of mistreating prisoners, saying she let her comrades talk her into going along with the abuse.

The charges carry up to 11 years in prison, but prosecutors and the defense reached an agreement that caps the sentence at a lesser punishment, the length of which was not released. She will get the lesser of the military jury's sentence or the term agreed on in the plea bargain.

Wearing her dress green Army uniform and speaking somberly in a soft voice with her arms close by her side, the reservist told the judge she initially resisted taking part in the abuse at the Baghdad prison, but caved in to peer pressure.

"I could have said, 'No,'" she told Col. James Pohl, the judge. "I knew it was wrong."

Capt. Cullen Sheppard, a prosecution spokesman, said the government will put on one sentencing witness before the defense begins its effort to persuade the jury to go easy on England.

Pvt. Charles Graner Jr., labeled the abuse ringleader and the man said to be the father of England's infant son, is expected to testify on England's behalf, perhaps as early as Tuesday.

Graner was convicted in January on a range of abuse charges and is serving a 10-year sentence in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

England became a central figure in the Abu Ghraib scandal after photos emerged last year showing her and others sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners.

One of the photos showed her holding a hooded, naked prisoner on a leash. Another showed her smiling and giving a thumbs-up next to nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid. A third depicted England pointing at the prisoner's genitals as a cigarette dangled from her lips.

She told Pohl she did not want to point at the man's genitals, but that Graner or another soldier pressured her into it. "I said, 'No, no way,'" she recalled to the judge. "But they were being very persistent, bugging me, so I said, 'OK, whatever.'"

England, from Fort Ashby, W. Va., said she knew all along that she could have refused to take part in the abuse. "I had a choice, but I chose to do what my friends wanted me to," she said.

England entered guilty pleas to two counts of conspiracy to maltreat prisoners, four counts of maltreating prisoners and one count of committing an indecent act. Prosecutors agreed to drop another count of committing an indecent act and one count of dereliction of duty.

Four other members of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company and two low-level military intelligence officers have entered guilty pleas in connection with the scandal, with sentences ranging from no time to 8 1/2 years. Spc. Sabrina Harman, a former Abu Ghraib guard, is scheduled to go to trial at Fort Hood next week.

Several investigations have been conducted, but so far only low-level soldiers have been charged, though the defendants have alleged that high-level officials condoned the abuse.

In England's hometown in West Virginia, Joyce Satzer said the scandal has given the community a bad name. "For someone to do something like that, and then for her to be from Fort Ashby, it's upsetting," said Satzer, 73. "This is a nice place to live."

I have mixed emotions about this whole scenario. If they were ordered to commit these acts then the person who made the order should be held most accountable, but she absolutely could and should have said "No" if that was the case. Either way it is another slap in the face for the Guard and Reserve folks out there who try their best to serve this country.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 03:42 PM | Comments (2)

April 30, 2005

What'll They Think Of Next???

How would you like to have eyes like those staring you down?

According to FoxSports.com:

Performance-enhancing contact lenses?

Brian Roberts first tried on his newfangled contact lenses about an hour before the Orioles' last spring training game in Florida. He ripped three hits on a day his teammates groused about the difficulties of seeing the ball in the bright sun shining from a cloudless sky.

A longtime wearer of contacts, Roberts needed no persuading afterward to keep the new lenses, even if they make him look like some wild-eyed creature from a science fiction film. After a monster start — he entered the week hitting .444 with five homers — they might have to be pried away from him.

Plenty has been said about performance-enhancing drugs this spring. Well, get ready for a new wave of performance enhancers, only these do not cause side effects and are not subject to suspensions. Known as performance-enhancing contact lenses, they were designed to help hitters pick up the seams on the ball better and to protect the eyes from the sun.

"They're almost like wearing sunglasses without wearing sunglasses," Roberts says. "I could tell such a huge difference right away that I was willing to give them a shot." Seven years in the making by Nike and Bausch & Lomb, the lenses — which will be known in the retail world as MaxSight — are so new they have made their way only into a few major league clubhouses so far.

Roberts, the Orioles' leadoff hitter and second baseman, is the only player the Sporting News could confirm is wearing them in games. Reds center fielder Ken Griffey has tried them in batting practice and plans to break them out for real once he becomes more comfortable with them. Reds closer Danny Graves also is wearing them during pregame work. Red Sox pitchers Bronson Arroyo and Mike Timlin and Twins catcher Joe Mauer have been fitted.

Tennis player Roger Federer and several D.C. United soccer players have agreed to try them. The University of Miami has 20 athletes on its football, baseball, tennis and track teams wearing them. The lenses also come in gray-green for golfers, and a set for night use is in the final stages of development.

For the rest of the story check out FoxSports.com

Pretty impressive really. Technology is an amazing thing. So how long before the congressional hearing on eye enhancements in professional sports!??!?!?

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:36 AM | Comments (4)

April 29, 2005

American Service Member Sentenced To Death

According to the Washington Post:

Sergeant Sentenced to Death for Killing Two Officers in Iraq

Associated Press
Friday, April 29, 2005; Page A06

FORT BRAGG, N.C., April 28 -- A military jury on Thursday sentenced Sgt. Hasan Akbar to die for the 2003 murders of two officers in a grenade attack at an Army camp in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq invasion.

The 15-person jury deliberated seven hours after hearing a barely audible and unsworn statement from Akbar, 34, who said he was sorry.

"I want to apologize for the attack that occurred. I felt that my life was in jeopardy, and I had no other options. I also want to ask you for forgiveness," Akbar told jurors.

They chose between sentences of death, life in prison or life without parole.

The same jury last week took 2 1/2 hours to convict him of two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted premeditated murder.

The sentence will be the subject of an automatic appeal. If Akbar is executed, it would be by lethal injection.

Akbar stood at attention between his lawyers as the verdict was delivered. He gave no visible sign of emotion.

Deliberations paused earlier in the day after the jury reached a verdict, only to have one member request reconsideration. A military judge sent the 15-member panel back to vote early Thursday evening on whether to reconsider their decision.

Akbar spoke for less than a minute, making an unsworn statement that could not be cross-examined. He spoke in such a low voice that even prosecutors sitting nearby had trouble hearing, with one lawyer cupping his ear.

Prosecutors have said Akbar launched the attack on members of the 101st Airborne Division in March 2003 at Camp Pennsylvania because he was concerned about U.S. troops killing fellow Muslims in the Iraq war.

Although the defense contended Akbar was too mentally ill to plan the attack, they never disputed that it was he who threw grenades into troop tents in the early morning darkness and then fired on soldiers in the ensuing chaos.

Army Capt. Christopher Seifert, 27, and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, were killed in the attack, and 14 others were wounded.

The court-martial is the first time since the Vietnam era that an American has been prosecuted on charges of murdering a fellow soldier during wartime. Akbar will join five others on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The last U.S. military execution was in 1961. Pfc. John A. Bennett of the Army was put to death after his conviction for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the loss of an American service member is always a tragedy. The death sentence of Sgt Akbar is only different in the sense that he is a murderer. His life won't be lost in the service of his country but it will be lost for the senseless murder of his brothers in arms.

The punishment fits the crime. Some say an 'eye for an eye' and others say 'live and let live', but in this case I have to say that the jury made the right decision.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:31 AM | Comments (6)

April 24, 2005

Look Up In The Sky...

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPERMAN!!!!

OK, so I am a bit of a geek, but what greater pop culture icon is there than the last son of Krypton, who fights for truth, justice and the American way.

According to USA today:

The look of Superman literally rests on the broad and buff shoulders of newcomer Brandon Routh.

This first look at Superman Returns— due in theaters in June 2006 — shows that the skin-tight costume stretches over only the actor's muscles and frame, without the augmented armored pecs or abs of recent movie superheroes.

Director Bryan Singer famously changed the fluorescent spandex suits of the X-Men into dark, leather-like uniforms for those movies — both of them smashes that sold more than $364 million in tickets. But on Superman Returns, he says, he wanted "something classic."

Tinkering too much with a hero's suit can aggravate traditionalist comic fans, who grumbled that Jennifer Garner's Elektra wasn't wearing her midriff-baring red suit in Daredevil or that Batman's armor had nipples in Batman Forever. They aren't likely to have much to carp about with Superman Returns.

Instead of reinventing the character's appearance, Singer — via e-mail from Australia, where he's shooting the film — says he wanted to remain faithful to the previous incarnations of Superman, from the Max Fleischer cartoons of the 1940s to the black-and-white George Reeves TV show to the Christopher Reeve movies of the 1970s and '80s.

Singer decided to keep the cape, the blue body suit, the red tights — even the V-cut opening of Superman's boots.

But Superman Returns makes a few subtle changes to the suit:

• The character's S insignia is slightly smaller and higher on his chest, and instead of being painted on, it's more of a three-dimensional plate.

• The insignia is added to Superman's belt buckle.

• Costume designer Louise Mingenbach preserved the blue, red and yellow motif, but the shades are slightly darker than the bright primary colors of the comics. Superman's yellow belt is more golden, and his cape is a deep scarlet.

The key to filling it out, however, depends entirely on the physique of Routh, 25, the Iowa native who was briefly on the soap opera One Life to Live in 2001. Singer says the Superman costume wasn't complete without Routh.

"I always had the general idea of the suit. However, when the conceptual art was evolving around the same time that I cast Brandon, I privately had paintings rendered with Brandon's face, which certainly brought it to life."

Superman's body is the key to his power, Singer says.

"With X-Men, although they had extraordinary powers, they also had physical weaknesses," he says. "The suits were for protection as well as costume. Superman is the Man of Steel. Bullets bounce off him, not his suit."

What does the movie's costume say about this Superman's personality?

"He's not afraid," Singer says.

So, what's the reaction? They didn't mess with the traditional too much.

I think it looks good. Granted, Routh could be just a bit larger or at least more cut.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:27 PM | Comments (1)

Almost Time For His Dirt Nap

You may remember this post, A Dirt Nap Is Just What The Doctor Ordered. If you don't take a second to follow the link and read it then come back here.

OK, remember that scum bag? His attempt to escape was thwarted and now it appears his dirt nap may be just around the corner:

Soldier guilty of premeditated murder in deadly Kuwait grenade attack

Thursday, April 21, 2005 Posted: 11:53 PM EDT (0353 GMT)

Akbar, upper left, is led out of the Staff Judge Advocate Building at Fort Bragg after his conviction Thursday.

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (AP) -- An Army sergeant was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.

Hasan Akbar, 34, now faces a possible death penalty, which the 15-member jury will consider at a hearing that begins Monday.

Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve "maximum carnage" on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division.

The verdict came after 2 1/2 hours of deliberations following seven days of testimony in a court-martial -- the first time since the Vietnam era that an American has been prosecuted on charges of murdering a fellow soldier during wartime.

Akbar stood at attention as the verdict was read by the colonel who headed the jury panel. The defendant chewed his lip but gave no other outward sign of emotion. Defense attorneys acknowledged that Akbar carried out the attack but argued he was too mentally ill to have premeditated it and was fueled by emotion.

Killed in the middle-of-the-night attack were Army Capt. Christopher Seifert, 27, who was shot in the back, and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, who suffered 83 shrapnel wounds. The 101st was preparing to move into Iraq in support of the U.S. invasion when the attack occurred in March 2003.

"Sgt. Akbar executed that attack with a cool mind," prosecutor Capt. Robert McGovern said during closing arguments, cocking Akbar's unloaded M-4 rifle and pulling the trigger twice for emphasis. "He sought maximum carnage."

The prosecutor said Akbar planned carefully and stole grenades that would achieve maximum destruction in the brigade command section of Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait.

Defense attorney Maj. Dan Brookhart countered that Akbar was concerned the invasion of Iraq would result in the deaths of Muslims and that U.S. soldiers would rape Iraqi women.

He said the prosecution's depiction of Akbar as a cold-blooded killer ignored that the defendant was sufficiently mentally ill -- though not insane -- to be confused and fearful about the impending invasion of Iraq.

The defense lawyer scoffed at an Army psychiatrist's testimony that Akbar suffered merely from "the blues" -- not any serious mental problems.

"It doesn't make any sense. This guy doesn't have the blues," he said. "He is mentally ill."

Brookhart said Akbar's actions after the initial attack showed he wasn't intent on achieving maximum destruction. He said Akbar stopped his attack with a nearly full clip still in his M-4 rifle and three more grenades. He also noted the defendant didn't try to flee during the chaos following the attack.

Akbar, who turned 34 Thursday, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. Jurors -- nine officers and six non-commissioned officers -- had the ability to consider lesser charges, but chose not to.

During Thursday's arguments, relatives of the victims cried when prosecutors showed pictures of the bodies on a large TV screen. When a prosecutor pointed at Akbar, nearly yelling that he was responsible, Akbar sipped from a coffee mug.

If sentenced to death, Akbar would become the sixth soldier on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He also could be sentenced to a life sentence.

The case was moved from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of the 101st, to Fort Bragg because the division still was in Iraq and Bragg is home of the 101st's higher command.

I sincerely hope he does become the 6th member of death row. He wasn't insane, he was a highly trained killing machine that lost track of his loyalties and attempted to set false values ahead of reason. Any sane member of the military knows that the "rape" of Iraqi women simply isn't on our global to do list.

It's just too bad that the families of the victims can't be part of a firing squad.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:47 AM | Comments (2)

April 22, 2005

Hanoi Jane Gets What She Deserves

I received this article from Jack of the Conservative Insurgent:

Thursday, April 21, 2005 at 08:04 JST KANSAS CITY, Mo - A man spit tobacco juice into the face of Jane Fonda after waiting in line to have her sign her new memoir. Capt Rich Lockhart of the Kansas City Police Department said Michael A Smith, 54, was arrested Tuesday night on a municipal charge of disorderly conduct.

He was released on bond and is due to appear in court on May 27.

Fonda covers a wide range of topics in "My Life So Far," including her 1972 visit to Hanoi to protest the Vietnam War, during which she was photographed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. She has apologized for the photo, but not for opposing the war.

Smith, a Vietnam veteran, told The Kansas City Star Wednesday that Fonda was a "traitor" and that her protests against the Vietnam War were unforgivable. He said he doesn't chew tobacco but did so Tuesday solely to spit juice on the actress.

"I consider it a debt of honor," he told The Star for a story on its website. "She spit in our faces for 37 years. It was absolutely worth it. There are a lot of veterans who would love to do what I did."

Fonda, who flew to Minneapolis Wednesday for another appearance on her book tour, issued a statement through Jynne Martin of Random House.

"In spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful and I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came to welcome me last night," she said.

Fonda drew a crowd of about 900 at Unity Temple, said Vivian Jennings, whose Rainy Day Books of suburban Fairway, Kan, sponsored the event.

Jennings said the 67-year-old actress never got up from her seat and continued autographing books after the tobacco juice was wiped off.

"The important thing is that she was so calm and so gracious about it," Jennings said. "She was wonderful." (Wire reports)

Click the link below to view this article and related discussions on Japan Today

Not that spitting tobacco in the bitch's face will change the horrible things she has done, but at least it will allow Mr. Smith to sleep more peaceably at night!

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:58 AM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2005

Rope. Tree. Cargo Handlers (Some Assembly Required)

Thirteen Airport Cargo Handlers Charged With Stealing Military Mail

By Terence Chea Associated Press Writer
Published: Apr 15, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Thirteen cargo handlers at San Francisco International Airport were charged Friday with stealing $200,000 worth of computers, cameras and other goods from mail bound for U.S. soldiers stationed in Japan, authorities said.
The 13 defendants, employees of cargo staffing company Aeroground, were arrested Thursday and Friday and appeared in federal court on charges of stealing and conspiring to steal U.S. mail, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco said.

"We will not tolerate abuse of our mail system, and we will make every effort to ensure that postal customers and our postal system are protected and not compromised," said U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan.

Attorneys for the defendants could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. The 13 men, who range in age from 19 to 52, did not enter pleas during their brief court appearance, said Cynthia Caporizzo, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office.

The defendants handled mail at the airport for an airline contracted by the U.S. military to deliver mail to Okinawa, Japan. San Francisco-based Aeroground would not comment about their status with the company, said spokeswoman Jordan Goldstein.

Since November 2003, soldiers based in Okinawa reported more than 570 incidents of not receiving mail or getting mail missing items such as laptop computers, digital cameras, DVD players and videogame consoles, according to the complaint. The winter holiday season saw the highest number of reported losses.

After hearing about the reports, U.S. Postal Service inspectors, assisted by military investigators, conducted surveillance at an airport-loading facility where they allegedly observed workers hiding items under their clothes and taking them to a nearby parking lot. They also noticed the cargo handlers carefully reading customs declaration forms that detailed each package's contents and value.

After taking out the goods, the cargo handlers would tape up the packages and send them on to Japan, where soldiers would discover items missing, according to the complaint. Some packages never arrived.

Many of the stolen items were then sold, sometimes at flea markets. One undercover postal investigator bought 15 items from one of the defendants, Caporizzo said.

If convicted, the cargo handlers could face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Aeroground, which employs 1,100 workers at 25 cargo terminals at nine international airports, has cooperated in the federal investigation, according to Goldstein.

"This has never happened in the history of Aeroground," Goldstein said. "Aeroground takes these allegations very seriously, and that's why we're cooperating with the investigation."

What a bunch of ass holes plain and simple. I mean what more can I say? These people stole U.S. Mail that was intended for U.S. military men and women and their families.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 04:05 AM | Comments (2)

April 13, 2005

Oh Hell No!!

H/T to MamaMontezz for pointing me to this story. (Or sort of a H/t, now I am all kinds of pissed off!)

You know, the world will never be perfect. Ever it is simply not possible. Even one day hundreds of thousands of years from now when man has blurred the lines between the races and the religions the world simply won't be perfect. I don't think any rational person ever really expects a utopian society but I do think that all good natured people expect relative harmony; a little order, morality and basic human decency. What the four boys in this story demonstrated was hate, and a total disregard for another human being.

I'm going to tackle this one piece by piece...

Witnesses: Disabled Girl Punched In Face, Forced To Perform Sex Acts

POSTED: 2:25 pm EDT April 12, 2005
UPDATED: 10:15 pm EDT April 12, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A 16-year-old disabled girl was punched and forced to engage in videotaped sexual acts with several boys in a high school auditorium as dozens of students watched, according to witnesses.

How in the hell does something like this happen? How in the hell is it ok to hit a woman, much less a disabled girl? How in the hell has our youth gotten so out of touch with reality that "dozens" of students watched these acts?

Authorities are investigating and no charges have been filed in the alleged attack last month at Mifflin High School. Four boys suspected of involvement were sent home and have not returned to class.

Ghee, you think? They haven't returned to class. The next time they attend a class it should be in the juvenile detention system. When I was in school had these douche bags returned to school they wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes.

Also, the principal, Regina Crenshaw, was suspended and will be fired for not calling police, school officials said. And three assistant principals were suspended and will be reassigned to other schools.

Crenshaw had no comment Tuesday.

OK, I understand and fully agree with the firing of the Principal, but why is it that the three assistant principals will be reassigned? Either they were aware of the events in which case they are just as liable for the situation or they were oblivious to the events in which case they should have been left alone?? Which is it?

The girl was forced to perform oral sex on at least two boys, according to statements from school officials, obtained by The Columbus Dispatch.

Part of the alleged assault was videotaped by a student who had a camera for a school project.

School officials found the girl bleeding from the mouth. An assistant principal cautioned the girl's father against calling 911 to avoid media attention, the statements said. The girl's father called police.

Her father said the girl is developmentally disabled. A special education teacher said the teen has a severe speech impediment.

I hope to hear of two things in this case:

1.) The tape is used to convict all four of these dirt bags
2.) Her parents never see the tape.

I have a daughter of my own and I promise you if something like this ever happened to her, I'd go to jail or go to hell. There is no way something like this could go unpunished. Like many things in our judicial system these kids will likely get a smack on the wrist and press on with their lives. What they should get is a 6'x6' cell with a 300lb gorilla named Bubba who has a penchant for young boys!

It just sickens me!

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 03:56 AM | Comments (5)

April 12, 2005

Torture Would Be To Kind

According to AP News a Florida Woman Sells Daughters for Car, Prostitution, Police Charge:

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (AP) - A woman was arrested for allegedly forcing her 12-year-old daughter into prostitution and trading a 14-year-old daughter for a car. The 39-year-old woman was charged with aggravated child abuse and sexual performance by a child. Both girls have been turned over to the Department of Children & Families.

The youngest girl and her mother were living out of their car, and would sell sex for food and an occasional shower at the men's homes, according to a report by Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office Detective K.J. Ammons.

The youngest daughter is three months pregnant, the report said; she was 11 when her mother first forced her to have sex with a man. The older daughter refused to be a prostitute and was allegedly sold for a car.

"She was sold to a man for a Mercury Cougar," Ammons said. "But he never gave the mother the vehicle." He was arrested in the case.

The youngest girl told detectives her mother took them out of school. "She said she was a good student and made A's and B's, and all she wants to do is go back to school," he said.

This woman is the lowest of the low. Her worth as a human being is lower than the excrement of an AIDS infested child molester.

But wait, the LibTards will crawl out of the woodwork to defend her and blame our government.

Give me a break people; she traded her first born for a car. Her youngest daughter is now pregnant and only 12 years old. This woman has taken it upon herself to ruin the lives of her children before they even got the opportunity to live. I only hope that both of these little girls are resilient and will be able to come back and enjoy the rest of their lives in a civilized manner free from the extortion of their C*nt of a mom.

As BC frequently says, "Rope. Tree. C*nt. Some assembly required."

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:39 PM | Comments (2)

April 01, 2005

Her Ordeal Is Over

As most of you (I assume) already know Mrs. Schiavo has passed. After nearly two weeks of neglect she has passed on.

It's not letting her go that bothers me so, it is how they did it. It would be one thing if simply unplugging a machine would instantly allow her to slip into and eternal slumber, but to deprive her of food and water for two weeks makes me sick.

I extend my condolences first to her husband as this must be a tragic day for him (I know this won't gain me any favor with the Uber Right Wing). I also extend my condolences to her parents. As a Father myself I cannot imagine what it must feel like to see the death of ones own child. I do however believe ultimately both families will live more stable lives now that Terri is gone.

There is no place for politics in this event. As most State laws reflect, the wishes of Mr. Schiavo should have been respected long ago.

However, we desperately need to find a more humane means of handling situations like these.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:30 AM | Comments (2)

March 31, 2005

Once A Coward Always A Coward

Some of you may remember Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar. If you don't know who this dirt bag is take a second and read this first.

OK, remember this waste of flesh now?

Akbar killed two officers in his chain of command and injured several other soldiers while in Kuwait in preparation for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.

According to the Tennesseean:

Akbar tries to overpower guard at Fort Bragg

By LEON ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer

A former Fort Campbell soldier accused of killing two officers in a Kuwait grenade attack tried to overpower a guard in an apparent escape attempt today at Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army said.

Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who served with an engineering unit of the 101st Airborne Division, tried to overpower one of the military police officers escorting him to a courtroom for a pre-trial motion.

Army spokeswoman Ellen A. Hart said Akbar was quickly subdued by other guards. During the incident, however, Akbar and one of the guards suffered injuries requiring medical attention.

The hearing was postponed until Friday. Jury selection in the capital case begins on April 6.

Akbar will be tried on charges that he killed two officers and wounded several others in a grenade attack that occurred as troops of the 101st were about to enter Iraq in January 2003.

For more on this story, pick up tomorrow's Tennessean or visit Tennessean.com.

Leon Alligood can be reached at lalligood@tennessean.com or 259-8279.

The sad part about this whole situation is even after Akbar is convicted he will continue to live. The two officers who died in that tent in Kuwait won't have that luxury.

The military needs to crack down on this sort of behavior. Akbar is a murderer and he killed his own brethren. He needs to be put in front of a firing squad and save the taxpayers money!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:44 AM | Comments (3)

March 30, 2005

The Schiavo Situation

Given recent comments and other inputs in the news I thought I'd say a little more about Mrs. Schiavo's situation.

I agree that her husband should have the final say. I agree that when her Father gave her away on her wedding day he gave those rights to her husband. I agree that her family is being selfish and trying to hold on to her when the whole world knows she will never function on any normal level. I also agree that a feeding tube is essentially life support, not just because the courts say so but because she can't live without it.

Here is my biggest issue with this situation. They are starving this woman to death. Just like I wrote in the Future Inmate Post could you imagine if we starved death row inmates to death.

I think that if the decision was made to let her die they should have simply given her a lethal injection and been done with it. Instead she has to suffer through dehydration.

What if she has all sense of feeling but cannot express it. Think about it like that for a minute. What if you took a perfectly healthy adult and tied them down and sealed their mouth and then forced them to suffer through starvation.

It just isn't humane.

So that is what I think about this.

So, go ahead all you libs and say that lethal injection is murder; I don't want to hear it. So is starving her to death. At least an injection is humane.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2005

Terri Schiavo Not Human?

Ok, I promised to weigh in on this so here I go. First, the more I watch the news and the more I hear about this woman’s situation the more it pains me.

First, in the beginning I think it should have been left to her husband. If it was a matter of life support and she didn't want machines to keep her alive then that should have been the end of it. The husband not the parents should have been able to make that call.

However, a feeding tube is not life support; we all need food and water. Life support is when a machine has to breathe for a person or when their blood has to be circulated by an outside source. The feeding tube would be necessary regardless of her mental state due to a prior tracheotomy.

Then there is the argument that she is in a completely vegetative state and will not recover, I tend to agree with this. She has been like this for 15 years. I'd say the odds are severely stacked against Mrs. Schiavo recovering. However, she is still a living being and she is not on life support. She breaths, her heart beats.

I can't imagine the pain that her parents are going through. I also can't understand how her husband can rationalize starving his wife to death. Even if she truly is in a vegetative state and will never recover how does a person justify starving another human being to death.

Just imagine if to save money all inmates sentenced to die were simply locked in a room without food or water on the day of their execution, left there to die of dehydration and starvation. Can you imagine all of the human rights groups that would crawl out of the woodwork? Hell, I think those protests would likely turn violent. And these people are violent offenders, how do we safeguard murderers, but let an innocent starve?

So what is my overall take on Mrs. Schiavo's situation? First her husband stood in a courtroom and told judge and jury that he is married to his wife for better or worse 'til death do they part. He laid it on thick at a medical malpractice suit and made himself a millionaire. I think he has suffered a tremendous trauma in his life, but now he, his money, and his girlfriends have clearly moved on. That said, he should simply divorce his wife and leave her to the care of the state, or better yet grant her parents custody. I can't understand how he can justify starving the woman to death when there are organizations and other families out there that are willing to assume responsibility for her.

It would be one thing if she were truly on life support and simply pulling the plug would put the end to a life that can truly never be lived, but she is not on life support.

I think stubbornness and greed are the only factors in this case.

Pulling the plug on my own daughter if it ever came to it would truly be the hardest thing I could imagine, but to starve her to death!?!?!?!?!?

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:53 PM | Comments (3)

March 08, 2005

Treating Illegal Aliens With Greater Respect And Trust Than Our Own Citizens

This just makes me sick. The state of Maine issues ID card and drivers licenses to aliens that are valid beyond the expiration of their passports and/or visa's.

My name is Jennifer Pease and I am here to give testimony in favor of LD 501. I work at the bureau of Motor Vehicles, and I have taken vacation time to be here today as a private citizen. I do not represent the Bureau in any way. As a matter of fact, the only endorsement I have from the Bureau is Secretary Dunlap graciously letting me know that he supports my desire as a private citizen to do something about an issue I feel strongly about.

I would like to start by telling you some of what precipitated this proposed legislation.

I've worked for the BMV for 5 years, and until December 29, I understood our policy to be that we not issue licenses or ID cards to illegal aliens. We did issue licenses and ID cards to temporary status aliens, and that fact frequently bothered me, especially when those who were here temporarily would come in to the branch, many times just a day or two before their visas expired, to apply for a license or state ID card.

After September 11, this troubled me more and more, as one of the 9/11 terrorists Mohammed Atta had used our state to set his plan in motion.

Concerned about drawing attention to himself by using his passport, he used his Florida driver license to board the plane at the Portland Jetport, and make his connecting flight in Boston. We all know that he ended up flying that plane into one of the World Trade Center towers.

Most, if not all of the 9/11 hijackers held valid drivers licenses or state ID cards, even though in some cases their visas had expired.

This absolutely makes me sick. So basically a terrorist could come to this country on a visa wait until a day or two before it expires and then go to the state of Maine and get a drivers license or state ID card that would be valid for years beyond the Visa. Why not just give them a "bypass security" card to make their efforts even easier.

I think the outcome could have been different if those licenses had expired when their visas did. If they had not been provided a credential to take the place of their passport with the expired visas, perhaps some wouldn't have been permitted to board a plane.

These thoughts occur frequently when you work in a place where you see the hundreds and hundreds of applications every year, submitted by temporary status aliens and you are required to give them a license or ID card that is valid most times 5 years beyond their approved stay. During the fall of 2004, I heard talk of a policy change. It was rumored that it would require us to ignore the expiration dates on passports and visas, and would result BMV employees knowingly issuing licenses and ID cards to illegal aliens. We were instructed to process transactions as always until we received official notice of the change.

I began inquiring into it and found that, while part of the state was being inundated with temporary status and illegal aliens and had adopted a policy of not issuing licenses or ID cards to illegal aliens, other areas of the state were not even giving it a second thought because they had not yet been affected. Secretary Gwadosky had decided to standardize policy - Great Idea - Except that he decided to standardize by establishing a sanctuary policy, as the only people who would benefit from the policy were the illegal aliens. In late December of last year an incident occurred that was quite troubling to me.

Sounds to me like part of the state had the right idea, but politics beat out common sense.

An Egyptian national came into the Portland branch with his attorney and wanted to transfer his license from New York to Maine. The attorney said his client was a New York resident, had never been a Maine resident, and had no intention of ever moving to or living in Maine, but he wanted a Maine license. He could not renew his New York license because he was an illegal alien. The attorney went on to say he had contacted (at the time Secretary Gwadosky's) office, and was told that we would be able to provide a license for his client.

He gave me a name of a contact person in the Main Office who knew of the situation. For documentation, I was provided with a New York learner permit, (not a license, but a permit), a photocopy of the man's New York driver license, and a photocopy of his Egyptian passport. For clarity sake, you need to know that I would not have been permitted to process a transfer of a license from another state for a US citizen with the documents this man presented me.

I contacted immigration and found that in fact the man was an illegal alien in deportation proceedings, and that he would most probably be deported. Also, the last correspondence INS had received regarding this man just a few weeks prior, was a letter from an attorney in Boston who told them that this individual lived in New Jersey. I then called the Main Office to relay this information to the person the attorney had named as a contact. The end result was that we issued a license to this individual. The license was mailed to a post office box in Portland, so the attorney could forward it to his client, wherever he was. I feel it important to note that not once have I seen the exceptions that were made for this illegal alien made for a US citizen. This is not the only incident, just one of the most egregious ones.

At just about the same time as the visit from the Egyptian man and his attorney, Secretary Gwadosky began implementing his "standardization" by sending out letters to various advocacy groups, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Social Security Administration. We received our official notification of the policy _verbally_. We were instructed to ignore expiration dates of passports and visas, and the implementation date was to be December 29, just two days before the end of Secretary Gwadosky's tenure as Secretary of State.

She issued a drivers license to a man in deportation status?!? Makes me a bit upset to know I was born in that state.

So, where are we now? Current Bureau policy is to ignore the expiration dates on passports and visas, and to knowingly issue licenses and ID cards to illegal aliens.

Annually, in my branch alone I see many hundreds of temporary status and illegal aliens, with the illegal aliens making up about ten percent of that number.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates that there are approximately 3000 illegal aliens in Maine, and in the year 2003 alone 38, 447 temporary status aliens came to Maine, of them on 6-month tourist visas or 1-year business visas. This figure doesn't include those admitted as refugees.

In the last couple of years, I have seen a tremendous increase in the number of temporary status and illegal aliens who come to apply for Maine licenses and ID cards because they cannot get a license in the state they live in due to the tightening up of policy or legislation passed since September 11th.

Currently there are 40 states with a legal presence policy or legislation, 24 of those states require the license to expire when the visa does.

To give you an idea of what our neighboring and North Eastern states are doing: NH, CT, & NJ have Legal Presence Laws. MA, VT, NY, & RI have legal presence policies.

In fact, the entire eastern seaboard has some sort of legal presence requirement established. While we in Maine have become the island sanctuary in the sea of states that will not issue a license to an illegal alien.

Under this legislation we would require nonimmigrants to provide proof of their legal presence, and the license or ID would expire when the visa expires. Those with open-ended visas such as students, would receive a two-year license.

Additionally, those who are provided a license with a term less than the standard term for a license would be charged on a sliding scale. All people who are legally in this country would be provided a license or ID for the duration of their stay. This is fair and reasonable legislation. The majority who are responsible law abiding people that we issue licenses or ID cards to only need and want them for the time they are here. And, logically it makes absolutely no sense for us to issue a 6-year credential to a person who is only planning to be here for a few months.

This legislation is consistent with the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and also with the recommendation by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators in September of 2003 that "jurisdictions not grant a photo driver's license or photo ID card to undocumented aliens."

Illegal aliens will be precluded from getting a license under this legislation. Providing a license to an illegal alien is like rolling out the red carpet to them. A license or ID has an added benefit to a person who intends to overstay their visa or is already an illegal alien. They can put their passport away with their expired visa and use the state-issued valid credential in its place. For a minimum of 6 years that illegal alien can remain undetected.

Think about all the times you are asked for a license. A license or ID is required to get a job, open a bank account, write a check, buy a car, register to vote, sign a lease, apply for public benefits, enter a federal building, or board an airplane. An illegal alien should not be needing to do any of these things, except perhaps to board an airplane to go home; and the state of Maine should not be helping them to remain illegally in the United States in violation of law. This defies all logic and common sense in my mind. I also believe that the issuance of a license or ID card to an illegal alien in itself is a violation of federal harboring laws. Though I do believe most people are good, my concern lies with those few who are not. Unfortunately, we have recent evidence that those who are not good do in fact exist.

While you are considering this legislation, I would ask you to think about what we could have done differently. And in retrospect, taking into account what we now know, would you have supported this legislation on September 10th 2001, if you thought that it might have prevented any of the lives from being lost on September 11?

Of course this isn't possible, and can't rewrite history, but we can learn from it. We cannot afford to wait until it's our state that provides the licenses to the next group of terrorists.

This is a non-partisan issue, it's a human issue, and a safety issue. I do not see this as policing, but acting as responsible citizens, our state agency working with our federal government rather than against it, and keeping the best interest and the safety of all of us in mind.

Americans can no longer tolerate power-drunk politicians' support of giving drivers' licenses to illegal aliens. Their reason for support isn't even a principled one; it's only greed for the license fees to offset their state budget deficits.

Have we forgotten that many of the 9/11 hijackers possessed drivers' licenses from Florida, New Jersey and Virginia. Yet certain states still actively pursuing legislation to give drivers' licenses to illegal alien lawbreakers. And yet the US Dept. of Transportation's 2004 report shows that the US STILL lacks sufficient safeguards. The primary lack is from the large number of states that don't require drivers' license applicants to show proof of legal presence in the US.

If you're not concerned about your state's issuance of driver's licenses for illegal aliens, you should be. Americans must continue to oppose any plan to issue drivers' licenses to illegal alien lawbreakers. Giving them the privilege of a drivers' license ID rewards those who have flaunted our laws by illegal entry into the US.

When will our elected officials represent American citizens instead of illegal aliens? Allowing illegal alien invaders to obtain a driver's license is like putting your fist through a window and enjoying it. Simply put, no licenses for lawbreakers!

It would have been easy for Jennifer Pease to keep silent; she had to have been concerned that she might jeopardize her employment. It would have been easy for her to ignore the "monkey business" in her department, as well as its implication the country's security. Instead she stepped forward to hold Maine's elected legislators publicly accountable for their actions--they can't claim they didn't know.

There are millions more brave Americans like Jennifer Pease, each doing their part. How can you help?

This whole situation just makes my blood boil. A person with a valid ID or drivers license is rarely asked for any other type of identification and in the mind of most screeners would automatically be viewed as a legal resident of the state that issued the ID or license. The implications are mind boggling. It is like handing the bomb and the access to a terrorist.

I am grateful that there are people like Jennifer Pease who are willing to stand up for what is right. Wake up America, if we keep handing them access it is only going to get worse.

H/T to Mamamontezz for the link.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:30 AM | Comments (8)

February 10, 2005

Iraqi's Gift Comforts Family Of Marine Casualty

ROSEVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Rae Oldaugh says she cried upon being told her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Allan Klein had been killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq, and again when an Iraqi immigrant offered his banquet hall for a free funeral luncheon.

For the full story go here.

I feel for Mrs. Oldaugh and her loss. The loss of American lives is always tragic. The actions of Mr. Youil "Louie" Ishmail are a sign of the changing times.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:07 AM | Comments (3)

Perceived US Cowardice Fuels Terrorism

I found this on CNS News.

Perceived US Cowardice Fuels Terrorism, Former CIA Head Declares By Kathleen Rhodes CNSNews.com Correspondent February 09, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - The increased frequency with which Middle Eastern terrorists target Americans and U.S. installations is due in part to the terrorists' continued perception that America acts cowardly when under attack, according to former Central Intelligence Agency director R. James Woolsey.

Woolsey, who addressed students and reporters at George Washington University Tuesday, said America's reaction to the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran and the deaths of 241 U.S. marines in 1983 are examples of why that perception endures.

With President Jimmy Carter trying to negotiate the hostages' release in 1979 and 1980, the reaction of the average American was to "tie yellow ribbons around trees," Woolsey said. A few years later, when Hezbollah terrorists blew up the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, Americans "ran," he added.

Throughout the 1980s, as Americans like Leon Klinghoffer on the cruise ship Achille Lauro were killed and others were kidnapped in Lebanon, "what did the Americans do? They sent the lawyers," Woolsey said.

The George H. W. Bush administration in 1991, after ending combat in the first Persian Gulf War, encouraged [Iraqi] Kurds and Shia to rebel, then stopped and "watched the Kurds and Shia be massacred" by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein, who had been left in power, Woolsey said.

American cowardice was also perceived when the United States pulled out of Somalia in 1993 after American soldiers on a humanitarian mission were ambushed by terrorists in Mogadishu, according to Woolsey. The incident in Somalia, he said, helped solidify the view among terrorists, that "if bloodied, [the United States] will run."

Woolsey lumped America's current Middle Eastern enemies into three categories: "fascists," which he said include Saddam Hussein's Baath Party loyalists in Iraq; Shia "Islamists," which include the mullahs in Iran; and Sunni "Islamists," which include al Qaeda and the Wahabbi sect of Saudi Arabia.

The term "Islamist," Woolsey said, "Connotes a totalitarian movement masquerading as a religion."

Woolsey drew parallels to World War II, comparing the motives of Islamist terrorists to those of Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan.

"In a certain sense, they have come after us for the same reason that Hitler decided to declare war on us after Japan attacked us at Pearl Harbor. He knew ultimately he was going to lose unless he took us out," Woolsey explained. "And I think it's the underlying reason that these three totalitarian movements in the Middle East all feel that way about us -- pretty much the same reason that Hitler [did]."

For those of you who read regularly you have seen me mention Clinton’s great debacle in Somalia. I have said for years that not following through only provides further incentive for terrorists to attack. The perception that we won't act motivates countries like Korea to build nuclear weapons.

Hopefully now, the world is learning that we are following through and will will stomp a mud hole in anyone who threatens democracy and our freedom and walk it dry.

For the full story follow the link at the top of this entry.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:59 AM | Comments (1)

Kommunist Kalifornian Hangs U.S. Soldier (Symbolism)

Sign Reads: Your tax dollars at work.

Sacramento Kalifornia

Nestled in a quiet Sacramento neighborhood is a very loud political statement that is testing the very foundation of the right to free speech.

This isn't a "very loud" political statment. This is an unamerican dirt bag showing the rest of their quiet neighborhood one more reason to watch them more closely.

Hanging from a house in Land Park, a soldier's uniform in a noose dangles from a rooftop. The words "your tax dollars at work" are scrolled across the chest.

In a community full of patriotism, this view of the war in Iraq has not gone unnoticed.

"I think it's the ultimate sign of disrespect. We have troops dying for us," Land Park resident Mark Cohen said.

"(I'm) annoyed and disgusted. I think if this is the way someone feels they can find a better way to vent their opinions," Land Park resident Pete Miles said.

The homeowners behind the controversy are Steve and Virginia Pearcy. They released a statement saying, "There will always be people who are offended by political speech, and the most important forum of all ... is one's own residence. The First Amendment is meaningless unless dissent is allowed."

What a pair of absolute assholes. These are the people who take their freedom for granted. They want to speak out simply to get their pathetic names mentioned on the 5 O'clock news.

You don't have to support the war, but you have to support the troops. It's not an option it is a must. These are the people who protect your right to do ignorant shit like the Assholes Pearcy's.

The tension in the neighborhood has escalated into more than just a political feud.

The matter has been reported to the police department and to the city attorney. The city council has even heard about it, but says they can't solve the problem.

"Unfortunately or fortunately this is protected speech by the First Amendment ... so there is nothing we can do about it," Sacramento City Councilman Rob Fong said.

KCRA 3 received a call late Wednesday morning from the homeowner saying that a group of people had torn down the display. He said that what he did was not illegal, but what was done by the people who removed the display was.

To whomever removed this atrocity, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for having the guts to stand up for the troops.

This really is quite silly. You mean to tell me a homeowners association can keep you from putting a basketball goal on your garage or a pool in your yard, but the city can't stop you from looking like white trash by hanging a U.S. Soldier in your front yard even if only in symbolism?

To all those people in California who had sense enough to elect a Republican Governor and who voted for GW even though you knew full well you were outnumbered by lunatics, I say thank you!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:49 AM | Comments (13)

February 05, 2005

A New Low (Even For Terrorists)

Terrorists used a kidnapped Down Syndrome child to "suicide" bomb a polling booth in Baghdad. This wasn't a suicide bombing it was a murder bombing. First they kidnapped a child with special needs (to put it mildly) strapped a bomb to him and tried to make him walk into a polling station so they could detinate him.

From Iraq The Model:

Eye witnesses said (and I'm quoting one of my colleagues; a dentist who lives there) "the poor victim was so scared when ordered to walk to the searching point and began to walk back to the terrorists. In response the criminals pressed the button and blew up the poor victim almost half way between their position and the voting center's entrance".

This is just disgusting (understatement). So now they are resorting to forcing those who do not posess all of their mental faculties to do their dirty work for them. And look at the quote, "the poor victim was so scared when ordered to walk to the searching point and began to walk back to the terrorists." Even this person plagued by Downs had more sense than the terrorist.

Well, left, start the apologies for this one. How can you justify this one and defend the terrorist in your sick way?

H/T to Right Wing Rocker And Emigre With A Digital Cluebat

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:30 AM | Comments (2)

February 04, 2005

Enough Is Enough

I was looking at one of my favorite sites this morning when I found this, from this post.

H/T Wizbang

The Iraqi police have investigated a case in the village of al-Mudhariya, which is just south of Baghdad. The villagers there say that before the election insurgents came and warned them that if they voted in last weekend's election, they would pay.

Now the people of this mixed village of Sunni and Shia Muslims, they ignored the threat and they did turn out to vote.

We understand that last night the insurgents came back to punish the people of al-Mudhariya, but instead of metering out that punishment the villagers fought back and they killed five of the insurgents and wounded eight. They then burnt the insurgents' car. So the people of that village have certainly had enough of the insurgents....

It would appear that people are getting sick of the insurgency. I understand, though, that this is the first report of Iraqis confronting insurgents and actually fighting back in such a way.

But certainly many people here see the insurgency as the work of foreigners who want to turn their country into some sort of Islamic state, like Afghanistan under the Talbian.

And a couple of days ago we spoke to some voters in central Baghdad and every one of them basically said that they'd like the insurgents to stop their bombing and shooting attacks. Some even said they'd voted just to send a message to the insurgents that they would not be frightened any more.

Wow, that is not only awesome, but amazing!!! *Thumbs nose at MSM*

The Iraqi people got a big bite of the freedom burger and they like what they are tasting. Democracy will spread in the Middle East. The drive to be free ultimately toppled the Soviet Union and I know it will also topple many of the radical Islamic states.

That's several days in a row, with "I told you so" in the headlines. First the extremely successful Iraqi elections, and now stories of heroism from within.

*walking away, humming... we're not gonna take it! no! we ain't gonna take it! we're not gonna take it ANYMORE!* (Damn it Beth, you got this stuck in my head)

SlagleRock Out!

Delftsman shares his thoughts on this!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:31 AM | Comments (1)

It's Fun To Shoot Some People

Marine general: It's 'fun to shoot people'

Commandant gives counsel, acknowledges wrong word choice

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, right, speaks during a panel discussion Wednesday.

A three-star Marine general who said it was "fun to shoot some people" should have chosen his words more carefully, the Marine Corps commandant said Thursday.

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded Marine expeditions in Afghanistan and Iraq, made the comments Tuesday during a panel discussion in San Diego, California.

Why should he have chosen his words more wisely? Everyone is thinking it, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, just had the balls to say it. Semper Fi, General! Have we already forgotten the 3,000 plus Americans that were butchered on September 11, 2001? What about Nick Berg and Paul Johnson and numerous other innocents brutally beheaded by terrorists.

That is a sad fact about our society. We are a nation full of fair weather patriots. Had General Mattis made this same remark on 9/12/01 he would have had the support of all the major main stream media outlets and the American people.

"Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot," Mattis said, prompting laughter from some military members in the audience. "It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling.

"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

Abso-Fuckin'-lutely! These animals treat their camels and their goats better than their wives and children. They want to destroy anything that resembles civilized society. Crush everything that is knowledge, advancement. Live in the stone age and force everyone around you to do the same thing.

Mattis' press office has not yet responded to a request to answer questions about his comments.

However, the Marine commandant, Gen. Michael Hagee, defended Mattis, calling him "one of this country's bravest and most experienced military leaders."

"While I understand that some people may take issue with the comments made by him, I also know he intended to reflect the unfortunate and harsh realities of war," he said in a written statement. "Lt. Gen. Mattis often speaks with a great deal of candor."

General Hagee didn't need to defend General Mattis, he is a three star general in the United States Marine Corps. He has risen to a position within our military that such a small fraction of our population could ever hope to achieve. He is responsible for thousands of American lives and billions of dollars worth of equipment. The man has seen the harsh reality of war and tells it like it is!

"Throughout our history, Marines have given their lives in the defense of this nation and human rights around the globe," Hagee's statement read. "When necessary, this commitment helps to provide us the fortitude to take the lives of those who oppress others or threaten this nation's security. This is not something we relish, yet we accept it as a reality in our profession of arms."

"Lt. Gen. Mattis is a superb leader and one of the Corps' most courageous and experienced warriors," Hagee wrote. "I remain confident that he will continue to serve this nation with dedication and distinction."

Added Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "The last three times that that general has been in combat, when he was leading Marines in Afghanistan and the two times that he led his division in Iraq, his actions and those of his troops clearly show that he understands the value of proper leadership and the value of human life."

I can't imagine any sane person enjoying taking the life of another human being. But when you have seen your troops die for another nation and then seen people of that nation try to kill you for it, it changes a person.

Call his remarks flippant, inappropriate, and rude or politically incorrect. Call it what you want. I call it the harsh reality of war.

Semper Fidelis General Mattis.

SlagleRock Out!

**UPDATE**Since I am getting quite a bit of traffic from Fazed.org I thought I'd say hello to anyone who came from this page. However since it is obviously a liberal agenda page, I'll say this. I don't think the General enjoys killing people, nor do I think he meant to berate or belittle Muslims, I do however think that he has lived the harsh reality of war and until you have you are not fit to judge. Remember when you were a kid, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Find a real issue and give it half as much effort as the Libtards of the world put into trying to be politically correct and maybe just maybe we wouldn't need to defend real patriots or fight wars, maybe this would be a better place for everyone to live.

**UPDATE**The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties group, called on the Pentagon to discipline Mattis for the remarks.

"We do not need generals who treat the grim business of war as a sporting event," said the council's executive director, Nihad Awad. "These disturbing remarks are indicative of an apparent indifference to the value of human life."

Sporting event? Pardon my French but Fuck You Asshole! General Mattis was talking about scum like the Taliban and foreign insurgents. He wasn't talking in general or about all Muslims. He wasn't referring to law abiding, Allah fearing Muslims. Don't get your towel on too tight, your little pee brain might pop out of your ear.

Others covering this:

Yeah, Right, Whatever

Spats at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Valgerd

Questions and Observations

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:04 AM | Comments (30)

February 03, 2005

No Respect

Even in death comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield gets "no respect".

January 31, 2005 -- EVEN in death, Rodney Dangerfield gets no respect. The late comedy legend's longtime publicist, Kevin Sasaki, got a call from a booker at CNN last week asking him if "Rodney would be available to share his comments on the passing and legacy of Johnny Carson." Sasaki replied that unless CNN had a new way of linking up to the afterlife via satellite, that would be impossible. Dangerfield, of course, passed away last October. Ironically, his new DVD set, "Rodney Dangerfield — The Ultimate No Respect Collection," was posthumously released last month, and includes clips culled from his more than 70 appearances on "The Tonight Show."

That is just plain disgusting. CNN, allegedly a major (reliable) media outlet called and asked how Rodney felt about the legacy of Johnny Carson. What about the legacy of Rodney Dangerfield? Rodney passed on last October.

I mean no disrespect to Johnny in fact I posted on the loss of both Johnny Carson and Rodney Dangerfield.

Both of these men are truly legends. Both were great comedians. It sickens me to think that CNN would do something like this. How must this make the family and friends of Rodney Dangerfield feel?

One more reason why CNN is not my news source of choice.

Respect Rodney Respect.

**NOTE** This is the 500th Post here at the Slaughterhouse!!!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:02 AM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2005

A Dirt Nap Is Just What The Doctor Ordered

According to his defense attorney Sgt. Hasan Akbar , the douchebag who fragged two officers in his chain of command in Kuwait, has a sleep disorder.

AP News

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - Defense lawyers said Monday that an Army sergeant facing a court-martial on charges alleging he killed two officers in a grenade attack in Kuwait needs further treatment for a sleep disorder.
Sgt. Hasan Akbar fell asleep during pretrial hearings last year and a judge ordered treatment for his sleep apnea condition, but his lawyer, Maj. David Coombs, said Akbar still has problems staying awake. "It has been a consistent problem," he said.

Coombs asked the judge, Col. Stephen Henley, to order a break after each witness and to allow coffee at the defense table once Akbar's trial begins in April.

Henley agreed to a recess at least every 90 minutes but denied the request for a break after each witness. He said he would consider allowing someone to sit next to Akbar during the trial to try to keep him awake. The defendant stayed awake during Monday's 45-minute hearing.

Henley also ordered that Akbar be given additional medical evaluation at Fort Knox, Ky., where he is being held while awaiting trial.

If the medical evaluation does not resolve Akbar's problems, extensive neurological studies may be needed, the defense said.

Akbar, 33, is a member of the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., but his trial was moved to Fort Bragg, home of the division's higher command, the 18th Airborne Corps.

If convicted of two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted premeditated murder, Akbar could get the death penalty. It is the first time since the Vietnam War that an Army soldier has been prosecuted for the murder or attempted murder of another soldier during wartime.

Akbar's lawyers have said they intend to present an insanity defense.

Akbar is accused of stealing the grenades and attacking fellow members of the 101st just days into the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. In addition to the two people killed, 14 soldiers were injured.

I know exactly what Sgt (it shames me to use this title) Akbar needs. A nice long, we'll say, permanent dirt nap. Asking for a break after each witness. The only break this guy deserves are his legs.

It's truly a shame that we have become such a touchy feely nation that this douchebag will probably get off with life in prison, when the time comes. One well placed round of 7.62mm and Sgt Akbar could get what he deserves. Save the tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars over his wasted lifetime and drop him with one shot from a firing squad. Hell, .25 cents is generous, you could make change with the value of his life.

Any soldier that would frag his own people, is not fit to bear any rank or title, not fit to breath the same air as other great Americans. I hope justice is swift, although I know it will be far less than he deserves.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:03 AM | Comments (4)

February 01, 2005

'Martyrs' And Martyrs

Now, I'm not one for much religious review or putting things into a religious perspective, but this is a really good look at the bastardization of the word martyr.

From the WA Times.com:

Commentary: In Iraq, 'martyrs' and martyrs

By Uwe Siemon-Netto
UPI Religious Affairs Editor

Gurat, France, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The Greek term "martyr," meaning witness, has always had a noble ring until it was usurped by contemporary criminal maniacs killing themselves and thousands of innocent people.

Iraq's election Sunday has returned nobility to martyrdom - no thanks to suicide bombers themselves in their relentless war of terror against chiefly women and children, but because of those millions of voters who braved death to bring about a better life for themselves, their neighbors and children.

And martyrs - witnesses -- they were indeed, leaving their homes despite threats from terrorists that Iraq's streets would be awash in the voters' blood. Yes, it was an act of martyrdom to bring the kids along to the polling stations so that they will one day witness to their own children that they were there at this momentous event in their country's and the Middle East's history.

There is a religious and a profane martyrdom ("shahadat" in Arabic). The two are often intertwined not only in Islam, which does not separate secular from religious realities. Those who resisted Hitler did so out of love for their fellow man -- and for God.

Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew that he would probably die when he returned to Germany from the safety of a teaching position in the United States in 1939. But to resist Hitler was to him a sacred as well as a civic duty.

Of course you can be a martyr and not get killed; thankfully this proved to be by and large the case in Iraq. But these voters were fully prepared to die, putting in their place international cynics who belittled these elections as a sham.

And they did so less out of selfishness than the suicide bombers who murder indiscriminately in Baghdad, Israel or in New York, where they flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center.

The Iraqi voters courted death for the sake of democracy not knowing if they would live to benefit from it in their lifetime; certainly the 94-year old woman who was rolled into a polling station on a wheelbarrow in Mosul could not entertain such expectations.

The murderous "martyrs" terrorizing Iraq and its neighbors and the rest of the world do so on the promise of fast-forwarding to Paradise filled with lovely virgins, although the world's Christians, Jews, seculars and presumably most Muslims would rather caution them not to be too optimistic in this regard.

The ambiguity of how this latter form of "martyrdom" will be received in the Hereafter is theologically one of the most fascinating aspects of present-day Islam.

While this faith sees martyrdom in the form of self-sacrifice as virtuous because it bears witness to God's existence and strengthens the community, it also resolutely denies human autonomy.

"One's life is a trust from God, which demands an ongoing relationship between the Creator and the caretaker," according to Islamic theologian Abdulaziz Sachedina of the University of Virginia.

"Suicide, as self-murder, is judged accordingly as an affront to God, the individual and the community."

Some of the murderers of Sept.11, 2001, exacerbated this aspect of evident godlessness when they bade farewell to the world by enjoying themselves one last time in houses of ill repute.

Far from being religiously devout in the traditional sense, Islamists have reinterpreted the classical ethical notion of martyrdom "in an attempt to appropriate different themes and sociopolitical patterns in postmodernity," writes sociologist of religion Babak Rahimi of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

In other words, this form of "martyrdom" has less to do with faith than with ideology.

As a consequence, the Islamists have given their religion a terrible name worldwide - the name of a faith whose "martyrs" randomly kill women and children, as opposed to Christianity, which views martyrdom as none other than radical discipleship -- the full imitation of Christ: "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you, too" (John 15:20).

Seen in this light, Iraq's election has a very powerful religious dimension: With their bravery and willingness to accept martyrdom, these voters have made a huge contribution to the restoration of Islam's image as a credible religion - an image so gravely tarnished by killers and thugs for far too long.

H/T to the Blog Mama for the link.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2005

More On Iraq's FREE Election

Here is a great video montage of the Iraqi Elections.

And, here is a video of those who made it possible.

H/T due to Lucianne, Mamamontezz, and Queenie

Thanks all.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2005

Iraqi's Re-Write Their Destiny

Millions Of Iraqi's Cast Ballots Despite Violence

BAGHDAD, Iraq — For the first time in more than 50 years, Iraqis cast ballots in democratic elections Sunday and took the first steps to declaring how they wanted Iraq to be governed.

As estimated 8 million plus people — Roughly 72 percent of eligible voters— braved violence and calls for a boycott to vote in Iraq

Some 300,000 Iraqi and American troops were on the streets and on standby to protect voters.

Iraqi's braved suicide bombers, threats of attack, and a call to boycott the election by every wanna be dictator in the Middle East. Despite all of this they had a larger percentage of eligible voters cast their ballot in this first election in more than 50 years than we (the U.S.) did in the '04 Presidential race at just under 56%.

Now is their time, now is their chance to re-write their destiny and move past their troubled history.

Iraqi's not only voted throughout Iraq but throughout the world:

Al Alamara

Az Zubayr

Baghdad

Dubai, UAE

Irvine, CA

Najaf

Netherlands

Sadyr City

Sydney, Australia

Tehran

Other Bloggers Covering This Historic Event"

Emma at My Life In An Egg Roll

Emperor Misha I of the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Delftsman of Emigre With A Digital Cluebat

Spc Ron of Suspension Of Disbelief

Arklahomboy went of the hizzle fo shizzle.

Matt at Blackfive

Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette

GOC at Obnoxious Droppings

Blackjack at the Hole Card

Beth at MVRWC

Linda at Something... And Half of Something

Sworn Enemy

All right, I am starting to reprint my blogroll(s). Before I get carried away, these are just some of the great bloggers that are covering the historic Iraqi elections.

This is truly a victorious day.

I'll leave you with this...

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:48 PM | Comments (3)

January 26, 2005

31 Marines Lost In Helo Crash In Iraq

Deadliest day for U.S. in Iraq war

Weather suspected in chopper crash that killed 31 troops

Thirty Marines and a Navy corpsman were killed in a helicopter crash near Iraq's border with Jordan, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed Wednesday to 37 -- the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq.

Four U.S. Marines were killed during combat in Iraq's Al-Anbar province, and two U.S. soldiers were killed in attacks in the Baghdad area, according to the U.S. military.

The cause of the chopper crash is still under investigation, although it appears to be weather-related, according to Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command.

"The weather was bad. We don't know of any enemy action; the investigation continues," he said.

It is a sad day when we lose 31 of our nations finest. Though I will say this, for this to be our largest loss in a single day in Iraq says something about the might of our military and the will of our warriors.

The flag flies at half staff today at the Slaughterhouse as we mourn the loss of these heroes.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:39 PM | Comments (1)

Condoleeza Rice Confirmed As Secretary Of State

Ex-national security adviser first black female to hold office

Condoleezza Rice won Senate confirmation as secretary of state on Wednesday, after hours of sometimes-bitter debate Tuesday that focused largely on the war in Iraq.

The final vote of the full Senate was 85-13 in favor of the nomination.

Rice, 50, is the first African-American woman and second woman to become secretary of state.

Rice had long been expected to win the GOP-controlled Senate's blessing to succeed Colin Powell as head of the State Department.

Not that I needed to tell you, but...

Leading the charge against Rice on Tuesday were Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Barbara Boxer of California.

The others were:

John Kerry of Massachusetts, Carl Levin of Michigan, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Mark Dayton, of Minn.

For the full story go here or here.

So what does everyone think about this appointment? Good!!!!

Your thoughts?

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:21 PM | Comments (1)

January 23, 2005

Tonight Show Legend Has Died

Born: October 23, 1925
Died: January 23, 2005

From ABC News

Johnny Carson, the "Tonight Show" TV host who served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter, droll comedy and heartland charm for 30 years, has died. He was 79. "Mr. Carson passed away peacefully early Sunday morning," his nephew, Jeff Sotzing, told The Associated Press. "He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable. There will be no memorial service."

Sotzing would not give further details, including the time of death or the location.

The boyish-looking Nebraska native with the disarming grin, who survived every attempt to topple him from his late-night talk show throne, was a star who managed never to distance himself from his audience.

His wealth, the adoration of his guests particularly the many young comics whose careers he launched the wry tales of multiple divorces: Carson's air of modesty made it all serve to enhance his bedtime intimacy with viewers.

"Heeeeere's Johnny!" was the booming announcement from sidekick Ed McMahon that ushered Carson out to the stage. Then the formula: the topical monologue, the guests, the broadly played skits such as "Carnac the Magnificent."

Click Continue Reading below for the rest of the story.

Here are some of my favorite Carson Quotes:

"Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas."
- Johnny Carson

"Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president."
- Johnny Carson

"If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners."
- Johnny Carson

"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."
- Johnny Carson

"Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined."
- Johnny Carson

America never tired of him; Carson went out on top when he retired in May 1992. In his final show, he told his audience: "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."

His personal life could not match the perfection of his career. Carson was married four times, divorced three. In 1991, one of his three sons, 39-year-old Ricky, was killed in a car accident.

Nearly all of Carson's professional life was spent in television, from his postwar start at Nebraska stations in the late 1940s to his three decades with NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."

Carson choose to let "Tonight" stand as his career zenith and his finale, withdrawing into a quiet retirement that suited his private nature and refusing involvement in other show business projects.

In 1993, he explained his absence from the limelight.

"I have an ego like anybody else," Carson told The Washington Post, "but I don't need to be stoked by going before the public all the time."

He was open to finding the right follow-up to "Tonight," he told friends. But his longtime producer, Fred de Cordova, said Carson didn't feel pressured he could look back on his TV success and say "I did it."

"And that makes sense. He is one of a kind, was one of a kind," de Cordova said in 1995. "I don't think there's any reason for him to try something different."

Carson spent his retirement years sailing, traveling and socializing with a few close friends including media mogul Barry Diller and NBC executive Bob Wright. He simply refused to be wooed back on stage.

"The reason I really don't go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself," he told Esquire magazine in 2002 in a rare interview.

The former talk show host did find an outlet for his creativity: He wrote short humor pieces for The New Yorker magazine, including "Recently Discovered Childhood Letters to Santa," which purported to give the youthful wish lists of William Buckley, Don Rickles and others.

Carson made his debut as "Tonight" host in October 1962. Audiences quickly grew fond of his boyish grin and easy wit. He even made headlines with such clever ploys as the 1969 on-show marriage of eccentric singer Tiny Tim to Miss Vicki, which won the show its biggest-ever ratings.

The wedding and other noteworthy moments from the show were collected into a yearly "Tonight" anniversary special.

In 1972, "Tonight" moved from New York to Burbank. Growing respect for Carson's consistency and staying power, along with four consecutive Emmy Awards, came his way in the late 1970s.

His quickness and his ability to handle an audience were impressive. When his jokes missed their target, the smooth Carson won over a groaning studio audience with a clever look or sly, self-deprecating remark.

Politics provided monologue fodder for him as he skewered lawmakers of every stripe, mirroring the mood of voters. His Watergate jabs at President Nixon were seen as cementing Nixon's fall from office in 1974.

He made presidential history again in July 1988 when he had then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton on his show a few days after Clinton came under widespread ridicule for a boring speech at the Democratic National Convention. Clinton traded quips with Carson and played "Summertime" on the saxophone. Four years later, Clinton won the presidency.

Carson dispatched would-be late-night competitors with aplomb. Competing networks tried a variety of formats and hosts but never managed to best "Tonight" and Carson.

There was the occasional battle with NBC: In 1967, for instance, Carson walked out for several weeks until the network managed to lure him back with a contract that reportedly gave him $1 million-plus yearly.

In 1980, after more walkout threats, the show was scaled back from 90 minutes to an hour. Carson also eased his schedule by cutting back on his work days; a number of substitute hosts filled in, including Joan Rivers, David Brenner, Jerry Lewis and Jay Leno, Carson's eventual successor.

Rivers was one of the countless comedians whose careers took off after they were on Carson's show. After she rocked the audience with her jokes in that 1965 appearance, he remarked, "God, you're funny. You're going to be a star."

"If Johnny hadn't made the choice to put me on his show, I might still be in Greenwich Village as the oldest living undiscovered female comic," she recalled in an Associated Press interview 20 years later. She tried her own talk show in 1986, quickly becoming one of the many challengers who could not budge Carson.

In the '80s, Carson was reportedly the highest-paid performer in television history with a $5 million "Tonight" show salary alone.

His Carson Productions created and sold pilots to NBC, including "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes." Carson himself made occasional cameo appearances on other TV series.

He also performed in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J., and was host of the Academy Awards five times in the '70s and '80s.

Carson's graceful exit from "Tonight" did not avoid a messy, bitter tug-of-war between Leno and fellow comedian David Letterman. Leno took over as "Tonight" host on May 25, 1992, becoming the fourth man to hold the job after founding host Steve Allen, Paar and Carson.

Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, and raised in nearby Norfolk, Neb. He started his show business career at age 14 as the magician "The Great Carsoni."

After World War II service in the Navy, he took a series of jobs in local radio and TV in Nebraska before starting at KNXT-TV in Los Angeles in 1950.

There he started a sketch comedy show, "Carson's Cellar," which ran from 1951-53 and attracted attention from Hollywood. A staff writing job for "The Red Skelton Show" followed.

The program provided Carson with a lucky break: When Skelton was injured backstage, Carson took the comedian's place in front of the cameras.

Producers tried to find the right program for the up-and-coming comic, trying him out as host of the quiz show "Earn Your Vacation" (1954) and in the variety show "The Johnny Carson Show" (1955-56).

From 1957-62 he was host of the daytime game show "Who Do You Trust?" and, in 1958, was joined for the first time by McMahon, his durable "Tonight" buddy.

A few acting roles came Carson's way, including one on "Playhouse 90" in 1957, and he did a pilot in 1960 for a prime-time series, "Johnny Come Lately," that never made it onto a network schedule.

In 1958, Carson sat in for "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar. When Paar left the show four years later, Carson was NBC's choice as his replacement.

After his retirement, Carson took on the role of Malibu-based retiree with apparent ease. An avid tennis fan, he was still playing a vigorous game in his 70s.

He and his wife, Alexis, traveled frequently. The pair met on the Malibu beach in the early 1980s; he was 61 when they married in June 1987, she was in her 30s.

Carson's first wife was his childhood sweetheart, Jody, the mother of his three sons. They married in 1949 and split in 1963.

He married Joanne Copeland Carson in 1963; divorce came in 1972. His third marriage, to Joanna Holland Carson, took place in 1972. They separated in 1982 and reached a divorce settlement in 1985.

On the occasion of Carson's 70th birthday in 1995, former "Tonight" bandleader Doc Severinsen, who toured with musicians from the show, said he was constantly reminded of Carson's enduring popularity.

"Every place we go people ask `How is he? Where is he? What is he doing? Tell him how much we miss him.' It doesn't surprise me," Severinsen said.

The brisk sale of the video collection "Johnny Carson: His Favorite Moments From The Tonight Show," released in 1994, offered further proof of his appeal.

He won a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1992, with the first President Bush saying, "With decency and style he's made America laugh and think." In 1993, he was celebrated by the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for career achievement.

He truly was a legend

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:35 AM | Comments (1)

January 22, 2005

Klansman Byrd Attempts To Slow The Nomination Of Dr. Rice

This one is straight from:

"Ex"-Clan Member/ US Senator Set to Derail Rice Nomination

Senator Robert Byrd, the Democrat from West Virginia is set to spearhead the effort to derail Secretary of State-nominee Condoleezza Rice. An interesting choice for the task considering the man’s past.

As recently as 2001, the West Virginia Democrat was forced to apologize after blurting out during a nationally televised interview: "There are white n*gg*rs, I've seen a lot of white n*gg*rs in my time. I'm going to use that word."

In 1972, Byrd pushed to have the Senate's main office building named after Dixiecrat Sen. Richard Russell, a leading opponent of anti-lynching legislation who Byrd called "my mentor."

Byrd filibustered the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14 straight hours.
Three years after he said he'd left his white-sheeted brethren behind, he wrote to Georgia's Grand Imperial Wizard urging: "The Klan is needed today as never before."

Sen. Byrd was also a fierce opponent of desegregating the military, complaining in one letter, "I should rather die a thousand times and see old glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again than see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen of the wilds."

Once again the Democratic Party, the "party of peace and understanding" has chosen the worst possible person to speak on their behalf. Let's have the racist denounce Condoleeza Rice. What in the world were they thinking?

Other Media Outlets Covering This (links to be updated later today):

The Washington Times

Other Bloggers Covering This(links to be updated later today):

The Daily Kos

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:58 AM | Comments (5)

January 20, 2005

Mock Coffins And Anti War Chants As Bush Sworn In

A demonstrator stands beside coffins draped with American flags as part of a protest to memorialize American soldiers who have died in the war with Iraq (news - web sites) at Washington's Malcolm X Park, January 20, 2005. Flag-draped coffins and anti-war chants competed with pomp and circumstance on Thursday at the inauguration of President Bush (news - web sites) along the snow-dusted, barricaded streets of central Washington. Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Mock Coffins and Anti-War Chants as Bush Sworn In

"Right wing scum, your time has come," read a banner at a march of about 200 anarchists heading toward Pennsylvania Avenue, where the inaugural parade was scheduled in the afternoon.

Why even acknowledge these people in the Main Stream Media? Why give them the publicity that they are seeking? 200 Anarchist hardly reflect public opinion.

Just rediculous.

SlagleRock Out!

Update: Murdock at Blogging At 20,000 Feet weighs in on the demonstration

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:48 PM | Comments (3)

13-Year-Old Girl Throws Newborn Out Of Window

A 13-year-old mother/child threw her 3-day-old baby out of her apartment window and into an alley where it lay for 14 hours with a fractured skull and broken ribs. The baby died and was deposited, in a basket, at the front steps of a Baptist church by the girls 15-year-old boyfriend.

According to the New York Times(You must be a subscriber to read the NYT full story):

The police said a 13-year-old girl and her 15-year-old boyfriend, who is the baby's father, had told them the girl had given birth to the baby in her bedroom sometime Friday. But the girl said she panicked when she could not quiet the baby's cries and she threw him out a window and into an alleyway behind her apartment. The child lay in the cold alley for 14 hours, until the boyfriend arrived on Friday night and learned what had happened, the police said.

The police said the teenagers told them that the boyfriend wrapped the baby in some towels, placed him in a "Happy Birthday" gift bag and left him on the stoop of the Second Prince of Peace Baptist Church at 464 East 183rd Street, a few blocks from the girl's home.

It amazes me that in the year 2004 atrocities like this still happen in the United States. So many states have open adoptions and some even allow a mother to drop her child off at a hospital without repercussion. It is sad that the lack of education and information would lead a young mother to murder her own child. If only the boyfriend would have placed the baby in a basket and taken it to the church before the mother tossed it out the window.

H/T to Digger for the story.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:00 AM | Comments (4)

January 19, 2005

Dirty Bomb In The U.S.???

BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has been placed on standby, and public safety officials are meeting at the bunker, officials said Wednesday.

There have been reports that the FBI office in Boston received a call from an FBI office in California warning officials about a suspicious person that may be in the area. There have been no specific threats made, but FBI agents in Boston have been put on alert, and officials started to gather at MEMA at about 1:30 p.m.

NewsCenter 5 and TheBostonChannel.com will have more information as it becomes available.

Federal and state authorities are investigating a nuclear terrorist threat against Boston after a man calling from Mexico told California police that he smuggled two Iraqis and four Chinese over the border, the Boston Herald has learned.

According to the Boston Globe:

The FBI has triggered a massive manhunt for six people -- four Chinese and two Iraqis -- who may pose a terrorist threat to the city of Boston, law enforcement officials briefed on the threat said today.

The six are suspected of having come into the United States from Mexico, and may have headed to New York and then to Boston, the target of a planned attack that could involve a lethal substance, possibly chemical or biological or explosive, three law enforcement officials briefed on the threat said.

H/T to the Back Country Conservative for keeping us updated on the situation.

Hopefully this will be nothing more than a false warning or someone seeking publicity. Although this is one of the most "specific" threats I have seen or heard in the media in quite a while.

Stay tuned...

SlagleRock Out! (For Now)

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:12 PM | Comments (2)

January 17, 2005

Graner Gets 10 Years (He Should Have Gotten The Maximum)

In todays earlier post I stated that Army Reserve Specialist Graner was convicted on 9 of the 10 counts of prisoner abuse and sexual humiliation he was charged with.

CNN says he got 10 years.

Graner, 36, will serve his prison term as a private, with no salary, and will be dishonorably discharged after he is released.

Led from the courtroom in handcuffs and leg chains, Graner twice answered "No, ma'am" when asked whether he had regrets or apologies.

His mother, Irma, said her son took the rap for high-ranking officers, whom she said were "all guilty."

She criticized them for failing to testify on his behalf.

"He got 10 years in prison for something he was told to do," she said. "He committed a crime for obeying orders, and he would have committed a crime if he didn't obey orders."

Asked about his parents' claim that he was a scapegoat, Graner said, "I was a soldier, and if I did wrong, here I am."

I think there were many failures in the Abu Ghraib prison incident, but for any of the accused to try and say that they were "just following orders" is absolutely absurd. As members of the military we must obey LAWFUL orders. In order for the military establishment to function properly we must understand not only our rank structure, but what is lawful and what is not.

There is always the possiblilty that these people were ordered to commit some or even all of the atrocities that the MSM turned into the freak of the week ratings hike. However, the fact of the matter is all of these people had an obligation to do what was right. If disobeying a direct order was the right thing to do then they could have hashed that out in court. It would have been much better for the public to hear about a soldier denying an unjust order than it was for us all to be flooded with pictures of Graner and his crew doing the things they did.

Our kids don't need to see pictures of a pyramid of naked Iraqi's. They don't need to see that horrible little troll Lindsey England pointing to the penis of a nude prisoner of war. What they need to see are the just actions of those who serve with pride, loyalty and above all integrity.

So far, in my opinion, the people convicted of these atrocities have gotten off lightly. Graner and all of the others (if convicted) should automatically get the maximum allowable sentence.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:09 AM | Comments (1)

More From Abu Ghraib

According to CNN.com the "Ringleader" in the Abu Ghraib prisoner scandal, Army Reserve Spc. Charles Graner, was convicted of 9 of the 10 counts he was charged with.

Graner faces up to 15 years in prison after a military jury at Fort Hood found him guilty Friday afternoon. Prosecutors accused him of being a ringleader in the physical abuse and sexual humiliation of prisoners, a scandal that surfaced in January 2004.

According to pool reporters in the courtroom, the 36-year-old Graner stood stiffly at attention, showing no emotion, while the verdict was read.

The prosecution was allowed to speak before and after the defense closing arguments. As a final statement, Graveline said of the naked pyramid photo, "This cannot become the recruitment poster for the United States Army."

Graner, an Army reservist from Uniontown, Pa., is the first soldier to face trial among seven military guards charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Three of those guards -- all from the 372nd Military Police Company -- have pleaded guilty in the case: Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick II, 37, of Buckingham, Va.; Spc. Jeremy Sivits, 24, of Fort Ashby, W. Va.; and Spc. Megan Ambuhl, 29, of Centreville, Va.

Graner reportedly had a relationship with England, who is awaiting charges from the case, and reportedly fathered a baby with her. Ambul testified this week she also had a brief sexual relationship with him.

He will get what is coming to him. I am glad to see that his family supports him, but for his Mother to say that he will always be a hero is not only asinine but irresponsible. He was not a hero, he was an embarrassment to the United States Army Reserve and all who serve with integrity within the Department of Defense.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:48 AM | Comments (1)

January 06, 2005

Deserter Deserts Again!?!?

Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun who was first believed kidnapped by terrorists then appeared to have deserted then again rumored to have been captured then freed and ultimately charged with desertion appears to have deserted again!

What a confusing mess this is for the United States Marine Corps.

According to Fox News.com Hassoun had been on leave with his family in West Jordan, Utah, when he was scheduled to return to Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Tuesday, military officials told FOX News. As of 3 p.m. EST, Hassoun's command "officially declared him a deserter and issued authorization for civil authorities to apprehend Hassoun and return him to military control," a military statement said.

Wait a minute did that say on leave? This guy disappears from a Marine Camp near Fallujah, shows up in a terrorist video where they threaten to behead him, miraculously escapes or is freed (under very questionable circumstances), ends up in Lebanon and is ultimately charged with desertion was allowed to go on leave?

Now, I don't mean to be rude, and I have nothing but respect for the Marine Corps, but you see something like this and it doesn't make the term “Jarhead” so hard to understand. What were they thinking? A man is charged with a crime during a time of war and they allow him to go on leave?

Sources told FOX News Hassoun had been allowed to go on leave to visit his family for New Year's. He was due back at noon on Tuesday.

But Hassoun's brother said the family did not know his whereabouts, and had not heard from him since Dec. 28, when they took him to the Salt Lake City airport for a flight to North Carolina.

Mazen Hassoun said his family was trying to reach military officials to confirm Wassef Hassoun's status.

Talk about pathetic, I know people who are serving honorably, who are not under suspicion of anything and couldn't get time off to be with there families for the holidays, yet Hassoun who appears to have had some sort of conspiracy with terrorists was allowed to be on leave to "visit his family for New Year's."

This story gets more and more pathetic and the Marine Corps looks worse and worse with every new event.

I hope that they catch Hassoun. He needs his day in court.

"I did not desert my post," Hassoun told reporters in July after returning to the United States. "I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days. This was a very difficult and challenging time for me."

Yeah, he didn't desert his post then and let me guess, some nice Mormon Grandma kidnapped him at the Salt Lake City Airport and he isn't a deserter this time either.

"I would like to tell all the Marines as well as all those others serving in Iraq to keep their heads up and spirits high. Once a Marine, always a Marine, Semper Fi," Hassoun said, invoking the Marine Corps motto, Latin for "always faithful."

Always faithful my ass! Faithful to who? Bin Ladin, Zarqawi, yourself? Twice you have disappeared under extremely questionable circumstances.

Many Marines say, once a Marine, always a Marine and you will here former Marines refer to themselves as former and not ex. Well, I sincerely hope that if you are convicted of the things it is starting to look like you did, you realize that you will not be a former Marine nor will you qualify as an ex Marine, you will be nothing more than a deserter, an un-American.

I blogged quite a bit on this subject (as you can see by the numerous links that started this post) but now I feel as if perhaps I wasted my time.

SlagleRock Out!

**UPDATE** BC, The Imperial Torturer tells us that through ATM records Hassoun has been tracked through Canada and back to Lebanon.

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:54 AM | Comments (5)

December 23, 2004

Attack On Mosul Likely Work Of A Suicide Bomber

According to CBSNews.com:

A suicide bomber was the likely cause of the deadliest single attack on American troops in Iraq — an explosion at a U.S. base that killed 22 people, the Pentagon's top general, Richard Myers, said Wednesday.

Myers described the cause of the deadly blast as an "improvised explosive device worn by an attacker," at a news conference Wednesday. And, as CBS News Correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports, FBI investigators believe they have found the remains of a suicide bomber's torso and a harness device within the mess tent wreckage.

The explosion Tuesday ripped through a dining hall tent while hundreds of troops were sitting down to lunch at Forward Operating Base Marez near the northern city of Mosul. Of the 22 people killed, 13 were U.S. military, five U.S. civilian contractors, three Iraqi security force members and one other non-U.S. individual.

Of the 69 wounded, 25 will return to duty, Myers said.

This is disturbing. This means one of two things has happened if in fact this was the result of a suicide bomber. Either someone trusted to work on the base who had clearance to be there smuggled in a device undetected or second, an outsider was able to get both themself and their device onto the installation and into the most heavily crowded area.

Either way this is bad news. I fell for the 18 Americans lost and sincerely hope that this doesn't devistate the morale of the troops in Mosul.

Please keep these brave Americans in your thoughts.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)

Lunatic Left Champions Deserters

Recently Mamamontezz pointed me to an article on SFGate.com written by Harley Sorensen.

It is a sorry little piece in which a man who shouldn't be afforded the title American tries to blame the war in Iraq on one man, President George W. Bush.

First, Mr. Sorensen you'll notice that I properly referred to the president by that, President not Mr.

You started your sorry commentary with this:

Today let us take the sad, sordid case of one George W. Bush. Our president. Love him or hate him, it was he and he alone who decided that our mighty armies should travel to Iraq and kill tens of thousands of people, most of whom were guilty of nothing more than being there.

Do you honestly believe that President Bush was the lone individual that decided we "should travel to Iraq and kill tens of thousands of people".

Are you actually that misinformed about our system of government to believe that "Mr. Bush" as you so smugly referred to him has the authority so send our youth to die?

Like egomaniacal rulers forever, dating back to the cave, Mr. Bush demonized the people he wanted to kill. They have "weapons of mass destruction," he asserted. Yeah, like we don't. Like India doesn't. Like Israel doesn't. Like Pakistan doesn't. Like China doesn't. Like Russia doesn't. Why don't we invade them? Or ourselves?

“Egomaniacal rulers forever” You are ridiculous. While I personally do not agree with everything that OUR President has done or influenced I do believe that as an American I have an obligation to support him and our armed forces. And as far as your silly, China has them, Russia has them bullshit comment, you clearly don't understand the concept of preemption. Why allow known terrorist nations to seek the bomb? We may not be able to change the fact that China and Russia have nuclear capabilities but we can prevent others from being added to that list.

It turned out the Iraqis didn't have those terrible weapons. But, the Iraqis are evil, Mr. Bush asserted. Well, at least their leader was, so, by extension, they all were. And, by gosh and by golly, they might have harbored terrorists at one time or another.

I do not recall ever hearing President Bush say that the "Iraqis are evil", in fact I don't ever recall him implying such a thing. It is ridiculous of you to think that the American people are so stupid as to believe that we need to attack and kill as many of those evil woman and children as we can.

While I would love to go on and on and continue ripping your garbage Op Ed to pieces I have better things to do with my time.

I'll leave you with this. Every one of the 5,500 people that you claim have deserted should be captured, tried as deserters in a time of war and punished as such. We took an oath to obey the laws of the constitution and obey the orders of the President. We do not have to agree with them but we have to follow them. Anyone who is not prepared to do so, needs to get the hell out of the military the honorable way at the end of their agreed upon enlistment.

Your silly remark about reaching recruiting quotas is completely unfounded. I have several friends in recruiting and they have no quotas, no numbers, in fact many have been told that we don't need people right now.

After you don your uniform and fight in the global war on terrorism you can whine, bitch and moan about the things you disagree with, until then you have no right, to belittle our President, or imply that honorable Soldiers, Sailors, Airman and Marines must be stupid because they didn't desert.

You are the prime reason that no one takes the extreme left or their ridiculous views seriously.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:07 AM | Comments (1)

December 18, 2004

Ollie North Speaks Out And Once Again He Hits The Nail On The Head!

Mamamontezz pointed me to this article and as usual she finds the kind I like to read and comment on.

First take a look at the article. I have printed it in full from TownHall.com.

No more heroes?
Oliver North

December 17th, 2004 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "It's stuff you hear about in boot camp, about World War II and Tarawa Marines who won the Medal of Honor," Lance Cpl. Rob Rogers of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment told the Army Times. Rogers was describing the actions of his fellow Marine, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a Mexican immigrant who enlisted in the Marine Corps the day he received his green card.

Most readers of this column probably haven't heard about Rafael Peralta. With the exception of the Los Angeles Times, most of our mainstream media haven't bothered to write about him. The next time you log onto the Internet, do a Google search on Rafael Peralta. As of this writing, the Internet's most used search engine will provide you with only 26 citations from news sources that have bothered to write about this heroic young man.

Then, just for giggles, do a Google search on Pablo Paredes. Hundreds of media outlets have written about him. The wire services have blasted his story to thousands of newspapers. Television and radio debate programs gladly provide the public with talking heads that can speak eloquently on the actions of Pablo Paredes.

You see, Pablo Paredes, a Navy petty officer 3rd class, did something the liberal elites consider "heroic" and the media consider "newsworthy" -- he defied an order. Last week, Paredes refused to board his ship bound for Iraq along with 5,000 other sailors and Marines. He showed up on the pier wearing a black t-shirt that read, "Like a Cabinet member, I resign."

We know this because Paredes had the courtesy and forethought to notify the local media that he would commit an act of cowardice the following day. Perhaps he hoped to follow the lead of another famous war protestor who went on to become a U.S. senator and his party's presidential nominee by throwing away his military medals. Paredes stopped short of trashing his military I.D. in front of the cameras because he said he didn't want to be charged with the destruction of government property. The media, we are promised, will continue to follow this story intently.

It is a shame that the media focus on such acts when they could tell stories about real heroes like Peralta, who "saved the life of my son and every Marine in that room," according to Garry Morrison, the father of a Marine in Peralta's unit -- Lance Cpl. Adam Morrison.

On the morning of Nov. 15, 2004, the men of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines awoke before sunrise and continued what they had been doing for seven days previously -- cleansing the city of Fallujah of terrorists house by house.

At the fourth house they encountered that morning, the Marines kicked in the door and "cleared" the front rooms, but then noticed a locked door off to the side that required inspection. Peralta threw open the closed door, but behind it were three terrorists with AK-47s. Peralta was hit in the head and chest with multiple shots at close range.

Peralta's fellow Marines had to step over his body to continue the shootout with the terrorists. As the firefight raged on, a "yellow, foreign-made, oval-shaped grenade," as Lance Cpl. Travis Kaemmerer described it, rolled into the room where they were all standing and came to a stop near Peralta's body.

But Sgt. Rafael Peralta wasn't dead -- yet. This young immigrant of 25 years, who enlisted in the Marines when he received his green card, who volunteered for the front line duty in Fallujah, had one last act of heroism in him.

Peralta was the polar opposite of Paredes, the petty officer who turned his back on his shipmates and mocked his commander in chief. Peralta was proud to serve his adopted country. In his parent's home, on his bedroom walls hung only three items -- a copy of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and his boot camp graduation certificate. Before he set out for Fallujah, he wrote to his 14-year-old brother, "Be proud of me, bro ... and be proud of being an American."

Not only can Rafael's family be proud of him, but his fellow Marines are alive because of him. As Peralta lay near death on the floor of a Fallujah terrorist hideout, he spotted the yellow grenade that had rolled next to his near-lifeless body. Once detonated, it would take out the rest of Peralta's squad. To save his fellow Marines, Peralta reached out, grabbed the grenade and tucked it under his abdomen, where it exploded.

"Most of the Marines in the house were in the immediate area of the grenade," Kaemmerer said. "We will never forget the second chance at life that Sgt. Peralta gave us."

Unfortunately, unlike Paredes, Peralta will get little media coverage. He is unlikely to have books written about him or movies made about his extraordinarily selfless sacrifice. But he is likely to receive the Medal of Honor. And that Medal of Honor is likely to be displayed next to the only items that hung on his bedroom wall -- the Constitution, Bill of Rights and his Boot Camp graduation certificate.

Yes, Virginia, there are still heroes in America, and Sgt. Rafael Peralta was one of them. It's just too bad the media can't recognize them.

Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist, host of the Fox News Channel's War Stories and founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.

©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Ok, I'll start with Sgt Peralta. He is a hero, plain and simple, the example for immigrants who want to pay back their new country.

Second, this is the prime example of the sick spin the mainstream media puts on everything they spew just for attention their agenda or ratings.

Third, well that'll take a second.

I have this question for anyone who would consider or commit AWOL, Desertion, Failure to Go or failure to follow a lawful or direct order:

Why in the world would you join the military?

Here are some other questions that come up every time I read about a chickenshit or coward.

Did you know that military meant that you might have to go to war?
Did you know that it meant you might have to spend long periods of time away from your family?
Did you know that nearly 300 million people would rely on you to sleep soundly in their beds at night?

Why would you join the military if you clearly don't believe in it?

In this time of global terrorism and war I firmly believe that these cowards people that fail to live up their oath should do jail time and should receive a less than honorable discharge as a minimum.

Get the hell out the right way and stay the hell away from these United States. PO3 Paredes.

That's about all the thought I can put into people like Paredes without vomiting.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:05 AM | Comments (4)

December 16, 2004

What Kind Of A World Do We Live In Where....

2004-12-15 - Wireless Flash Weird News
"Crack Ho" and "Hoochie" Added To Oxford Dictionary

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) -- Hip hop-based words have entered the vernacular of many English speakers and now they have found their way into a prestigious dictionary.

More than 2,000 new and revised word entries have been added to the online edition of The Oxford English Dictionary and a small contingent of them come from the P. Diddy and Eminem arena.

For example, the word "benjamin," meaning "a one-hundred dollar bill" and more generally, "large sums of money" made its way onto the list.

Other hip-hop words that were added:

-- "Hoochie," which means "a young woman who is promiscuous or who dresses or behaves in a sexually provocative or overtly seductive manner."

-- "Thugged out" is defined as "resembling a thug in dress or behavior, tough-looking."

-- And finally, the dictionary editors have added "crack ho," which is defined as "a prostitute addicted to crack cocaine."

Dictionary spokesman Jesse Shiedlowe says he expects a lot more hip-hop words to be added in future editions of the dictionary as long as the music genre continues to stay popular.

What has the world come to when piss poor slang finds its way into the Oxford English Dictionary??

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:12 AM | Comments (3)

December 13, 2004

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun

Fox News

A Marine who was reported abducted in Iraq and later turned up in his native Jordan was charged Thursday with desertion.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun (search) was charged following a five-month investigation into his June disappearance from a U.S. military camp near Fallujah, Iraq, according a statement from the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (search).

Hassoun, of West Jordan, Utah (search), is accused of taking unauthorized leave from the unit where he served as an Arabic interpreter.

Hassoun also is charged with loss of government property and theft of a military firearm for allegedly leaving the Marine camp while still in possession of his 9 mm service pistol, as well as theft and wrongful appropriation of a government vehicle.

No date has been set for an Article 32 hearing, one of the first steps toward a possible court-martial in the military justice system, said Maj. Matt Morgan, the brigade spokesman.

Like I said in my previous posts, If he is a deserter he needs to get the maximum level of punishment!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:18 PM | Comments (2)

December 12, 2004

It There Were Any Doubt...

Peyton Manning is UNARGUEABLY the single greatest quarterback to ever play the game.

His fans support him, other fans won't give him his due, but without a doubt statistically he is the greatest QB to ever play the game.

ESPN took the time to mathematically level the playing field comparing the greats since the AAFC and NFC merger in 1950.

What did they find? No surprise to me, Peyton Manning is number 1.

While it is not likely that he will cap this historic season with a Lombardi Trophy he will go down in history as the man who shattered Dan Marino's single season TD record. He is on track for 59 TD's this season. In fact after today he is only 2 TD's away from tying the record. He will destroy it.

We've gone through every quarterback season since the AAFC-NFL merger in 1950 to figure out the best passing performances in history. We created a level playing field by transferring each season to the offensive environment of 2004. If interceptions were more common than they are in 2004, we project fewer interceptions. If teams threw less often than they do now, we project more passing. If teams played only 14 games a year, we give the quarterback an extra two games -- and Manning and the other 2004 quarterbacks get an extra four games to make a full season.

Then we created a formula that turns passes, yards, touchdowns, and interceptions into the same PAR points (points created above a replacement-level QB) that you find each week in the Snap Judgment QB ratings. Unfortunately, we can't break down every single play like we do for Snap Judgment, so we can't adjust quarterbacks who get stuck in bad field position or have no running game. We couldn't include sacks since those numbers don't exist for some seasons, and we didn't adjust for strength of schedule. Also, this is a list of the best passing seasons of all time, not necessarily the best quarterbacking seasons of all time. Rushing yardage isn't included, which is one reason why Steve Young's 1994 season didn't crack the top 10.

It turns out that Manning is indeed having a historic season -- the greatest of all time, in fact.

So all you silly Rothlisberger, Vick, and Culpepper fans will just have to sit back, wait and cross your fingers that one day, your QB might actually be fit to carry Peyton Manning’s jock strap.

Just thought I'd weigh in...

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:11 AM | Comments (6)

November 30, 2004

And we thought the Nazi's lost...

Back in the years preceeding WWII in Europe, Germany began the routine practise of eradicating euthanizing the undesireable infants, the phyisically deformed, the mentally ill, the intellectually retarded, the aged, and eventually those with criminal tendencies as a means of purifying the nordic gene pool and building their "Master Race" for their eventual bid for complete European domination.

Asylums, nurseries, hospitals and pension homes were emptied and their tenants were incinerated after they had been exterminated euthanized for their own good, and the good of the German people. They were a strain on the economy, not to mention a weakening of the fine genetics that were prized by the Nazi eugenists.

And we all know what happened next. Homosexuals, Gypsies, Jews, all deemed impure and undesirable in their great experiment were also swept up in this murderous drive and killed in huge numbers. And then the Poles, and Catholics, and anyone who was politically undesirable.

How did it start again? Oh, I remember. It started with babies.

"In August, the main Dutch doctors' association KNMG urged the Health Ministry to create an independent board to review euthanasia cases for terminally ill people "with no free will," including children, the severely mentally retarded and people left in an irreversible coma after an accident."

Sound familiar? It should. History doesn't always repeat, but it always fucking rhymes.

"Examples include extremely premature births, where children suffer brain damage from bleeding and convulsions; and diseases where a child could only survive on life support for the rest of its life, such as severe cases of spina bifida and epidermosis bullosa, a rare blistering illness."

Do you also suppose they plan to include other disorders? Cystic Fibrosis? How about birth-injuries like Cerebral Palsy? Will that be next, or is it just not listed but being done now? Hydrocephalis? Down's Syndrome?

Can you say "Slippery Slope"?

Posted by Mamamontezz at 10:57 PM | Comments (3)

Saddam's Explosives

Remember the Dem's October Surprise? Those many tons of missing high explosives which Kerry went on to use as an example of the Bush administration's incompetence in Iraq? Sure, you do. It was in all the papers, all over the Main Stream Media, the big thing on ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN/PMSNBC/NYT. How could we forget it?

Well, seems they found out exactly what probably happened to all of that UN sealed and locked-away ordnance.

Saddam had it removed before the war ever really got revved up completely. It had just barely started when his minions nabbed that shit.

Egads! No! How could this have happened!

"As American forces closed in on Baghdad last year, senior members of Saddam Hussein's government devised a plan to send suicide bombers in vehicles packed with devastating high-energy explosives that were under UN safeguards."

So THAT'S what happened. Oh, it gets better.

A letter to Saddam from Dr Naji Sabri, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, five days before the fall of Baghdad, suggests taking the HMX from underground bunkers, where it had been kept under seal by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and giving it to suicide bombers.

He wrote: "It is possible to increase the explosive power of the suicide-driven cars by using the highly explosive material [HMX] which is sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] and stored in the warehouses of the Military Industry Departments."

Can you believe it? And all this time we thought it was administrative incompetence here. No, the incompetence was in the reporting by the world media in their desparate bid to affect the election here. Much like Bin Laden's video tape, this was to boost support for Kerry (regardless of the demented theory that senile ex-anchorman tried to float on the Larry King show) and intended to hoist Bush on the false petard of a poorly handled war.

Chew on this one a while, ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN/PMSNBC/NYT. And choke on it. We know you won't even mention it to your viewship/readership. We wouldn't expect you to. It would be completely out of character for any of you.

Posted by Mamamontezz at 10:30 PM | Comments (2)

November 29, 2004

LCpl Kyle Renehan, USMC

Yes, I'm guest posting for a little while as SlagleRock gets his computer problems sorted out. So bear with me as I try to keep up his level of great posting.

I want to start tonight with information on Lance Corporal Kyle Renehan, USMC, the older brother of a young member of the VRWC who hangs out in the Loyal Citizens chat room at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

LCpl Renehan was injured seriously Monday when a mortar struck the small trailer in Fallujah where he was messaging some friends online. The mortar caused two severe breaks in one of his legs, as well as multiple shrapnel wounds in his abdomen, arm, and the back of his head. The one to his leg and the one to the back of his head are the most serious, and have the potential of being extremely life affecting.

His brother LCpl Chris Renahan, also in Iraq, was quickly sent to be with him at the medical facility in Baghdad. He has undergone surgery and we belive that the surgery is over. No further information is available on his condition.

The family is struggling to deal with the situation, and need everyone's support.

When talking to Spence in chat this evening, he stated that Kyle had been online at the time, in what was considered a rear area in or near Falluhah which the family had believed was "safe." The other brother, Chris, has been in a forward unit taking heat on a regular basis. Apparently Chris noticed the irony of this, and is reported to have to have told his wounded brother "Here I am on the front line, dodging bullets, and you're the one who gets a Purple Heart while IM'ing one of your girlfriends."

Well, I imagine the language may have been a bit saltier, but we'll leave that alone for now.

Beth at Yeah, Right, Whatever has a call for prayers, and info on contacting the Renehan family, and Sir George has co-written a piece with Spence that is now posted at the Rottie.






Update: As of about 2am EST, we have learned that LCpl Renehan will be flown to Germany very shortly. We are still waiting word of his condition.

Update: As of 0350EST, LCpl Renehan is being moved to a hospital in Germany for further assessment and treatment, quite possibly as this is being posted. His parents plan to join him as soon as they can, probably by the end of the day Tuesday. Please go to Spence's site and hit the Paypal button, as they will need our financial support as well as our prayers.

Posted by Mamamontezz at 09:55 PM | Comments (1)

November 21, 2004

Stay Home, You Pathetic Whining Maggots

By Ian Robinson -- Calgary Sun In the wake of the U.S. presidential election -- in which I cheerfully took a Sun assistant city editor, who figured Senator John Kerry couldn't lose, for $10 (a quick pause to gloat here) Americans disenchanted with President George W. Bush's re-election romp back into the White House, continue to deluge the Canadian immigration website.

How anybody can be unhappy with the president's re-election is beyond me.

Bush has my admiration in no small part because he manages to simultaneously annoy France and Germany, not to mention those renowned deep, geopolitical thinkers, the Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen, P-Diddy or whatever he's calling himself now, Gwynneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck.

Be sure to click continue reading!

(Interesting note about France: America invades Iraq without UN approval and America is portrayed as a barbarian striding across the world stage. Recently, France essentially invaded the Ivory Coast to protect its interests there ... without asking the UN squat. Just pointing out the hypocrisy.)

Plus, let's face it: France deserves to be annoyed by as many people as possible, as often as possible, if only for encouraging Jerry Lewis by telling him that he was a genius.

Not to mention for exporting snotty wine culture across the Atlantic so that otherwise reasonable North Americans have turned into cork-sniffing oenephiles -- although the word sounds like an exotic perversion, it just means wine-nerd -- who can actually say with a straight face: "This is a full-bodied Cabernet, rich with a full body tasting of plum, blackberry and leather cooked on an oak plank."

Anyway, the day after the U.S. election, 115,628 Americans checked out the site and those numbers haven't fallen off very much.

Before the election, some U.S. celebrities and numerous other Democrats vowed that they'd move to Canada if Bush were re-elected.

I hope I'm not alone in gently suggesting to those considering coming to Canada: Stay home, you pathetic whining maggots.

Particularly celebrities. Canada has suffered enough without having to put up with any of the Baldwin brothers or -- heaven forfend! -- Barbra Streisand.

And frankly, I don't know if we can afford to feed Michael Moore.

Bad enough that Canada became a haven for the gutless wonders of the 1960s who fled the Vietnam draft. I sometimes think that the draft dodgers welcomed by the Trudeau government were a political virus that invaded our body politic, and we still suffer the lingering effects of that illness.

Our nation's preposterous pacifism, belief in nonsense such as "soft power" and fidelity to a morally bankrupt United Nations overrun with tin-pot dictators and other left-wing idiocies, may well be traceable back to the influx of thousands of the testosterone-challenged whose allegiance to country was superceded by their allegiance to smoking dope while trying to figure out the inner meaning of Beatles songs.

We have immigrants coming to this country who have been hunted from the air by murderous Islamofascists in Sudan.

Some new Canadians survived the atrocities in Rwanda or old Europe's final convulsions of genocide in the former Yugoslavia.

We have physicians from some parts of the world who are willing to throw away their prestige and power in their homelands for the privilege of driving a cab in Moose Jaw.

As a nation, we ought to welcome our share of people fleeing genuine oppression, and those willing to gamble everything to secure a safe and decent future for their families.

But welcome a bunch of spoiled brats willing to abandon their very nation because they don't like the man elected to be their leader for the next four years?

Geez, in my entire lifetime, there was maybe one prime minister I'd trust to run a street-corner hot dog stand -- the rest of them weren't fit for much more than compost -- but it never occurred to me to emigrate.

If we close our borders to anybody, it should be these fools. They'll be easy to screen out.

They'll be the ones who are whining.

Well, if anyone thought that all Canadians were neutral, tree hugging, anti-American hippies boy were you wrong.

This guy just keeps tacking them down.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:07 PM | Comments (4)

A Canadian With Balls And Common Sense

Mamamontezz mailed me this link to a man that instantly became one of my daily reads!

Sun, November 21, 2004

I don't blame that Marine in Fallujah at all

By Ian Robinson -- Calgary Sun

You're a kid, probably a year or two, or even three, shy of your 25th birthday.

Not a rich kid. Probably not even an upper-middle-class kid ... after all, you don't find a lot of those outside the officer corps in combat naval infantry units.

You're probably not that bright; certainly not as bright as the highly educated college types lining up to condemn you.

Maybe you finished high school. Maybe you didn't.

The average IQ of an enlisted man in the United States Marine Corps is under 90.

It hasn't stopped you from mastering the tools of your trade. You can break down a complex automatic rifle and reassemble it blindfolded. You take care of your rifle with a professional passion that is nearly fetishistic because if you take care of your rifle -- the voice of a Parris Island drill instructor echoes in your head when you think this -- your rifle will take care of you.

You're in fantastic physical condition ... the combat load you carry on your back is 40-lb. more than the average American infantryman in the Second World War.

For whatever reason, you decided to give your life to something greater than yourself. To your country. To the Marines.

Be sure to click continue reading for the rest of the article.

When you did that, you were indoctrinated. They broke you in boot camp and then rebuilt you. You were told you were the meanest, toughest S.O.B. who ever lived.

You know the names of obscure battles where Marines shed blood in the service of their nation.

You know the words of the Marine Hymn.

You know about the halls of Montezuma and the shores of Tripoli. You know about Tarawa, where the landing craft hung up on the coral reef and the Marines went into the lip-high water and waded 1,000 yards through Japanese fire to the beach ... and won.

You know about Khe Sahn where Marines were surrounded by North Vietnamese regulars under a hellish rain of artillery fire week after week ... and prevailed.

You can look at the bewildering array of coloured ribbons on another marine's chest and know whether he's a warrior or a guy who spent his career fighting red tape.

You were told that your job was to go to the dangerous places of the planet and fight and possibly die for your country without asking why. But after you were in for a while, certainly after the first time angry men with guns tried to kill you and you tried to kill them, you figured that nobody's willing to fight and die for their country.

They're willing to fight and die for the guy standing beside them.

The day before it happened, you got shot in the face. The wound wasn't as bad as it sounds. You were back with your unit the next day. You didn't take the opportunity to slack off, to leave your comrades in the lurch.

The same day you got it, a guy in your unit -- maybe a friend, maybe just some guy -- tried to tend to the body of one of your enemies.

The guy was dead ... but he was still lethal.

Your buddy touched him and the booby trap went off and killed him.

He probably should have known better. Beaten soldiers have been booby trapping their dead for a long time. The Germans were artists at it. So too the Viet Cong.

No reason crazed Islamofascists wouldn't be either. These people booby trap live women and send them off to die. Stands to reason they wouldn't be squeamish about booby trapping their dead and dying.

Earlier this week you went into the mosque in Fallujah from which Marines had taken fire before. There were five insurgents there. Not moving. And you were afraid.

Another Marine yelled that one of them was faking. That he was alive.

Maybe you could still feel the bullet that tore through part of your face the day before. Maybe the thought of the other Marine killed by a dead man rocketed through your brain. Maybe your hands acted of their own accord.

Maybe.

You pulled the trigger.

We don't know your name yet. We don't know anything about you.

I do know one thing.

I don't blame you. I don't blame you at all.

That's it, to a "T". I couldn't have said it better. This Marine was not only just for what he did, but he may have saved the lives of other Marines.

This is war people, wake up. This isn't Mocha Lattes and puppy dog tails.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:01 PM | Comments (9)

November 20, 2004

Just One More Reason Why I Voted For President George W. Bush...

According to AP News:

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - President Bush stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night.

Several Chilean and American agents got into a pushing and shoving match outside the cultural center where the dinner was held. The incident happened after Bush and his wife, Laura, had just posed for pictures on a red carpet with the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife, Luisa Duran.

As Bush stepped inside, Chilean agents closed ranks at the door, blocking the president's agents from following. Stopping for more pictures, Bush noticed the fracas and turned back. He reached through the dispute and pulled his agent from the scrum and into the building.

The president, looking irritated, straightened his shirt cuffs as he went into the dinner. The incident was shown on APEC television.

"Chilean security tried to stop the president's Secret Service from accompanying him," said White House deputy press secretary Claire Buchan. "He told them they were with him and the issue was resolved."

As the title says, one more reason why I voted for President Bush. The man is not afraid to stand his ground!

Hoo Ah Commander In Chief

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:16 PM | Comments (2)

November 17, 2004

Polls Worth Laughing At

OK, just for laughs check out these Poll Results. It is humorous. For example, the Arabs said Kerry would win (55%). Only 35% thought GW would win. They also stated overwhelmingly that the US has lost control of Iraq. Scuffle is not a sign of lost control, being kicked out is a sign of lost control. Not going to happen.

So follow the links and have a laugh. I learned that the average Arab is clearly a Democrat! Take a look.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:33 PM | Comments (2)

November 16, 2004

CARE Organizer Believed Murdered In Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan was believed to be dead Tuesday after a video received by Al-Jazeera television showed a hooded figure shooting a blindfolded woman in the head. The British government and Hassan's family in London said they believed the longtime director of CARE in Iraq was the victim. CARE said it was in mourning for the 59-year-old Briton who worked for decades providing food, medicine and humanitarian aid to Iraqis.

Are you kidding me? Now they are killing unarmed civilians with no association to the military. This woman was a CARE organizer. She was their to provide, food and assistance to all who need it.

She was brutally murdered for caring, nothing more. These people are animals. What do we do to animals with Rabies? We put them down. I'd like to stay politically correct and I truly would like to believe that there is hope for these animals, but at every opportunity they prove otherwise.

If this is their idea of life then perhaps we should just, NUKE THE WHOLE FUCKING LOT OF THEM!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:42 PM | Comments (2)

November 15, 2004

Secretary Of State No More

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Monday he was resigning, and two senior administration officials told CNN that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice is President Bush's choice to replace him.

In a letter dated Friday, Powell told Bush that, "now that the election is over the time has come for me to step down as secretary of state and return to private life. I, therefore, resign as the 65th secretary of state, effective at your pleasure."

"I will always treasure the four years that I have spent with President Bush and with the wonderful men and women of the Department of State," Powell told reporters. "I think we've accomplished a great deal."

Should Rice's nomination be approved, her top deputy, Stephen Hadley, will be promoted to national security adviser, the senior administration officials said. The nomination could be announced as early as Tuesday.

Well, what do we think of these changes?

Just the facts:

Gen. Colin Powell was a fantastic military officer and leader.
He has also served as a Secretary of State with honor, integrity and dignity. He will be missed in our political infrastructure.

Condoleeze Rice is qualified for the position and has potential. Beyond that we will just have to see.

I don't have too large an opinion on these changes.

Before the left starts screaming that Powell quit because of President Bush, just bare in mind that he always said he was a, "one term man."

I expect there will be many more changes in the Presidents cabinet postions. I personally feel change is good.

Time will tell.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:22 PM | Comments (3)

November 09, 2004

Fallujah

Chinese Website says 35 Americans Captured

I will expand on this first thing tomorrow. Like Cynthia's comment said, "do you think they got this backwards?"

I hope so. I will post my thoughts and the actual post first thing in the am.

Update: This has been completely uncomfirmed. In fact this Chinese website is the only one to make the claim. I think they had their facts wrong!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:04 PM | Comments (2)

November 08, 2004

Assault On Fallujah

FALLUJA, Iraq(CNN) -- Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops streamed into Falluja on Monday, beginning an all-out assault aimed at driving insurgents out of the city.

Taking Aim In Falluja

Pentagon officials said the operation involves more than 2,000 Iraqis and about 10,000 U.S. troops.

U.S. tanks fired 120-mm rounds into booby-trapped barricades for about an hour, igniting massive explosions.

Military officials told CNN's Jane Arraf, embedded with troops, one of the initial goals has been achieved -- clearing a path through defenses in the northern part of the city.

The Army said U.S. airstrikes against one position killed an estimated 20 to 25 insurgents.

Four Marines were wounded in one engagement, a medic told embedded CNN journalist Karl Penhaul.

Penhaul reported hearing an almost constant barrage of explosions and machine gun fire and said that tracer fire was lighting the night sky. Insurgents could be heard chanting in Arabic: "God is great."

A target hit Monday, a battalion commander told Penhaul, was a position manned by about five insurgents armed with assault rifles who were acting as forward observers, trying to direct mortar fire against Marines outside the city.

Before the ground offensive began about 7 p.m. (11 a.m. ET), Falluja was pummeled for hours by airstrikes aimed at destroying suspected safe houses and other insurgent strongholds. Arraf said the forces cut power to Falluja before the start of the assault.

U.S. and Iraqi troops had surrounded the city as they awaited the order for a full attack.

On Sunday, Iraqi forces seized a hospital, and U.S. Marines secured the two bridges over the Euphrates River on the west side of the city, according to a pool reporter.

Nearly 40 "terrorists" were killed in the hospital takeover and four foreign fighters -- two of them Moroccan -- were captured, said Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. The nationalities of the other two were undetermined.

One of the bridges is where exuberant crowds of Iraqis hung the bodies of U.S. security contractors killed last spring.

Allawi gives green light

Allawi said Monday he had given U.S. and Iraqi forces the green light to rid Falluja of insurgents, and he promised to restore law and order.

"We are determined to clean Falluja from terrorists," Allawi said at a news conference.

Allawi imposed a 6 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) curfew for Falluja and Ramadi, and closed Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan to keep insurgents from escaping to other countries.

Allawi visited Iraqi troops as they waited to enter the city.

"First of all, this is our Iraq, and it is our duty to defend our country. We're counting on you to defend the country and regain its pride and its values," Allawi told them in Arabic. "I'm here to check on you and tell you that all of Iraq is with you."

Allawi announced a state of emergency in Iraq Sunday -- exempting the Kurdish north -- and told reporters the terrorists in Falluja "do not want a peaceful settlement."

U.S. and Iraqi forces hope to pacify Falluja in time for elections in January for a transitional national assembly.

Level of resistance unclear
Falluja is considered an insurgent command-and-control center for the rest of the country and a base for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network.

Military officials say 3,000 to 5,000 insurgents may be inside the city -- difficult terrain for urban warfare -- but they acknowledge many may have slipped away amid widespread reports that an offensive was coming.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged Monday that al-Zarqawi's whereabouts are uncertain. "I have no idea if he is there," Rumsfeld said.

In April, Marines attacked Falluja after four U.S. private security contractors were killed and mutilated, and the ensuing battles led to many deaths. The U.S.-led forces established an indigenous Falluja brigade to restore peace to the city, but in the summer, the brigade fell apart and insurgents solidified control there.

Falluja's population was estimated to be 250,000 to 300,000 before warfare escalated in the city earlier this year. Now, it is thought that 50,000 civilians remain.

American forces have pounded Falluja for months in an attempt to root out insurgents. U.S. warplanes, including AC-130 gunships, bombarded targets in recent days to weaken insurgent positions.

Senior officers with the Army's Task Force 2-2, part of the 1st Infantry Division, said they had seen no signs of suicide bombers of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices they had expected to see, which they interpreted as possible signs that insurgents could be fleeing the city rather than choosing to fight.

In one incident, a task force intelligence officer said a Predator drone observed 15 to 20 insurgents running down a road away from advancing U.S. tanks. The insurgents were "neutralized" as they attempted to set up an ambush, the officer said.

From Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell placed calls Monday to the foreign ministers of other countries in the region to discuss the operations in Falluja, spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.

Also in Washington, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld told reporters that the battle for Falluja was critical for the success of the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

About a report that some 500 Iraqi troops failed to show up for battle, Rumsfeld said, "I would characterize it as an isolated problem."

Rumsfeld downplayed the threat to the city's civilian population, saying U.S. forces are disciplined, well-trained and well-led.

"There aren't going to be large numbers of civilians killed and certainly not by U.S. forces," he said.

Other developments

A British soldier with the Black Watch Regiment was killed in an attack Monday and two other soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, the British Ministry of Defense said. The attack took place north of the Black Watch base camp at Camp Dogwood, south of Baghdad. Last week, three Black Watch members were killed by a suicide bomber. (Full story)

A U.S. soldier died in a gunbattle in eastern Baghdad, the Combined Press Information Center said. An explosion damaged the front entrance of Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital Monday. Police said they believe the hospital was targeted because Iraqi national guard troops were being treated inside.

Two Marines died near Falluja on Monday when their bulldozer flipped into the Euphrates River in an apparent non-combat incident, military sources said. There were no further details.

Fourteen insurgents died and nine others were arrested in an Iraqi police operation against insurgents in the Babil province town of Latifiya Sunday night. Police dressed in civilian clothes stormed a checkpoint being held by insurgents and freed a "number" of hostages, including two women, a police official said. The operation, involving about 100 police officers, netted a number of weapons, including machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and stolen cars.

Keep the troops in your thoughts!

Hopefully we can make some progress in this terror ridden town.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:43 PM | Comments (2)

November 07, 2004

Hezbollah Flew A Reconnaissance Drone Over Israel

High tech terrorists, just what we need. According to AP Breaking News the terrorist group Hezbollah claims to have flown its first arial reconnaisance drone all the way to the Israeli northern city of Nahariya.

Hezbollah claims the drone which was launched from Lebanon returned to them safely. Conflicting reports claim the drone crashed and was picked up by fisherman.

Israel claimed the craft was Iranian-made, and the army confirmed that it penetrated Israeli airspace early Sunday and flew over western Galilee.

The flight was believed to be the first hostile aerial incursion from Lebanon into Israel by guerrillas since Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command members sailed over in 1987 on a hang glider and killed six soldiers before being shot dead.

"This qualitative and new achievement by the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon comes as part of a natural response to the Zionist enemy's repeated and permanent violations of Lebanese airspace," a Hezbollah statement said.

Israel's army described the flight as evidence of Lebanon's lack of control within its territory and said "Israel views gravely any infiltration into its sovereign territory from the air, sea or by land, and will act to ensure the security of its citizens."

All I can say is Israel needs to act (not that they normally have a problem with responding to threats from other nations).

With the rapid growth of unmanned vehicle technology can you imagine the threat generated by terrorist posessing such aircraft?

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:17 PM | Comments (2)

November 06, 2004

Finally Coming Home??

According to First Coast News Capt. Scott Speicher, USN may finally be coming home.

It's 1 a.m. January 17th, Speicher is part of the first mission flown over Iraq during the first Gulf War.

Within hours his squadron is in the heat of battle. The mission is deemed a success.

But when Speicher's unit returns He is the only one who is not accounted for.

From the first moments, fellow pilots and squadron mates believe the highly skilled Speicher ejected and survived.

But within hours the Pentagon announces Speicher is dead, killed in action in a mid-air explosion. There would be no recovery mission.

In 1993, U.S. Intelligence finds an American plane in better condition than expected in a remote desert in Iraq.

The plane's identification numbers confirm it is Speicher's plane.

The cockpit canopy was found some distance from the wreckage, raising the theory that Speicher ejected, survived and was captured.

First Coast News has learned the human remains, thought to be Speichers, were not found at the crash site.

The remains being tested were found in another part of Iraq.

After the initial discovery of the crash site, in an unprecedented move, the Pentagon changed Speicher's status from Killed in Action, to Missing in Action, and then later, Missing Captured.

Hopefully this test will put an end to his families nearly fourteen years of grief, worry and wonder.

It will be both a sad and joyous day for the Speicher family if the test proves positive, but it will also provide some closure to this chapter of their lives.

Like others who have fallen before and since Capt. Speicher is a fine example of an American, a patriot and a member of our armed forces.

Cross your fingers!

For additional information on Capt. Scott Speicher visit freescottspeicher.com

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:05 PM | Comments (4)

November 04, 2004

Exit Polls Show Which Kind Of People Vote For Which Type Of Candidate

If you haven't looked at the voting statistics compiled via the exit polls you need to. Take a look at USA Today.com.

Here are some examples of the statistics that reflect the candidates.

Education

How well educated were the people who voted for each candidate.

The majority of High School DROP OUTS who voted, voted for Kerry.

Those with a high school diploma, some college or a college degree voted for Bush.

Those people who were married voted Bush, while unwed mothers voted for Kerry. (What Dems looking for a hand out, NO can't be!?!)

Those people who felt that morals were one of the main issue of the election voted for Bush.

So what do we gather from these statistics? The ideal Kerry supporter is:

A) Uneducated
B) Immoral
C) Unwed
D) Likely looking for a hand out
E) ALL OF THE ABOVE

You decide.

Follow the link and look at all the statistics. Are you comfortable voting with the particular crowd that voted for your candidate?

One more statistic. All age groups over 30 voted for GW while it was only the 17-30 year olds that voted Kerry. Could it be that the youth of America is far more gullible than the educated and those who have had to live through lifes hard knocks?

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:03 PM | Comments (7)

V-US Day + 2

It has been two days now since the election and roughly twenty four hours since John Kerry conceded, since then I have seen, heard and learned much.

First, President Bush won this election with the largest popular vote in history. That says two things to me: One, he is supported by the American people and two, John Kerry couldn't hide the truth.

Second, more than 3/4 of the country feel like the President won reelection fairly. What that says is that 1/4 of this country is either hard line (bitter) democrats or conspiracy theorists. I expected GW to win, but I was surprised by his powerful poplar vote results.

Third, while Kerry was able to bow out with style and grace his party is not capable.

Kerry conceded with style and grace. He came across very presidential in his speech and manned up (for a change), yet the extremists within the party just keep finding things to whine about.

Kerry, "we can't win." Remember that? He said that during his speech after he called President Bush to concede. The man himself acknowledged his loss, so lets move on America. Support your President, your troops, family, friends and neighbors.

SLAGLEROCK OUT!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:57 AM | Comments (6)

It's President Bush Not Mr. Bush

To the owners, editors, producers and broadcasters at NBC:

The correct way to refer to the President of the United States of America is....

Drum roll please......

Wait for it....

PRESIDENT Bush.

I know this may come as a shock to all of you at NBC but the title President of the United States is not only the most powerful on Earth it is also the most recognizable.

If I had a nickel for every time some moron at NBC referred to President Bush as Mr. Bush I'd be rich. I am sure that you would be quick to correct other media outlets if they referred to someone within your organization incorrectly.

President is not only a powerful title; it is also one that President Bush earned. He solidified that right with his history making popular vote.

In the future please keep in mind that Americans are not bumbling idiots and we do catch your efforts to undermine the status of those you do not agree with.

And since we are talking about titles:

SSgt Slagle Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:17 AM | Comments (3)

November 03, 2004

Kerry Concedes

According to CNN and every other major media outlet, John Kerry phoned the PRESIDENT this morning to concede the election.

Everyone can breathe a deep sigh of relief. The traitor did not win.

Not only did President Bush win reelection he also won the POPULAR vote.

It appears that the driving factor in this election was morals. People with strong moral beliefs and interests voted for President Bush.

WE WERE SUCCESSFUL!!

This is a toss up day here at the Slaughterhouse. I am very grateful that President Bush won both reelection and the popular vote, but I am saddened because I will now have to rework much of my blog. So much of my content and many of my links were focused on spreading the truth about John Kerry.

I will continue to focus on the military and political but I will no longer need to concentrate on John Kerry.

Wow the relief is amazing.

Today truly is a great day for America.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:52 AM | Comments (12)

November 01, 2004

A Vote For Kerry Is A Vote For Terrorism

According to the New York Times Osama bin Laden warned in his October Surprise video that he will be closely monitoring the state-by-state election returns in tomorrow's presidential race — and will spare any state that votes against President Bush from being attacked, according to a new analysis of his statement.

Oh gosh, you mean Bin Laden formally endorsed John Kerry? Imagine that!?!?!

Now I guess us "Right Wing Lunatics" can actually say a vote for Kerry is a vote for terrorism.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 04:47 PM | Comments (2)

To The Mainstream Media, Air The Rest Of The TAPE!!!

According to the New York Times there is another 12 minutes of the Bin Ladin tape that Al Jazeera selectively left out when airing it.

Officials said that in the 18-minute long tape — of which only six minutes were aired on the al-Jazeera Arab television network in the Middle East on Friday — bin Laden bemoans the recent democratic elections in Afghanistan and the lack of violence involved with it.

On the tape, bin Laden also says his terror organization has been hurt by the U.S. military's unrelenting manhunt for him and his cohorts on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Can you imagine the effect of this tape on the democrats who would so love all of America to believe the the war on terror has been ineffective?

Bin Ladin admitting that his organization has been "hurt by the U.S. military's unrelenting manhunt for him." What a blow that would be to the Kerry campaign that keeps calling Bush ineffective.

I challenge the mainstream media to play the rest of the tape. Let American's hear from the top terrorist himself that Bush has made it difficult for his band of terrorist brethren to be effective.

Bush-Cheney '04
4 MORE YEARS

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!!!

Exercise Your Right We Fight For!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:09 AM | Comments (2)

True Patriotism

Lawyer takes salary cut to follow lifelong dream!!!!!

Despite dangers, attorney joins the Army to fight for his country By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press

DALLAS - A chance meeting in a Subway restaurant with an Army recruiter changed the life of Michael Brown, a Dallas lawyer.

Brown, 26, leaves for basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., on Thursday, cutting his annual income from $120,000 to $18,000 to serve in the Army.

The impetus was a conversation with Staff Sgt. Jerome Huntley in mid-July.

"I had been thinking about doing it," Brown said. "It's on your heart and you're thinking about doing it, and there he is."

They talked in the restaurant, and the next day Huntley came to Brown's apartment to describe life in an Army special operations unit, such as the Rangers or Green Berets.

Huntley said Brown's enthusiasm eliminated any doubts about someone giving up a career as a lawyer.

"He was just saying he wanted something more exciting in his life," Huntley said.

Basic training

After 16 weeks of basic and advanced individual training as an infantryman at Fort Benning, he'll go to Fort Campbell in Kentucky. He hopes to then join a special operations unit.

A recruit like Brown is "relatively unusual" not only because of his profession, but also because of his income and age, said Douglas Smith, spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

About 98.5 percent of Army officers have a bachelor's degree, and 40 percent of those have a master's or a doctorate, according to the Army. But only about 5 percent of enlistees have a four-year college degree or higher.

Smith said the average recruit's age is 21, and according to 2002 data, only 7 percent of enlistees come from households with incomes of $100,000 to $150,0000.

Choosing a career

Brown grew up in Starkville, Miss., and played outside linebacker at Mississippi College, where he earned an accounting degree before going on to law school at the University of North Carolina. He moved to Dallas to practice construction and personal injury defense law.

Approaching Huntley that day was no spur-of-the-moment decision, Brown said. It was something that built for a long time. As a boy, he loved to play with toy soldiers and as a young adult he thought about a career in the military, but he went on to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both lawyers.

After Brown got to Dallas, he started contemplating the switch.

"The law may not be exactly what I want to do — the military's something I've always wanted to do," he said.

Brown, who is single, said he misses being out in the field, building a camaraderie with a group of guys like he did when he played football.

"I wanted to serve the country too," he said. "That was something that really interested me with the Special Forces or Rangers. You give all your time to do that. The bond that you have with that group of guys was something that I didn't feel."

And the possibility of being sent into war isn't something that would stop him from joining.

"I want to go," Brown said. "That's really part of the reason that I'm signing up. You're ready to go out there and do what you can for the country."

Explaining a decision

Making friends and family understand his decision took some work.

"My mom just realized that that's what I really wanted to do," Brown said. "Dad didn't come around until I said, 'It's already done.' He said, 'All right, then I'm behind it.' "

Brown's mother, Patsy Holeman, 53, of Madison, Miss., said Brown told her about a year ago that he still had the urge to join the military.

"He was still searching, still looking," she said. "He just kept saying, 'This is something I've got to do. I've always had this in the back of my mind. I don't want to be 10 to 20 years down the road saying I didn't do it.' "

Will Andrews, 27, of Clinton, La., has been friends with Brown since they played football together in college. He said he didn't know how serious Brown was about enlisting until Brown said he'd talked to a recruiter.

"It did surprise me, but it didn't at the same time," Andrews said.

His co-worker, Randy Montgomery, had the same thoughts.

"I think it's rare that someone will give up as much as he's giving up to go and fight for his country," said Montgomery, a partner at Deary Montgomery DeFeo & Canada in Dallas. "That's a good quality that we don't all have."

These aren't the kinds of stories that are heard often, remember NFL safety Pat Tillman? He took a drastic decrease in pay (obviously by leaving the NFL) to serve his country and as a member of a special forces unit he payed the ultimate sacrifice.

These two men are a shining example of what patriotism is all about. These two were willing to give up very comfortable lives to serve at the bottom of the enlisted ranks just for the opportunity to give back to this great nation.

These are brave men, patriots, and true Americans.

Tomorrow is Nov. 2, election day. Please make sure you support the actions of these two brave men by voting and ensuring they will have a Commander In Chief worthy of their loyalty.

4 MORE YEARS
Bush-Cheney '04

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:00 AM | Comments (2)

October 30, 2004

Lethal Lollipops (Halloween Safety)

by June M. Ramos, Western States Information Network

With Halloween just around the corner, those of us with children in our lives need to take the usual precautions to make sure the candy received is safe.

Unfortunately, we have a new drug trend to be on alert for. Recent intelligence reports from around the country indicate a growing trend of manufacture and sale of lollipops containing controlled substances. Substances found vary from Psilocybin mushrooms to heroin. These pops are a particular threat to children due to their appealing packaging.

Following is a brief summary of lollipops found:

Psilocybin Mushrooms
In July, an ongoing Jackson County Drug Task Force (MO)
investigation recovered what appeared to be homemade chocolate suckers during a vehicle stop. Closer inspection revealed chunks of Psilocybin Mushrooms.

This is a photo of Chocolate Covered Psilocybin Mushrooms from the DEA Homepage
Similar Chocolate Lollipops have also been found.

THC & PCP
The Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center received lollipops containing 9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) and phencyclidine (PCP) being sold on the west side of Chicago. The seller of these lollipops, who has since had charges filed against him, was selling them for between $10 and $30 each.

Cannabis
The online seller of these Cannibus [sic] Candy Chronic Pops claims that these pops are real and legal as the THC has been removed. The seller also claims that these pops contain no marijuana and are not for sale to minors. One pop sells for $2.95, 3 for $7.95, and 1 dozen for $21.95.

Heroin
The DEA laboratory in New York analyzed lollipops in loose wrappers seized from LaGuardia Airport. These pops varied from ¾ inch to 1-inch diameter and consisted of a candy shell surrounding a powder interior. The powder was found to be 64% heroin hydrochloride. The lab has also received similar lollypops
containing cocaine hydrochloride.

Although many of these tips are common sense, please take a moment to review them and share with those around you with children. Remember to be safe and have fun!

Halloween candy safety tips:
· Instruct children not to snack on candy while out trick-or-treating.

Be sure you examine all candy for tampering
before consumption.

· Tell children not to accept and, especially, not to eat
anything that is not commercially wrapped.

· Discard candy or treats that are homemade, unwrapped or
if they appear to have been tampered with (pinholes in
wrappers, torn wrappers, etc.).

· Parents of young children should remove any choking
hazards such as gum, peanuts, hard candies or small
toys.
· Wash all fresh fruit thoroughly, inspect it for holes, including small punctures, and cut it open before allowing children to eat it.

If you have any further information on adulterated lollipops for
dissemination to law enforcement please submit it to June Ramos
by e-mail at jramos@wsin.riss.net or call (916) 263-1178.

This is pretty serious people. Things like this are found everyday. I am very grateful for being priviledged enough to receive these kinds of law enforcement bulletins.

While it is unlikely that anyone would give these "candies" to children it is always a possibility. Please spread the word, and show your children and other parents you know these pictures and have a safe and happy Halloween.

TRICK-OR-TREAT!!!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:02 PM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2004

Indy Media And Terrorist Links?

News website Indymedia says FBI seized server

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A website billed as a grassroots news source for the anti-globalization movement and other issues said one of its Web servers was shut down after the FBI served a subpoena.

The Independent Media Center said the FBI issued an order to hosting company Rackspace "to remove physically one of our servers."

The FBI acknowledged that a subpoena had been issued but said it was at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities.

"It is not an FBI operation," FBI spokesman Joe Parris told AFP.

"Through a legal assistance treaty, the subpoena was on behalf of a third country."

The FBI spokesman said there was no US investigation but that the agency cooperated under the terms of an international treaty on law enforcement.

Rackspace, a US Web hosting company with offices in London, said it complied with a court order "pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which establishes procedures for countries to assist each other in investigations such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering." The company declined to elaborate.

"The order was so short-term that Rackspace had to give away our hard drives in the UK," the Independent Media Center said.

Italian news reports said access to Indymedia had been cut as a result of an FBI operation at US and British locations.

Mauro Bulgarelli, a member of Italy's Green party, called it a "provocation and intimidate effort" against the alternative media.

The website was established by organizations during the 1999 World Trade Organization protests claiming the mainstream media failed to adequately cover the news.

It calls itself "a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate and passionate tellings of the truth."

Indymedia said in a statement it "had been asked last month by the FBI to remove a story about Swiss undercover police from one of the websites hosted at Rackspace."

The statement added, "It is not known, however, whether Thursday's order is related to that incident since the order was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia. According to Rackspace, they 'cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order.'"

I just posted this FYI, please feel free to form your own opinions. Comments appreciated. Those of you who are familiar with Indy Media may have something to say about this.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:28 PM | Comments (2)

October 20, 2004

For The First Time In History....

A team with a 3-0 lead in a best of 7 series has been defeated.

In what I am sure will be labeled the upset of the century the Boston Red Sox have defeated the single greatest team in all of organized sports, the New York Yankees.

10 3

I couldn't believe it when I heard the Yanks were down 8-1. Even at that I half expected them to pull it off.

Apparently the curse of the Bambino is no more!

To Jeter, A-Rod, Matsui and the rest of the gang, there is always next year!!!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:08 PM | Comments (2)

Who's next to endorse Kerry, Bin Laden?

Someone said to me the other day that the world’s leaders want Bush out of office. I pointed out the Putin has endorsed Bush, and we will always have the endorsement of Tony Blair. I was told Putin is a putz and Blair has to support the U.S. While I agree with this statement I'd rather have the endorsements of these two men, than the kind of endorsements Kerry keeps racking up.

On 12 October I reported that John Kerry was endorsed by the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). Since I originally ran that article the CPUSA back peddled a little (likely after pressure from the Dems) and stated that it is not party practice to endorse other candidates(see comments on that thread). Though if you read their site you will see that their priorities for this election exactly mirror John Kerry's and the Dumbocrats.

I also reported that more than 2/3 of the U.S. Military support George Bush. In other words Kerry can't even get the support of the people he claims to represent and whom he hopes to run into the ground.

Now after looking at the BlogMama's site I have learned that Kerry has the endorsement of Al Jazeera and Yasser Arafat!

Are you kidding me? He has the endorsement of the Terrorist puppet media corporation, Al Jazeera. OK people, have we forgotten that Al Jazeera was bombed by the US during the war? Did we forget that they have been shut down on numerous occasions in Iraq for their broadcasts of terrorist propaganda? Everyone with half a clue knows that Al Jazeera clearly and unequivocally supports terrorism.

And Arafat, I won't even go there. Arafat had this to say about Jean Fonda Al-Queery, "'better for Palestinian cause".

So far, we have learned that the Communist Party is pro Kerry and now we learn that Palestines top terrorist, Yasser Arafat as well as Al Jazeera endorse John Kerry.

Like I said who is next to endorse this piss poor candidate? Bin Ladin? It wouldn't surprise me; under Kerry we may never get Bin Ladin.

I can tell you who doesn't endorse John Kerry, SLAGLEROCK, that's who!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:14 PM | Comments (2)

October 19, 2004

No Decision On Refusers

A few days ago I ran a post on a handful of Army Reservists who refused to do their jobs in Iraq. Allegedly they failed to complete a convoy claiming that their equipment was sub standard. Needless to say I was furious about this. They just took it upon themselves to put their brethren further in harms way by not delivering much needed supplies.

Luckily some other members of their unit stepped up and got the job done.

19 members of that unit were being held.

Today Jack, of the Conservative Insurgent, tells us that there has been no decision on what to do with these traitors.

Thanks for the update Jack!!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:43 AM | Comments (2)

October 18, 2004

A Look At Waffles Record

I frequently mill around the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth homepage. Take a look on the right of my site and you will find a large button and a permanent link to their site.

I'm sorry Waffles but I take the word of dozens of honorably discharged heroes and former POW's over yours, a man that refuses to release his records. Sign the 180!

If you haven't been to the Swift Vets site you need to go there, look around and read up on the information they provide. Keep in mind this is the first hand information from the men who served over, under and along side John Kerry.

Here is their take on Kerry's lackluster tour in Vietnam:

John Kerry's service in Vietnam lasted 4 months and 12 days, beginning in November 1968 when he reported to Cam Ranh Bay for a month of training. His abbreviated combat tour ended shortly after he requested a transfer out of Vietnam on March 17, 1969, citing Navy instruction 1300.39 permitting personnel with three Purple Hearts to request reassignment. So far as we are able to determine, Kerry was the only Swift sailor ever to leave Vietnam without completing the standard one-year tour of duty, other than those who were seriously wounded or killed.

It is clear that at least one of Kerry's Purple Heart awards was the result of his own negligence, not enemy fire, and that Kerry went to unusual lengths to obtain the award after being turned down by his own commanding officer.

John Kerry has long insisted that using the three-injury loophole to leave combat early was his own idea, but Kerry's fellow Swift officer Thomas Wright, who served on occasion as the OIC (Officer in Charge) of Kerry's boat group, contradicts that claim. Wright reports that he "had a lot of trouble getting Kerry to follow orders," and that those who worked with Kerry found him "oriented towards his personal, rather than unit goals and objectives." He therefore requested that Kerry be removed from his boat group. After John Kerry qualified for his third Purple Heart, Thomas Wright and two fellow officers informed him of the obscure regulation, and told him to go home. Wright concluded, "We knew how the system worked and we didn’t want him in Coastal Division 11."

Constructing a complete picture of Kerry's service is difficult due to gaps in the Naval records provided by the Kerry campaign. These gaps include missing and incomplete fitness reports, missing medical records and missing records related to his medal awards.

For this reason we call upon Senator Kerry to authorize complete access to all his military records by filing a standard Form 180, a simple two-page release form.

Swift Vets and POWs for Truth is in the process of researching John Kerry's time in Vietnam by conducting interviews with eyewitnesses to his activities, and we plan to add material to this section over the next several weeks as it becomes available. We will report the true circumstances of Kerry's medal awards and injuries, describe other controversial missions, and provide in-depth analysis of his fitness reports.

I'll tell you this. Any honorable man or woman who has served this nation would not hesitate to make their records public. I would! I am sure my Father and Grandfather would. Honorable men who served as such have nothing to hide.

What are you hiding Mr. (used loosely) Kerry? Release the records. Tell the truth! Don't let Americans find out after the fact what you really are and bring shame on this great nation.

You claim that we look bad to the global community? How will we look if a liar, cheat and dishonorable Seaman is elected to the single most powerful office on Earth?

Kerry is seen here telling horrendous lies to the Senate.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:52 AM | Comments (11)

Let The Voting Begin

Early voting begins today in some battleground states.

According to Fox News.com this started with the 2000 election.

In short, if you are reading this and you are a Florida resident you need to get to the polls and cast your vote for Bush immediately.

Don't wait. My absentee ballot is on its way to my home of record (My state will go to Bush, sorry Dad but Bush wins Indy)

This election is crucial. If Kerry is the douche bag that we all know he is I am sure he will try and discount any military absentee ballots he can just like Gore did in 2000.

For anyone who is voting by absentee ballot please read, re-read and double check that you have properly filled out everything correctly and don't forget proper postage or to have it postmarked by your states deadline.

Let’s take away Kerry's ability to throw out the Republican votes. Look at Florida which was won by Bush by just over 500 votes. Gore got more than 1,400 absentee ballots cast by members of our Armed Forces thrown out. Let's not let the Dems steal our votes or our rights!

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Get the point?

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:27 AM | Comments (1)

October 16, 2004

Unit Refused Iraq Mission, Military Says

I found a very disturbing article on AOL news this morning titled, Unit Refused Iraq Mission, Military Says.

My first thought was what do you mean refused mission? Maybe they mean that a commander had a deployment turned off because he couldn't support it. Sometimes manning shortages prevent a commander from deploying more of his people. That sort of thing is unavoidable and isn’t a direct impact on the mission as some other unit will deploy in their place.

Ok, so just go here and read the full article, I did.

Now the media is good at altering the magnitude of any situation so this one may not sound so bad to those who are not "in the know" so to speak.

According to AIM news:

The Army is investigating up to 19 reservist members of a platoon that is part of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers food, water and fuel on trucks in combat zones.

On Wednesday, 19 members of the platoon did not show up for a scheduled 7 a.m. meeting in Tallil, in southeastern Iraq, to prepare for the fuel convoy's departure a few hours later, the military statement said.

``An initial report indicated that some of the 19 soldiers (not all) refused to participate in the convoy as directed,'' the statement said.

Luckily other brave members stepped up to the plate and carried out the mission. These convoys are responsible for delivering everything from food/water and fuel to much needed supplies such as munitions or other war fighting assets.

The 19 people potentially endangered the lives of countless other Soldiers, Sailors, Airman and Marines.

One of the cowards was quoted in a phone call to her mother as saying, "This is a real, real, big emergency,'' Amber McClenny said in her message. "I need you to contact someone. I mean, raise pure hell.''

Translation, help me mommy I was talked into failing to report for duty/dereliction of duty by some other morons in my unit and it just hit me that dereliction of duty is punishable by death in war time.

This is the kind of break down in discipline that the military cannot afford regardless of who did it or which branch of service.

I know first hand what it is like to perform a mission with inferior or substandard equipment. Thanks to Senators like John Kerry we often are forced to press on with less than the best equipment. However, nowhere in my military record will you find something so absurd as failure to go.

I hope that the Uniform Code of Military Justice prosecutes all of these participants to the maximum extent allowable. It's actions like these, and those of the incompetent reservists at Abu Ghraib that make us look bad to the public and spawn the anti-military views of the pacifists.

There would be no love lost here if all 19 of these perpetrators were sentenced to numerous years of hard labor.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:43 PM | Comments (5)

October 14, 2004

Tributes Galore

I was searching around the web and being the Superman fan that I am I was looking at the Superman Homepage at tributes to Christopher Reeve.

This Superman fan site had several great cartoon tributes from various newspapers around the country.

Here are the best of the best.

I know, once I blew them up, they look terrible. Oh well, I know what they said and so I'll leave them in tribute anyway.

Fly high Mr. Reeve, fly high!!!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:01 AM | Comments (1)

October 12, 2004

Communists For Kerry

I received this in an email and have decided to run it unedited. I leave it for you to decide.

The Communist Party of The United States of America, CPUSA, is publicly supporting the election of John Kerry! No, this is not a typo...you read it correctly. The CPUSA has made available on its Web site, http://www.cpusa.org/ an advertisement entitled Top Ten Reasons To Defeat Bush. This advertisement can be downloaded http://www.cpusa.org/article/articleview/585/1/27/ . The communist party urges readers to place this ad in local newspapers throughout the country to defeat President Bush.

Remarkably, the "Top Ten Reasons" of the Communist party are
identical to those of the Democratic party; out-sourcing, homosexual rights, abortion and the like.

At first, it was thought that "this was only a coincidence." The Democratic party of the United States couldn't be in lock step with the Marxists! So, the originator of this email wrote to a spokesman of the CPUSA in Georgia and here is part of the spokesman's letter:

"The CPUSA
supports the John Kerry campaign with donations and volunteer effort. We believe that defeating George Bush is the single most important issue this November"

**Next, it was discovered that one of Kerry's campaign themes is "Let
America be America Again." This slogan was borrowed from a Communist
poet, Langston Hughes. This is not common knowledge to the average
American.

"Let America be America Again" sounds good but is a rambling, gloomy poem.

Interestingly, another poem by Langston goes as follows; "Goodbye, Christ Jesus, Lord, God, Jehovah, Beat it on away from here now. Make way for a new guy with no religion at all -- A real guy named Marx, communist, Lenin, Peasant, Stalin, Worker, ME -- I said, ME!"

Then, if this was not convincing enough that the Democratic party has
lost it, a third discovery!

**A Vietnam vet group took a trip to Communist Hanoi to investigate a
report that John Kerry was in the "Hanoi Hall of Fame." Yes, there is a museum in Hanoi with a section dedicated to foreign activists who helped defeat the United States Military in Vietnam. Of course, you would expect Jane Fonda's picture to be there. But, alas, there is John Kerry's picture shaking the hand of a communist official.

Never has there been such a tragedy! Never has there been such a
threat to America! Has the Democratic party been taken over by
the far, far left?

It's not only the communists but the homosexual activists who are
appalled that George Bush is married to a woman! They are enraged
that the President wants a constitutional amendment to protect
traditional marriage between a man and woman.

Then we have the ACLU running to a federal activist judge with every piece of legislation that doesn't fit into their leftist agenda. They support every Democratic socialist whim. The removal of the Ten Commandments is their top priority!

Don't trust this message for the truth -- visit the CPUSA website at
http://www.cpusa.org/
-- read the articles, and then decide for yourself.

First let me say that I agreed to run this undedited. I personally feel that Gay rights is an issue this country must address, it is inevitable. Second, let me say that my political affiliations have nothing to do with religion and actually agree that the commandments should go. There is no place for religious relics in political or government venues. Also, I both agree and disagree with some of what this message contains. Bottom line for me is this, do I really want a president "worthy" of the approval of the Communist Party?

I wouldn't have voted for Marx, Hitler, Pol Pot or Stalin. I certainly won't vote for Jean Fonda Al-Queery.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:13 PM | Comments (2)

October 11, 2004

Kryptonite Takes Its Toll

Star of the 70's and 80's super hit movies Superman has died.

According to Reuters/Yahoo news.

Actor Christopher Reeves has died at the age of 52. September 25, 1952 - October 10, 2004

For the details of his passing you can look here, here, or here.

The actor who became famous playing Superman, then turned into an icon for quadraplegics after he was left paralysed by a 1995 riding accident, died of a heart attack at his home on Sunday night.

BBC reported Reeve's publicist Wesley Combs saying the actor fell into a coma on Saturday after suffering a heart attack at his New York home.

Reeve had a severely infected pressure wound, which is a common ailment among paralysed people.

After he broke his neck in May 1995 -- he was thrown from his horse -- Reeve was left paralysed below the neck.

But he refused to accept his disability quietly. He underwent months of painful physiotherapy, which enabled him to breathe longer without his respirator, move his index finger, and regained movement in some of his limbs.

In a statement to the media, Reeve's wife Dana, who the actor acknowledged has been a huge source of support, said: 'I want to thank his personal staff of nurses and aides as well as the millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years'.

In my youth, Superman was by far the one person I imagined I was when I was outside playing. When I was very young it didn't matter what my friends were playing I was Superman. We could be playing kickball, and when I was up to kick I would imagine kicking the ball to the moon. When we played Army or G.I. Joe I would pretend that I was Superman and I would help G.I. Joe defeat Cobra's evil Army. Ask, my siblings and they will probably remember the pictures of me in my Superman Underoos with my cheesy red (towel) cape.

Superman has been named America's number one pop culture icon by numerous media outlets on numerous occasions throughout the years. And while the legend of Superman will live on in comics, movies and the minds of little boys. The one man who I have always associated with being Supes has passed on.

The image of Chris Reeve as Superman is so etched into the minds of Americans that many couldn't believe that he was paralyzed in that riding accident back in 1995.

I guess it is safe to say that I am a huge fan (I know the picture quality is not the best). I got this tattoo while deployed during Iraqi Freedom.

It is a tragic loss. The one true (though not the first) Superman will never be forgotten.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 02:06 PM | Comments (3)

What A Poor Caliber Of People The Dems Really Are

You have to wonder about the caliber of people whose choice for President is a traitor to the nation that he is trying to lead. There is no other way too look at it. John Kerry is a traitor. He aided the enemy while still on active duty. He turned his back on his fellow service members. He wasn't even discharged from the service until 30 years after the fact when he could get a fellow douchebag like Clinton to make it honorable.

Take a look at Kerry's true service record and you will see what a horrible representation of an American he is.

As I drive around the local area I see all of the things you'd expect to see come election time. There are signs and bumber stickers for both candidates and you hear of rallies and protests. The one glaring difference in this election is that the people that support the criminal act like criminals themselves.

I frequently see signs for the Bush-Cheney campaign that have been vandalized. The GOP offices in several cities have been vandalized, burlarized and just plain destroyed.

A week or so ago the windows of one GOP office in Florida were shot out. Shot out, you've got to be kidding me!?!? What if someone were in there? The Dems don't care. Electing John Kerry would be like electing Al Capone or Benedict Arnold.

Now here is another incident of mayhem on behalf of the criminal John Fonda Kerry and his kind:

Vandals hit GOP headquarters October 10, 2004 Brett Norman

@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

The Escambia County Republican Party would not normally be considered a high-risk tenant.

But in this bitter campaign season, politics can be risky business.

Between 7 and 9:30 a.m. Saturday, one or more vandals threw rocks at the Republicans' county headquarters on Creighton Road, breaking the outer panes of three large plate-glass windows, said Alan Levy, a member of the party's executive committee.

Last week, the landlord replaced two similar windows, which were broken at the front of the building shortly before the office officially opened Oct. 2, Levy said.

"This is not the way we do politics in this country," he said. "It's ridiculous. It's absurd. It wasn't like this four years ago."

The same windows broken out Saturday morning had been spattered with luminous pink paint the day before, said Laura Tkach, a party volunteer.

"It's outrageous," she said.

Levy reported the Saturday incident to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ted Roy said there are no suspects.

Local law enforcement agencies do not keep statistics on politically related vandalism.

But judging from anecdotes, this presidential campaign has generated more criminal mischief than most, both Republican and Democratic activists say.

Supporters of Democratic Sen. John Kerry have complained for months about what they call widespread efforts to steal or deface their signs.

Ron Melton, who chairs the Escambia County Democratic Party, said he has a hard time keeping a Kerry-Edwards sign up for more than 24 hours at a time in front of his computer business on Navy Boulevard.

"We've had more signs stolen, run down and spray painted," Melton said Saturday. "It's getting pretty feverish."

Levy said entire streets were cleared of Bush-Cheney signs the day after the party passed out a large number last weekend.
©The Pensacola News Journal
October 10, 2004

Now before some blockhead reads this and tries to say that is because Americans are fed up with Bush, remember this, he leads in the polls. 73% of the military has stated that they WILL vote for Bush.

This is not the reaction or actions of a sain people. These are the cowardly terrorist attacks of hoodlums and morons. These are attacks by the very people who bought Fahrenheit 9/11 and will cast their vote for John Fonda Kerry.

Do you really want a president who is/represents these types of people?

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 01:20 PM | Comments (2)

October 10, 2004

Navy Seal Examines Kerry's Military Record

I found this bit of information on the AM810 News Radio Website, Thanks Mama.

Navy SEAL examines Kerrys Military Record SEALED MILITARY RECORD? by A. L. "Steve" Nash

Unlike McCain, Bush, and Gore, Kerry has adamantly refused to authorize the release of his military records. Most think it's because of his phony battle medals. I think the real reason is below. He was not granted an Honorable Discharge until March 2001, almost 30 years after his ostensible service term had ended! This is very much out of the ordinary, and highly suspect.

There are 5 classes of Discharge:

Honorable, General, Other Than Honorable, Bad Conduct, and Dishonorable.

My guess is that he was discharged in the '70s, but not honorably. He appealed this sometime while Clinton was doing trouser-tricks in the Oval Office. Political pressure was applied, and the Honorable Discharge was then granted.

His file is probably rife with reports of this, submissions and hearings on the appeal, reports of his "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy, along with protests that were filed with respect to his alleged valor under fire. This will blow up in his face before October 15th.

· On 18 Feb. 1966 John Kerry signed a 6-year enlistment contract with the Navy (plus a 6-month extension during wartime).

· On 18 Feb. 1966 John Kerry also signed an Officer Candidate contract for 6 years - 5 years of ACTIVE duty & ACTIVE Naval Reserves, and 1 year of inactive standby reserves (See items #4 & 5).

Because John Kerry was discharged from TOTAL ACTIVE DUTY of only 3 years and 18 days on 3 Jan. 1970, he was then required to attend 48 drills per year, and not more than 17 days active duty for training. Kerry was also subject to the Uniform Cod! e of Military Justice. Additionally, Kerry, as a commissioned officer, was prohibited from making adverse statements against his chain of command or statements against his country, especially during time of war.

It is also interesting to note that Kerry did not obtain an honorable discharge until Mar. 12, 2001 even though his service obligation should have ended July 1, 1972. Lt. John Kerry's letter of 21 Nov. 1969 asking for an early release from active US Navy duty falsely states, "My current regular period of obligated service would be completed in December of this year."

· On Jan. 3, 1970 Lt. John Kerry was transferred to the Naval Reserve Manpower Center in Bainridge, Maryland.

Where are Kerry's Performance Records for 2 years of obligated Ready Reserve, the 48 drills per year required and his 17 days of active duty per yea r training while Kerry was in the Ready Reserves? Have these records been released? Has anyone ever talked to Kerry's Commanding Officer at the Naval Reserve Center where Kerry drilled?

· On 1 July 1972 Lt. John Kerry was transferred to Standby Reserve -
Inactive.

· On 16 February 1978 Lt. John Kerry was discharged from US Naval Reserve.

Below are some of the crimes Lt. Kerry USNR committed as a Ready Reservist, while he was acting as a leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War:

1. Lt. Kerry attended many rallies where the Vietcong flag was displayed while our flag was desecrated, defiled, and mocked, thereby giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

2. Lt. Kerry was involved in a meeting that voted on assassinating members of the US Senate.

3. Lt. Kerry lied under oath against fellow soldiers before the US Senate about crimes committed in Vietnam.

4. Lt . Kerry professed to being a war criminal on national television, and condemned the military and the USA.5. Lt. Kerry met with NVA and Vietcong communist leaders in Paris, in direct violation of the UCMJ and the U.S. Constitution.

Lt. Kerry by his own words &actions violated the UCMJ and the US Code while serving as a Navy officer. Lt. Kerry stands in violation of Article 3, Section 3 of the US Constitution. Lt. Kerry's 1970 meeting with NVA Communists in Paris is in direct violation of the UCMJ’s Article 104 part 904, and US Code 18 U. S. C. 953. That meeting, and Kerry's subsequent support of the communists while leading mass protests against our military in the year that followed, also place him in direct violation of our Constitution's Article 3, Section 3, which defines treason as "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy in time of warfare.

The Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3, states, "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-president, having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, [who has] engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

A. L. "Steve" Nash, MAC Ret, UDT/SEAL
Director, AuthentiSEAL
"The only service where all investigators are US Navy SEALs"
http://www.authentiseal.org/

Not that ANY of this surprises me. What does surprise me however are the people out there who elected this criminal to the senate and the people who are trying (and hopefully failing) to get him elected to the White House.

Kerry is a traitor, a liar and criminal. He never should have been elected as dick head #1 on his block let alone to the U.S. Senate and he damn sure shouldn't be elected to the White House.

BUSH-CHENEY '04
4 MORE YEARS

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:13 PM | Comments (10)

October 09, 2004

President Bush Is A Patriot, Kerry Is A Liar

There is no doubt that with every political debate both sides of the issue will always say that there candidate won. With the first debate, which I feel was a very prepared and unimpassioned format most agree that Kerry "won the debate". I agree that he was better at reading his notes and the teleprompter. But we don't need a salesman we need a president.

Just as the Kerry campaign did after the first debate they immediately sent out emails to millions declaring Waffles as the winner of the second debate. Well, this time they were way off the mark and were attempting to do nothing more than influence the ignorant.

Even a senior correspondent from The Communist News Network (CNN) declared Bush the winner. Fox News analysts declared Bush the winner. Most media outlets felt that Bush made his points while Kerry straddled the fence.

The Bush Campaign had this to say about the Presidents victory:

President Bush won a decisive victory last night. The President dominated the debate with impassioned, thoughtful and concise arguments that left Kerry looking petty and defensive as he sputtered out tired, false political rhetoric and distortions that shattered his credibility and contradicted the Senator's 20-year record of being on the wrong side of history on national security and domestic policy.

Our inbox is flooded with e-mails from all over the nation reflecting the President's decisive win. I'd like to share a few comments with you:

You were awesome. You were on target, forceful without being mean, you have Kerry on the run, he's not sure of himself, you have the facts and they're on your side. - Tom Johnson - Orient, OH

You will win because you are right. - Kerry Preston - Littleton, CO

You did a terrific job! Some of us are republicans and some are democrats and we all agree that John Kerry is definitely not Presidential material. You have our vote. - Carrie Miller & Friends - Lumberton, NC

We're standing behind you for victory! - Cindy Lippincott - Tampa, FL

You looked great tonight. You spoke well. You defended your positions effectively, yet respectfully. You are my winner tonight. - Edwin Cruz M.D. - Virginia Beach, VA

The President, however, said it best:

"He's got a record. He's been there for 20 years. You can run but you can't hide" - President Bush

John Kerry has a 20-year record of weakening national security and President Bush was on the offensive last night against John Kerry's naive and dangerous ideas.

Kerry suggested limiting the War on Terror to a hunt for Osama Bin Laden. This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the War on Terror.
Kerry tonight said that Saddam Hussein was a threat, but said we should not have dealt with that threat.
Kerry suggested that Saddam Hussein could be contained with sanctions, in contrast to his own previous assertion that a "policy of containment" would be "disastrous."
Kerry proposed a return to failed policies of unilateral negotiations with North Korea that proved a failure during the Clinton administration.
Kerry refused to retract his proposal for a "global test."
Kerry again denigrated our allies by saying we are going it alone.
John Kerry has a 20-year record of supporting bigger government, higher taxes and higher health care costs.

President Bush exposed John Kerry's hypocrisy on health care by addressing John Kerry's $1.5 trillion health care that would take away choices without reducing the cost of health care.
John Kerry blocked medical liability reform ten times.
President Bush exposed John Kerry's record of proposing $2.2 trillion in new government spending.
President Bush was in command of the issues, the facts, and the stage, and clearly won on style and substance last night. He exposed and dismantled Kerry's record of voting against intelligence funding, against our troops, against medical liability reform and against tax relief for working families.

This type of debate is what we need to see more of. This debate showed both men for who they really are. President Bush came off looking like the patriot he is and Kerry just looked like a career politician liar.

Oh and by the way, this was my 300th Post!!!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:15 PM | Comments (2)

October 08, 2004

BUSH WINS DEBATE

The gloves came off and President Bush slapped John Fonda Kerry around like the Bitch that he is!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:59 PM | Comments (1)

October 07, 2004

A Full 2/3 Plus Of The U.S. Military Rejects John Kerry

Military Rejects Kerry by Staggering Margin

By a staggering margin of 4 to 1, U.S. military personnel have rejected the presidential candidacy of Sen. John Kerry, a new survey by Army Times magazine shows.

With 4,000 full-time and part-time troops responding, a full 73 percent said they would vote for President Bush if the election were held today, reports USA Today, a sister publication of Army Times.

Just 18 percent said they would vote for Kerry, who has based his candidacy on the four months he spent as a Swift Boat commander in Vietnam 35 years ago.

Two-thirds of those responding said John Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned from the war, when he teamed up with "Hanoi Jane" Fonda and trashed his fellow soldiers as "war criminals" and "monsters," made them less likely to vote for him.

The survey was conducted Sept. 15-28 by the Army Times Publishing Co., which sent e-mails to more than 31,000 subscribers. The magazine received 4,165 responses on a secure Web site.

I saw the article in the Army Times but also saw it here.

It doesn't surprise me a bit. What actually surprises me is that there is anyone in the military who would support a liar and someone who stabbed every Veteran of the Vietnam war in the back.

Get to the polls and cast your vote. America can't afford a douchebag like Kerry for President.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:22 AM | Comments (3)

October 06, 2004

Comedy Legend Rodney Dangerfield Passes Away

America lost a comedy legend yesterday. Rodney Dangerfield passed away at the age of 82.

Rodney is seen here after winning a lifetime achievement award. He is also shown here with Jim Carrey, just one of many comedy personalities that got their start with the help of Rodney Dangerfield.

I got this information directly from Rodney.com:

LOS ANGELES---Beloved comedian Rodney Dangerfield passed away yesterday at 1:20pm at UCLA Medical Center following a difficult recovery from heart valve replacement surgery performed on August 25. He was 82 years old. According to his doctors, Rodney suffered a small stroke post operatively and developed infectious and abdominal complications from which he did not recover.

Born Jacob Cohen on November 22, 1921 in Babylon, Long Island, NY, the King of "No Respect" and classic one-liners began his career at the age of 15 when he started writing jokes. At 17, he started performing at amateur nights under the name "Jack Roy." At 19, he had two jobs, one as a comic who couldn't make a living, and the other as a singing waiter. Rodney traveled the comedy circuit for 10 years, but reluctantly gave up showbiz for a more stable income, selling aluminum siding.

Following his heart surgery, Dangerfield slipped into a coma. However, over the last week, he was showing early signs of neurological improvement due to the innovative Real Time EEG Neurofeedback sessions performed by specialist Margaret Ayers. Ayers was brought in on September 26 by Dangerfield's wife, Joan.

According to Joan Dangerfield, "What Margaret was able to accomplish with Rodney was truly astounding. When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand, and smiled for his doctors. To her, I will be forever grateful for giving us those moments."

On his last day, Rodney was surrounded by his family, including his children, Brian and Melanie, his father-in-law Smokey, his niece Suzie and his wife, Joan. "As we were all gathered around his bedside, one of Rodney's favorite Frank Sinatra albums was playing in the room. Rodney slipped away during the song "Come Fly With Me."

Dangerfield has bravely faced some health challenges in recent years, including abdominal aortic aneurism surgery in 1992, a double-bypass heart surgery in March of 2000 and an operation three months later to correct another aneurysm. He also suffered a mild heart attack in November of 2001 just before his birthday. In addition, UCLA's chief of neurosurgery performed a rare extracranial-intracranial brain bypass on Dangerfield in April of 2003 to increase blood flow and lessen the risk of the recent heart valve replacement.

Respect Rodney, Respect

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 03:50 PM | Comments (3)

October 04, 2004

Microwave Gun To Be Used By US Troops On Iraqi Rioters

Microwave gun to be used by US troops on Iraq rioters
By Tony Freinberg and Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 19/09/2004)

Microwave weapons that cause pain without lasting injury are to be issued to American troops in Iraq for the first time as concern mounts over the growing number of civilians killed in fighting.

The non-lethal weapons, which use high-powered electromagnetic beams, will be fitted to vehicles already in Iraq, which will allow the system to be introduced as early as next year.

Using technology similar to that found in a conventional microwave oven, the beam rapidly heats water molecules in the skin to cause intolerable pain and a burning sensation. The invisible beam penetrates the skin to a depth of less than a millimetre. As soon as the target moves out of the beam's path, the pain disappears.

Because there are no after-effects, the United States Department of Defence believes that the weapons will be particularly useful in urban conflict. The beam could be used to scatter large crowds in which insurgents operate at close quarters to both troops and civilians.

"The skin gets extremely hot, and people can't stand the pain, so they have to move - and move in the way we want them to," said Col Wade Hall of the Office of Force Transformation, a body formed in November 2001 to promote rapid improvement across all of the American armed services.

Rich Garcia, a spokesman for the Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico, where the systems were developed, took part in testing the weapon and was subjected to the microwave beam which has a range of one kilometre. "It just feels like your skin is on fire," he said. "[But] when you get out of the path of the beam, or shut off the beam, everything goes back to normal. There's no residual pain."

A heated battle on a crowded Baghdad street last week that left 16 Iraqis dead, highlighted once again the pressing need to reduce the number of civilian casualties, and at the same time prevent further damage to relations between American troops and the Iraqi population. American commanders later admitted using seven helicopter-launched rockets and 30 high-calibre machine gun rounds in last Sunday's incident.

The armoured vehicles will be named Sheriffs once they have been modified to carry the microwave weapons, known as the Active Denial System (ADS). Col Hall said that US army and US marine corps units should receive four to six ADS equipped Sheriffs by September 2005.

The project was initiated only three months ago but US military chiefs intend to rush the Sheriffs into the front line, believing that they can be of immediate assistance.

In another development, the Sheriffs will be fitted with Gunslinger, a rapid-fire gun currently under development that will detect enemy snipers and automatically fire back at them.

If the Sheriffs prove successful, their use will be expanded in combat zones. They will also be deployed for security at ports and air force bases, and could take part in border patrols.

What's next, do we just powder there asses until they give up? Ah, the kinder gentler, UN world. I do admit, that the technology is amazing.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 03:01 PM | Comments (2)

October 03, 2004

Al-Qaida Operatives Attempt To Poison U.S. Military Meals Ready To Eat (MRE)

This one is off of WorldNetDaily.com.

U.S. officials are probing the possibility the al-Qaida terrorist network sought to infiltrate a Texas company in order to contaminate ready-to-eat meals designated for the military. A high-ranking al-Qaida operative provided information leading authorities to nearly a dozen illegal immigrants working for the McAllen, Texas-based Wornick Co., the largest supplier of the meals, according to McAllen's The Monitor newspaper. The firm that places the workers at Wornick has been charged with conspiring to make and use false employment eligibility verification forms. U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby explained, "Immediately after the liberation of Afghanistan from the Taliban in 2002, U.S. forces on the ground received specific information that links McAllen, Texas, by name and the Wornick facility by name to information within al-Qaida's possession." The Texas paper noted the Department of Defense has a $67 million contract with Wornick to produce the meals. Armed with the al-Qaida operative's information, the FBI was led to an employee-placement firm, Remedy Intelligent Staffing in McAllen, which referred a number of workers to Wornick. "There had to be an investigation into the possibility that al-Qaida had the intention of infiltrating the Wornick Company for the purposes of contaminating -- possibly -- the MREs produced by the company," Shelby stated, according to The Monitor. Shelby said no contaminated meals have been found, but 10 temporary employees at Remedy, involved in all aspects of assembling the meals, were convicted in July on charges of stealing Social Security numbers. The indictment of Remedy, unsealed Thursday, was a significant event to servicemen worldwide, Shelby said, noting Wornick officials cooperated with the investigation. Remedy's vice president, James Eckensberger, appeared in court Thursday to enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of the company. "Remedy and all of its officers are responsible for following all federal laws and regulations concerning its own workforce, including those laws that prohibit the hiring of unauthorized workers or illegal aliens," Shelby said. "Today's indictment alleges that Remedy hired a number of illegal aliens and did so basically knowingly and then they falsely certified that they had in fact checked the information provided by those unauthorized workers when in fact, they had never even attempted to verify the information for hundreds of people," Shelby said. The attorney said that after the managers were confronted by the FBI with the discrepancies, they tried to conceal the fact they had not verified the illegals' information by creating false official forms and delivering them to the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Shelby said he did not want to discuss where the undocumented workers might have obtained their fake Social Security cards.

I hate to say it because I am sure I will inflame a few, but I think illegals should be deported without trial or hesitation. I think any individual who is caught twice illegally inside the U.S. should do hard time in a federal prison.

This type of action is pure cowardice. This is not the actions of brave warriors fighting for their cause.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 02:27 PM | Comments (5)

The Tongue Is Mightier Than The M-16

This was taken from the 10 September Issue of the Wall Street Journal, can you believe that, I read the Wall Street Journal?!?!?

It made for an interesting story. Take a look and tell me what you think.

On Ground In Iraq, Soldier Uses Wits To Hunt Insurgents

Sgt. McCary, Fluent in Arabic, Improvises Tactics in Field; Not the War He Trained For Deception Within the Rules

By Greg Jaffe, Staff Reporter Of The Wall Street Journal

KHALIDIYA, Iraq -- The Army trained Sgt. John McCary, an intelligence soldier, to interrogate prisoners of war in secure military facilities far from the front lines.

But on a recent day, his best hope for getting information was an Iraqi boy, sobbing at the sight of heavily armed Americans in his home.

Sgt. McCary and a team of soldiers had pushed their way into the cramped house, in search of four suspected insurgents. Once inside, they discovered the men had fled, leaving behind a group of shrieking women in black abayas and children in dirty sweatpants.

"We're not going to get s---," Sgt. McCary said. "These women know they can't be detained so there is no reason for them to cooperate." The battalion's general practice is to interrogate the oldest male in a family -- in this case, the crying boy, who looked about 8 years old.

As gunfire sounded in the distance, Sgt. McCary, 28 years old, had to make a split-second decision whether to pull the child off to a corner and try to get him to tell the whereabouts of the insurgents.

Intelligence soldiers like Sgt. McCary are assigned to gather information about the enemy and its plan of attack. In conventional warfare, they study satellite photos of enemy troop movements, intercept radio transmissions and interrogate captured soldiers.

Make sure you click continue reading to check out the rest of the story.

SlagleRock Out!

But the shadowy enemy that the U.S. is unexpectedly battling in Iraq requires a far different approach. So Sgt. McCary, who speaks fluent Arabic and specializes in "human intelligence," improvises how he does his job and the Army is improvising how it uses soldiers like him.

Sgt. McCary's experience in Iraq shows why this war is so hard to win. It also highlights why the U.S. Army, a force built for wars against uniformed enemies with tanks and planes, is still struggling to adapt 18 months into its fight with a brutal insurgency that hides among the local population.

Looking to cut costs, the Army slashed its active-duty counterintelligence and human-intelligence force, critical to battling guerrilla fighters, by about one-third in the 1990s. Frontline commanders rarely trained with these troops.

Today senior Army officials in the Pentagon say they are adding 4,000 more intelligence specialists to the current force of 6,000, to meet demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But because counterintelligence and human-intelligence soldiers require extra training, including as much as 15 months of foreign-language school, adding them will take years.

To preserve their anonymity, counterintelligence soldiers don't wear nametags or ranks on their uniforms. Because he is leaving Iraq this month, after finishing his one-year tour, Sgt. McCary and his commanders recently allowed a reporter to follow him for several days.

Sgt. McCary graduated from Vassar College with a degree in French literature before enlisting in the Army in 2000. Before basic training he had never touched a gun in his life. Because he had a college degree and a knack for languages, the Army sent him to its Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., for Arabic instruction. He picked up the language so quickly that his instructors nicknamed him "the sponge."

Last fall, he was sent to Khalidiya, an insurgent stronghold near Fallujah. On the way to his battalion's base, his unit was hit with mortar and rocket-propelled-grenade fire.

"I jump out of my seat every time I hear a whump, crack or thump," he wrote in an e-mail home to his parents in North Carolina on Sept. 28, 2003. But the attacks didn't dim his initial optimism. The Iraqis "are a good-hearted people, steeped in traditions different from ours but not inhuman, incomprehensible or impenetrable," his e-mail said.

At first, Sgt. McCary's biggest challenge was showing his 800-man battalion, built to fight rows of opposing tanks, how to use him. Army doctrine states that human-intelligence soldiers are supposed to stay behind the front lines -- not accompany troops on dangerous raids.

That approach didn't work in Iraq. The tank commanders, unable to speak Arabic and unfamiliar with the culture, would often round up everyone in a house they were raiding and bring them in to be interrogated.

Soon the battalion's detention facility was bursting with more than 200 detainees, most of whom had no useful information. Sgt. McCary and his fellow human-intelligence soldiers were working 18-hour days to question them all. "If we could have done preliminary questioning in the field, the majority of the guys we were detaining would never have been brought in," Sgt. McCary says.

By October, Sgt. McCary and a colleague persuaded his bosses to try a different approach. Instead of sitting on the base, Sgt. McCary would go out on raids. "I want to be as close as I can to the hit team without being shot," he says.

In the last year, the sergeant has conducted more than 1,000 interrogations of Iraqi insurgents, trying to figure out how they are organized and where they are hiding. He's walked hundreds of patrols, dodged rocket-propelled-grenade fire and watched friends -- both Iraqi and American -- die grisly deaths. So far, 19 soldiers and three Iraqi translators in his battalion have been killed.

His presence on raids helped in efforts to bring in only Iraqis who had actual knowledge about the insurgency. It also had another benefit. Interrogating detainees in the first few minutes after capture allowed him to question suspects while they are disoriented and unable to construct a good alibi. He says his battalion is the only one he knows of that uses counterintelligence soldiers in this way. "I didn't realize how innovative we were until I started talking with friends from other units," he says.

Lt. Col. Gerard Healy, an Army spokesman in the Pentagon, says it isn't unheard of for counterintelligence soldiers to accompany troops on raids. "But we don't have enough of these assets to use them in this war on a regular basis," he says.

Learning to Lie

In the field, Sgt. McCary learned other critical skills. One was the ability to lie. "If you are not a Muslim brother in this culture you are nothing, so I had to construct an entirely new working persona," he says. Though he has no Arab heritage, he tells Iraqis his mother is Lebanese. He sprinkles every conversation with asides such as "Praise be to God." When a local says he is afraid to talk because the mujahedeen will kill him, Sgt. McCary recites a phrase commonly used in Iraq: "A good Muslim fears only one person." Then the sergeant points to the sky. As part of the ritual, the other person says, "Allah."

Last month, Sgt. McCary and 30 other soldiers set out to find an insurgent who they believe heads a terrorist cell that has been attacking them. The battalion raided the insurgent's house five months ago and found bomb-making equipment and grenade launchers, but not the insurgent. Recently they got a tip that a local government minister was harboring the cell leader at his home.

But just getting basic information -- such as the exact location of the minister's house -- is difficult. There are no street signs in most Iraqi cities. Many homes look alike and none of them have numbers. Operating under conventional rules of warfare, the Army doesn't allow Sgt. McCary to don local clothes or ride in civilian vehicles. He must wear his uniform when he goes into town. So Sgt. McCary couldn't disguise himself and have the tipster discreetly lead him to the house.

He also couldn't tell locals why he was looking for the minister's house. In the last few months, insurgents in the area have killed or attempted to kill anyone seen cooperating with U.S. troops.

Sgt. McCary's source told him generally where the minister lived. The insurgent they were looking for drove a green car, which the source said should be parked by the house. To confirm he had the right house, Sgt. McCary pretended to be an Army civil-affairs officer, doing a survey of the local infrastructure. The ruse would give him a good excuse to inquire about the minister's house.

"It is extremely duplicitous, but if you walk up to people and say, 'Damn it, we want to know where this bad guy lives; we want to help you,' it is not effective," he says.

Sgt. McCary and his fellow soldiers packed themselves tightly into a small, armored troop carrier. "I hope you put on deodorant today," he joked to the soldier next to him.

"No, but I changed my underwear this morning,"' the young soldier replied.

"Just for me, or just in case?" Sgt. McCary deadpanned.

Once in the neighborhood, a hive of brown, two-story houses surrounded by mud walls, Sgt. McCary talked to the locals. A man in a white dish-dasha, a long dress-like shirt, complained his family was getting only four hours of electricity a day. Another local in a Los Angeles Lakers T-shirt told him U.S. troops were shooting in their neighborhood at night.

Sgt. McCary spotted a boy of about 11, standing lookout in front of what he thought might be the minister's house. He wanted to get a picture of the boy for his records. But the boy was adamant he didn't want his photograph taken by the Americans.

"Don't be such a girl," Sgt. McCary teased the boy, telling him they were just in town taking a survey of the local power and water facilities. Another counterintelligence soldier crouched down next to the boy, pretending he was posing for a souvenir snapshot to send back home.

"Wow, we are definitely going to hell," Sgt. McCary said in English, as he snapped the picture.

In 30 more minutes of questioning, Sgt. McCary duped two locals into telling him where the minister actually lived -- by first asking about the local garbage, electricity and other municipal services.

When they identified the minister's house, the tank platoon accompanying him prepared to raid it. But Sgt. McCary told them to hold off. The green car -- which was supposed to belong to the insurgent -- wasn't parked outside. They would have to try another time.

"When you are a [tank] commander, the mindset is, there's a bad guy, let's kick his a--. That doesn't work here. This is like police work," Sgt. McCary says.

The day was humbling in another way. The insurgent's hideout was only about 100 yards from where U.S. forces had targeted him five months earlier. The reluctance of locals to tell U.S. troops where insurgents hide is frustrating, Sgt. McCary says, allowing the enemy to move easily. "We are so removed from Khalidiya these bad guys know they can thumb their noses at us."

Despite the setbacks, a year in Iraq has made Sgt. McCary and his battalion a smarter, tougher, more cynical fighting force. The same tank commanders who had never worked with a counterintelligence soldier before now go out of their way to request his presence on raids and patrols. Sgt. McCary's battalion commander nominated him recently for the Bronze Star.

"You couldn't design a better counter-insurgent," says Maj. John Nagl, who is third in command of Sgt. McCary's battalion. "He's interested in other cultures, willing to question his own beliefs and mores."

The next day, Sgt. McCary and a team of soldiers set out on the mission to find four insurgents suspected of launching attacks on U.S. forces. Two of the four men he was looking for are members of the local U.S.-trained Iraqi National Guard security force. Sgt. McCary knew he didn't have enough information to detain the men. But his command was hoping that by questioning them he could put a scare into them and elicit some intelligence.

On a blistering morning, the soldiers pushed through the gate of the suspects' house, finding nothing but shrieking women and small children milling about in a dirt courtyard outside. In the corner was a freshly washed black motorcycle, still coated in suds. Sgt. McCary took the bike's presence as a sign that one of the men they were looking for had been in the house recently but fled.

He quickly began firing questions at the women in Arabic. "Whose motorcycle is this?" he asked.

"It's broken," a woman replied.

He repeated the question. This time the same woman told him she found it on the street.

Interrogating women rarely produces good intelligence, Sgt. McCary says. Arresting women in this male-dominated society is deeply offensive to most Iraqis, so U.S. troops avoid it at all costs. Because the women know they are unlikely to be detained, they have little incentive to cooperate.

The battalion's unwritten policy is to interrogate the oldest male on the scene. In this case it was the sobbing boy. Sgt. McCary grabbed the child by the wrist and led him into the dark house off the courtyard. When his mother tried to follow, Sgt. McCary yelled at her to stay away.

Outside the mother began crying, in English, "Mister. Baby. Mister. Baby."

Rapid-Fire Questions

Inside the house, Sgt. McCary fired questions at the terrified boy. Once the boy realized Sgt. McCary wasn't going to hurt him, he told different stories; that he didn't know any of the men they were looking for, or that the men had all moved away. So Sgt. McCary took off his helmet, leaned in close and began to yell in an effort to unsettle him.

Using a photo that he pulled off the wall, Sgt. McCary got the boy to identify the men he was looking for. He scribbled a name over each face.

Then the sergeant took the picture next door, hoping to get the names confirmed with a second source. The place had no roof or furniture. The floor was covered with dirt and the morning's breakfast. Sgt. McCary led the oldest male present, a boy of about 6 years old, aside and showed him the picture.

A few minutes later, the soldiers heard a loud thud. It was the first of four roadside bombs that would explode in Khalidiya that day. Soldiers crouched behind walls for protection. The second boy and his mother confirmed the names Sgt. McCary got at the first house.

Sgt. McCary and the rest of the platoon piled back into the Humvees. The mission was a success of sorts. Sgt. McCary now knew what the suspected insurgents looked like. But it was exhausting. "The fact that I have to terrify a kid ... to get the truth is b—s---," he said. "Morally it is questionable. But you've got to go with what you've got."

A small percentage of the insurgents who launch attacks against U.S. forces in Khalidiya are foreign fighters from places such as Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Some of the terrorists come from nearby Fallujah, which isn't currently under U.S. control and has become something of an insurgent safe haven. But many of the insurgents in Khalidiya seem to be locals, Sgt. McCary and his commanders say, drawn to attack the U.S. by a combination of nationalism and religious obligation.

In May, a good friend of Sgt. McCary's had his leg blown off by a rocket-propelled grenade. U.S. forces quickly grabbed the insurgent who fired it. Back at the base, Sgt. McCary asked the enemy fighter if he was a mujahedeen, or holy warrior.

The man shook his head no. "Then why did you blow off my friend's leg?" Sgt. McCary recalls asking.

The insurgent, a small man in his 20s, said he did it because he was told to by his religious leader.

Above his bunk, Sgt. McCary keeps photographs of two friends, an Iraqi father and son who worked as translators for the Army in Khalidiyah until insurgents kidnapped them in broad daylight from their home of 40 years. The mujahedeen murdered the 75-year-old father and beat the son unconscious.

Shortly after the kidnapping, Sgt. McCary e-mailed his family back home in North Carolina. "This is such a barbaric place. I cannot fathom the depths the Iraqis endured to reach this level," he wrote.

In the e-mail he added that he wished those responsible for the killings, maimings and kidnappings would simply "dissipate.... I wish they would transform into average citizens, fathers, sons and brothers. I don't care about bloodlust, justice or revenge," he wrote.

Sgt. McCary and his commanders know that won't happen. They say the key to defeating this or any insurgency is convincing locals to tell them where the enemy hides. "But the natural inclination of the Iraqis is to support their own people," he says.

He remains hopeful that more Iraqis will eventually help the U.S. track down the enemy. "I just don't see how they could remain loyal to the insurgency, but it is possible. In this culture, Allah trumps all. Religious loyalties can never be questioned," he says.

Does he think he and his fellow soldiers are winning the war in Khalidiya? "I've learned a lot. I have been extremely successful. I couldn't have asked for a better command," he says.

"Am I winning? I don't know. I am just fighting."

Posted by SlagleRock at 01:03 PM | Comments (4)

October 02, 2004

Who Is Leading In The Polls?

I get frequent comments from people who want to tell me the news. More often than not they are wrong. They come to my site and tell me that Kerry is leading Bush by 800 points in the polls. Well, what Bubba the janitor tells you over talk at the water cooler is not news and it is not fact.

Since I am a fan of factual information. I have decided to provide some links to legitimate polls so you can see just who is really leading in the presidential race.

Bush leads by 3 points at RasmussenReports.com This poll is updated daily by 12 noon.

Bush leads Kerry by 8 points according to the Gallup Poll

Bush leads Kerry by 6 points on Yahoo

A few of these polls update daily, some weekly and others aren't as frequent.

If you can provide me a link to any other legitimate polls (Presidential Race Only) I will gladly post them here.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:54 PM | Comments (4)

October 01, 2004

Poor Poor Florida

Below is a very cool picture of the action in Florida. I don't know if it is Computer Generated, a drawing, or something from the American Meteorological Society, but it is cool nonetheless.

I feel for everyone who has been devistated by this force of nature!

Stay safe Aunt Nora and Uncle Randy.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:56 PM | Comments (2)

September 30, 2004

Presidential Debate 30 Sep 04 Bush Wins

First, I am not going to pick this debate apart. I think the debate speaks for itself.

Having just watched the first presidential debate of this election year I feel that most Americans will see this debate as a victory for President Bush.

I believe that Bush appeared more presidential. Bush is stronger in his convictions and the fact that he does not Waffle makes him more credible.

I will concede that sKerry is a better public speaker. However, televangelists, matchstick men and flim flam artists are also great public speakers.

Kerry never really made his point clear. He started several statements by agreeing with the President and then countering every point the President made with disagreement.

There were some inaccuracies. I caught this one. sKerry made the statement that we have spent over 200 Billion dollars on the war in Iraq, yet the official number doesn't exceed 130 billion. Either way this is a large dollar amount, but I think he should have his facts straight especially if his intent is to dodge the debate and bash the President.

I'd like to offer this outline version of the debate:

Bush: "We must remain strong in our resolve."

Kerry: "Bush is a poo poo head."

Bush: "We cannot fail in the war on global terrorism, we will not fail."

Kerry: "Bush is a poo poo head."

Bush: "We will win the war on terror by supplying our troops with the right equipment and the right training."

Kerry: "Bush is a poo poo head."

You get the point.

Bush-Cheney '04

4 MORE YEARS

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:58 PM | Comments (8)

September 28, 2004

UPDATE (Blame Canada Part 3)

Jack pointed me to this on World Net Daily.

It appears the stoners in Nelson, B.C. are going to scrap the idea to build a monument to chicken shit American draft dodgers.

For the full story look here.

Damn good thing!!! To hell with such a horrible "memorial".

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:05 PM | Comments (2)

Blame Ignorant Canadians Not All Of Canada

A few days ago I posted an bitching session about some boneheads in Canada titled Blame Canada. It is about some nimrods who are planning on erecting a monument to memorialize American draft dodging douche bags during the Vietnam War.

The original post raised a bit of a stink and started a chain of comments from Canadians that were a little pissed about my comments.

Now after a few days of Americans emailing the mayors office in Nelson and telling it like it is it appears that the legal leadership of Nelson, British Columbia are withdrawing any signs of support for such an ignorant idea by a bunch of ignorant people.

According to Canada's National Post the mayor of Nelson had this to say about the situation, ''I made an innocent comment, off the cuff,'' he explained. ''Yes, I am a peace activist. But I wasn't speaking as mayor when I said I liked the idea. I wasn't even talking about the sculpture, which I don't support. We don't have a lot of public art here.''

Also a city councillor had this to say about supporting this atrocity, "Definitely not, adds Ian Mason. He is preparing a ''resolution of non-support'' that will make Nelson's position on the event crystal clear.

Give me a break. So his statement was merely support for art and he all together missed what their intentions were? At least I can feel a little more comfort knowing that the men and woman of the Canadian military also oppose such a horrendous thing.

One loyal veteran had this to say at the Royal Canadian Legion hall, ''Those draft-dodging a-holes,'' snorted one legion member. ''We are in communication with our provincial command and we will be formulating a strong response to this nonsense. That's all I can say about it right now.''

Boycott Nelson, B.C. and the morons (and their businesses) who would support such an atrocity.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:23 PM | Comments (3)

September 27, 2004

Gimme Gimme Gimme

Some time ago Rush Limbaugh took a stand on the money grubbing attitudes (Gimme Gimme Gimme)of some Americans post 9/11.

He had this to say:

By Rush Limbaugh:

I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound. No one is really talking about it either, because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.

If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.

Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.

Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers.

We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.

You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense?

However, our own U.S. Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system.

If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7, they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harm's way receives a pension of $15,000 per month.

I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.

Now anyone who reads my site will be the first to know how I feel about the tragedy of 9/11. They will also know that I feel deeply for the victims and their families.

However, I have to say old Rush hit the nail on the head with this one. I have been in the service for nearly 10 years now and raises are paltry. During the Clinton years we didn't even see a raise significant enough to cover inflation, so each year we got further and further behind. Keep in mind that prior to Clinton we were already behind despite President Reagan’s efforts to correct the problem. Of course that is how the cycle goes. Democrat gets elected, military benefits suffer and then when a Republican gets elected they have to try and play catch up.

As Rush outlined the survivor benefits for a member of the military are garbage. We can get $250,000.00 worth of life insurance, but then so could anyone who was in the towers when they collapsed.

I agree that we need to seriously reform our legislative system. Consider this, most Airman in their first term won't make $15,000.00 a year, but a professional politician, who in many cases lie and cheat their way into congress will get a life long pension of $15,000.00 just for serving one term. And to think they can go that full term without ever initiating a piece of legislation and in many cases they can skate by and largely miss votes for bills.

I do think that the families of 9/11 and even Oklahoma City suffered a horrible loss, but as Rush said, they were simply "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Our Airman, Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines go back time and time again into hostile fire zones. Not because they are high school dropouts or warmongers but because they are patri