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I received another e-mail today from a reader whose father is memorialized at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
Thank you very much for the photo essay of Fort Rosecrans. My father's memorial marker is there; when he died several years ago, we scattered his ashes out at sea, near his beloved Coronado Islands, where he used to go deep-sea fishing. After all the fish he had caught out there and eaten, he felt that it was only fair to return the favor.
Also, my work took me back to Point Loma this morning, so I had an opportunity at lunch time to go back to the cemetery. I took this post-Memorial Day shot of Sgt. Rafael Peralta's final resting place with my camera phone:
There were so many flags and flowers at his grave, I had to re-arrange them to get them all in frame.
See the rest of the photos here.
..no worse enemy.
ATLANTA -- A former Marine used a pocket knife to fend off a group of would-be robbers, killing one and wounding another, police said.One of the attackers had a pistol, another a shotgun.
They made the mistake of bringing guns to a knife-fight.
Honestly folks, you cannot make this stuff up. The Air Farce is naming names....
The Air Force chief of staff will name the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by June 30, choosing from six monikers ... The Air Force and Navy both proposed Lightning II, ... Marine Corps ... Spitfire II, ... The Air Force also submitted .. Cyclone and Reaper, ... The finalists also include – Black Mamba and Piasa.... and I thought the unimaginitive, comic book sounding "Super Hornet" was bad.
Of the 1st Milbloggers Shootout! Francis Marion is recruiting.
Maggie claims she doesn't shoot, and what sort of entertainment will we provide her?
I say - she runs the butts.
Now, who will be first to explain why *that* is simply perfect?
Events conspire to keep me humble.
Filmaker admits Jesse's a fraud? Apologizes for distracting from the horrors of Haditha? Interesting.
Of course, the original purpose of the MacBeth video was to "prove" the Marines were acting under "orders from above".
But elsewhere folks are now claiming he was part of what they call a right-wing "psyop". While the Jesse train was derailed before it gained steam in the lefty blogs (thanks to our own bubblehead), there's one fly in that (already foul) ointment, and that fly is Randy Rowland. Randy's the founder of Pepperspray, and it was he who introduced Jesse MacBeth to the world. But Randy's not just a new media movie mogul, he's also an actual Army veteran, and probably (like every other veteran on earth) knew MacBeth was a fraud from the get go.
Still, in an early response to the original destruction of the Jesse MacBeth story, Randy was described as steadfastly standing by his "discovery":
Terry now informs me that Randy Rowland -- a Vietnam veteran and peace activist who produced the Macbeth interview -- is "100% behind Jessie," and that Randy's "reputation is on the line and he is not wavering one bit."(Here's the google cache, should that link - like so many others cheering Jesse, "disappear" from the web)
Jesse was an obvious fake - that took all of 15 seconds to determine. There was nothing whatsoever convincing about his performance. So there are two possibilities here - either Randy is extremely naive and gullible on military-related issues (a "victim" in newspeak), or he assumed his target audience was too stupid and gullible to ever question his product - especially since he was giving them what they wanted.
Randy's not really a Vietnam veteran by the way. Although active duty he "resisted" deployment in what became something of a notorious case in it's day. Here's his own account on a Vietnam Veterans Against War site - read it for some insight as to why so many seemingly unlikely people are in favor of a draft today. And now Randy, along with other "heroes of the movement" (including the one and only Jane Fonda) are featured in the new "anti-war" film "Sir no Sir", designed to encourage a resurgence in GI "resistance".
Now that's a well run, deep-cover right wing psyop, kiddos.
Seriously, that ought to be the end of the "Jesse as right-wing psyop" talk - but it won't. Jesse was indeed a "psyop" - and certain people are willing and eager dupes for the stuff these guys dish out - from Vietnam Veterans Against War to their modern progeny the Iraq Veterans Against War to all their other "fellow travelers" young and old still seeking converts to The Cause.
Randy's "reputation is on the line and he is not wavering one bit."? Hardly. Even with his credibility is in shambles after having been caught perpetrating a fraud, you can bet that the next time he (or some other of his group) pulls another such stunt they will be eagerly accepted again.
Had I been one of his victims I'd do a bit of self examination to attempt to discover the root of my gullibility. Denial in this instance is not the first step down a path to a bright, shiny future.
Sean Hannity just added Home of the Brave to his website and plans to discuss it on-air today during his radio program, which airs 3-6PM EST and can be streamed live.
Also, Rush just posted this about Home of the Brave.
We're gathering momentum, gang. Thanks to all those who are helping spread the word.
More to come....
Now even the filmmaker admits he's a fraud:
PepperSpray Productions' Retraction Statement for our Video "Jesse Macbeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out"PepperSpray Productions recently created a video entitled "Jesse Macbeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out." Jesse Macbeth misrepresented to PepperSpray Productions and others his military service and was never deployed in Iraq. When we learned that Macbeth's service records were fraudulent, we immediately pulled the video and are no longer distributing it. We remain committed to creating high quality independent media and deeply regret that the Macbeth video distracted attention from the military investigation of a Marines massacre of 24 civilians in Haditha and accounts from actual Iraq Veterans.
Goodbye, Jesse.
Our daily roundup of news from Milbloggers in Iraq and Afghanistan can be found here
As the Haditha story unfolds, expect a lot of hand-wringing by the press about how the military "refused to believe" the media's initial reports of the incident.
There are also questions about why the military took so long to investigate the details of the Haditha incident. Soon after the killings, the mayor of Haditha, Emad Jawad Hamza, led an angry delegation of elders up to the Marine camp beside a dam on the Euphrates River. Hamza says, "The captain admitted that his men had made a mistake. He said that his men thought there were terrorists near the houses, and he didn't give any other reason."Maybe the reason they weren't initially believed is that essentially all of their wild charges of American atrocities before this were completely made up.
I curse the day you were born, 'Phibian! Yer gonna bust my sweet deal (I'm *just about* to close on that sweet house in the mountains, and the one in the South Pacific) - by outing us filthy rich, supping at the trough Beltway Bandits!
Bad enough I'm sweating that budget problem! Now I've got to contend with people like you agitating to keep me and those like me from these lucrative jobs...
Fie! Fie, I say!
There was a skunk at the Memorial Day BBQ - served up by the Washington Post.
After more than 30 years in politics, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen was saddled with credit card debt.You need to read the whole thing. If this stuff is accurate, and it looks like it is, I don't think former SECDEF Cohen will be giving many lectures on "Ethics in Government"The baker's son from Bangor, Maine, was never wealthy, and his government salary went only so far. When the motorcades and military escorts ended in January 2001, his final financial disclosure form listed tens of thousands of dollars of charge-account debts at interest rates as high as about 25 percent.
Within weeks of leaving office, he was living in a $3.5 million McLean mansion with a swimming pool, a cabana and a carriage house.
Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, the author is going to be online to discuss this well researched article. That is why I am giving this some weight. If work allows, I'm going to be there. This isn't a shocker to many here, I know, but the fact that, at last, someone from a major outlet is showing the nasty bits that goes on behind the Beltway curtain - I consider very important to those concerned about clarity, transparency, and fairness in how our defense budget is spent.
A phrase that could have been used in this case:
AN Australian military commander has tried to ensure truth does not become a casualty of conflict in East Timor, but has embarrassed a TV network in the process.Selling a story is what it's all about.Australian commander in East Timor Brigadier Michael Slater appeared this morning in a live cross from Dili to Channel 9's Today show, with helmeted and heavily armed Australian soldiers standing behind him.
He was pressed by Today host Jessica Rowe about whether Dili really was as safe as the Australian military claimed, given the presence of armed soldiers at his shoulder.
Pausing briefly, Brig Slater replied: "Jessica I feel quite safe, yes, but not because I've got these armed soldiers behind me that were put there by your stage manager here to make it look good.
"I don't need these guys here.
"It is not safe on the streets, as it is back home in Sydney or Brisbane – no it's not, if it was we wouldn't be here. But things are getting better every day."
It should be noted, however, that safe or not the UN has evac'd its personnel from the country.
A small rant, here. We lost a chance to free Belarus...this time. Iran's in protests now; if the folks in Iran can kick out the evil mullahs then we have a chance to avoid war.
And not reporting this as Big News snuffs out support as surely as snuffing a candle. Maybe the flame will catch, maybe not; but ignoring the protests in our press Does Not Help.
Just guessing, but I doubt Michael would be happy about this. (Scroll down)
An insurgent , rebel or militant attacks GOVERNMENT forces and institutions.
A car bomb does not detonate itself. A TERRORIST detonated it.
You want to keep referring to people who attack government forces and instituitions as insurgents, okay, it is technically correct.
Most of the folks that died in Baghdad today had nothing to do with the government. They weren't killed by insurgents or rebels or sectarian violence, they were killed by TERRORISTS WHOSE BARBARISM KNOWS NO BOUNDS.
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