On a serious note, a public service announcement from LT Nixon:
SGT Freedom is good people. I occasionally disagree with his take on illegal immigration and the religion of Islam (I really have nothing against the religion itself), but all in all he is a very energetic supporter of the troops. His most recent video rant takes on the problem of homeless veterans. While homelessness is a problem in America in general, the fact that vets are homeless is an absolute disgrace. I'm not big on social entitlement programs, but veterans have provided an invaluable service to the country and we as taxpayers are contractually obligated to ensure that they have all their basic necessities covered. I used to live by the VA center off the 405 in West LA, and there was a huge amount of homeless Vietnam vets living on the streets. I would always see them on the bus back to Hollywood, one gentleman still wearing combat fatigues and shades screaming to himself during the entire bus ride. Another vet I ran into a lot had the sores on the side of his mouth characteristic of crack abuse. Being a smart ass college kid, I was at first skeptical of his service initially, but he went into great detail about his tour in Vietnam. Some vets may be homeless due to drug/alcohol abuse and a cynic could say "Well, that's their own damn problem", but shouldn't we help them get into shelters to treat their addictions instead of leaving them out on the streets of the LA concrete jungle? The disproportionately larger number of homeless vets (25%) compared to the number of vets in American society (~10%) is the result of trauma suffered while in combat. The IAVA does a lot of outreach for homeless veterans, and VoteVets.Org will criticize pundits like Bill O' Reilly who claims homeless vets aren't a problem. SGT Freedom taking on homeless vets completes the political spectrum (coming from the right) to take on this issue. I'm glad there's some things all vets can agree on.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Iraq News (3 Mar)
The Good: Outgoing #2 officer in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Odierno, talks with Michael Gordon of the New York Times about the future of Iraq. He recommends more job creation, which isn't sounding like a bad idea, since unemployment fuels the insurgency. More dead terrorists up by Tal Afar. Ninawa province in northern Iraq is currently hosting the brunt of Al-Qaeda activity, and small victories like these will aid in preventing future violence in Iraq.
The Bad: 5 civilians killed in Diyala province by an IED. The Pope himself has called for the release of Chaldean archbishop Rahho as he was abducted after thugs murdered his bodyguards earlier this week in Mosul. Oh yeah, electricity for Baghdad's citizens still sucks. The services we take for granted back in the states (trash collection, electricity, clean water) are still in major disrepair in Iraq thanks to Saddam, UN Sanctions, and sabotage by the insurgency. This does not bode well for economic development, which will encourage more poverty-stricken Iraqis to join gangs, racketeering operations, terrorist proxies, etc.
The Ugly: Iraqi-Iranian relations are important to boosting economic/political development in the region. But crazy Ahmadinejad has used his visit to Baghdad to, predictably, take pot shots at the "Great Satan", despite the fact that the coalition took out two of Iran's greatest enemies (Taliban and Saddam). And some of the lefty blogs have bought into this propaganda hook, line, and stinker. Many of Iraq's Sunnis were not happy with the Iranian President's visit and openly protested in the streets of Fallujah and Kirkuk.
The Bad: 5 civilians killed in Diyala province by an IED. The Pope himself has called for the release of Chaldean archbishop Rahho as he was abducted after thugs murdered his bodyguards earlier this week in Mosul. Oh yeah, electricity for Baghdad's citizens still sucks. The services we take for granted back in the states (trash collection, electricity, clean water) are still in major disrepair in Iraq thanks to Saddam, UN Sanctions, and sabotage by the insurgency. This does not bode well for economic development, which will encourage more poverty-stricken Iraqis to join gangs, racketeering operations, terrorist proxies, etc.
The Ugly: Iraqi-Iranian relations are important to boosting economic/political development in the region. But crazy Ahmadinejad has used his visit to Baghdad to, predictably, take pot shots at the "Great Satan", despite the fact that the coalition took out two of Iran's greatest enemies (Taliban and Saddam). And some of the lefty blogs have bought into this propaganda hook, line, and stinker. Many of Iraq's Sunnis were not happy with the Iranian President's visit and openly protested in the streets of Fallujah and Kirkuk.
Ahmadinejad smug in his accusations
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Monday Madness Tito Jackson
Tito JacksonWhat the hell? Why can't the Jackson family get their hair together? They all have greased up high-top fades! He looks like Gary Coleman's dad.
Hermes Fall 2008
Jean Paul Gaultier (Designer)Jean Paul Gaultier has been one of my favorite designers since high school because of his vision and creativity. Taking the role of chief designer for Hermes since 2003 was the first time in 25 years the designer have design for any other label other than his own. The garments were luxurious and a little bit of Bohemian Chic. Jean Paul Gaultier is a legend in the fashion industry and his work speaks for themselves.
Red Eye: Friend to the Military
Many celebrities are self-righteous, pompous, horrible people. Examples include writing horrendously uninformed commentary at the Huffington Post, wearing little ribbons of solidarity with those "poor" terrorists at Gitmo, or being talented enough to win "Best Actress" while still being dumb enough to think 9/11 and even the moon landing was an imperialist farce. Greg Gutfeld is able to expose all this elitist bullshit with posts mocking limousine liberals without all that neo-con smarminess. Modern politics has become so ridiculous in its grand-standing that no one can get off their high horse and see the forest for the trees. Lucky for me, I get to watch Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld once in awhile out in Iraq (one of my few pleasures) and it seeks to expose all the nonsense involved with our current political malaise. The Gregalogues are quick, hilarious, and insightful. There's a fan site that's pretty decent with other folks like me who don't take themselves so seriously that it would prevent good times. Red Eye also frequently hosts notable intelligent babe Kerry Howley, who is an editor at Reason and was once subjected to an interview from a very strange man. Once in a blue moon, I'll send an email to someone famous just to see what kind of response I get (remember that the IZ is boring), and he was the first to write me back. So thanks, Greg, you're LT Nixon's Friend to the Military for the day.
Greg discussing shenanigans at the Oscars with his MumIraq News (2 Mar)
The Good: The Diyala Sons of Iraq, who had been on strike for days in protest of allegations of sectarianism against the Provincial Police chief, have returned to their duties. Diyala has been a hot-bed of Al-Qaeda activity and this is crucial to eradicating the hated extremist group from the province. Jar Allah, an Al-Qaeda foreign fighter facilitator, has been killed in Mosul, and the leader of a cell responsible for female suicide bombers has been detained.
The Bad: Ministry data on Iraqi deaths from extremist violence indicate an uptick for February. This is most likely due to the Baghdad pet market bombings on 1 Feb which killed nearly 100 people. Recall these bombings were carried out by females who were mentally impaired. Expect a lot of discourse that the Surge is a total failure based on this one month of data. One only need to look a year ago at the number of civilian deaths to understand that the Surge has significantly reduced the violence.
The Ugly: Ahmadinejad and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen show up in Iraq on the same day?!? Only in this place.
The Bad: Ministry data on Iraqi deaths from extremist violence indicate an uptick for February. This is most likely due to the Baghdad pet market bombings on 1 Feb which killed nearly 100 people. Recall these bombings were carried out by females who were mentally impaired. Expect a lot of discourse that the Surge is a total failure based on this one month of data. One only need to look a year ago at the number of civilian deaths to understand that the Surge has significantly reduced the violence.
The Ugly: Ahmadinejad and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen show up in Iraq on the same day?!? Only in this place.
Rocket thru the Roof, Good Shot!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Smokin' with Al-Qaeda
The worldwide health gestapo is at it again, this time in New Zealand (H/T Reason). They have used the symbolism of 9/11 in the above ad to invoke the guilt of associating a personal choice to the most horrific terrorist act of the 21st century. I am so sick of these people. It's not bad enough that smokes have been taxed to all holy hell, now being a smoker makes you a goddamn AK-47 totin' jihadist. While the ad may be a lame attempt to state that smoking deaths caused more deaths than 9/11, the imagery speaks for itself. In their self-righteousness to encourage conformity to their ideals of what a good citizen should be, they fail to understand the irony of "laws" imposed by terrorists in regions they operate. Real Clear Politics explains the true link between smoking and terrorism:
Sheikh Abdul Sattar al Rishawi, founder of the Anbar Salvation Council, gave similar reasons for his change of allegiance. When al Qaida ran Baquba, it would amputate the two fingers used to hold a cigarette of any Iraqi caught smoking. Men who refused to grow beards were beaten, as were women for the "sexually suggestive" behavior of carrying tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bag, Mr. Yon said. He recounted finding the bodies of beheaded children.
So the people that commited the 9/11 attacks are probably big on stopping others from smoking too. Congratulations, health nuts, you just made a bunch of asses out of yourself. I'll keep my stash of Kools, thanks.
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