No, this isn't a post about how many times we're supposed to forgive someone who sins against us. It's the average number of visits I get each day multiplied by the days in a week. (I remember when I was thrilled with 5 a day.) Since I'm an overachiever, I'm wondering how I can get this blog to "the next level". I decided that begging is always one way to get more visits.
If you visit me regularly, please consider adding me to your blog. Preferrably toward the top of the list. (Hey, it starts with the letter A doesn't it?) I'd be more than happy to do the same for you. Really.
For the latest on all things Military there is no better blog than Murdoc Online. It seems like he's been on a roll recently, well a Rip and Roll actually. The article that he refers to mentions a cool little dune buggy thing called an ASLV. Apparently Airborne troops are supposed to use it once they get untangled from their chutes.
The other thing Murdoc mentions is a nifty little gun called the XM8. It doesn't look quite as mean as what they're using nowdays, but I bet it's lethal. (at least inside of 250 yards it is) The thing I want to know, Do you think it will shoot paintballs?
Finally, don't forget to check out Murdoc's correspondance with the Junior Senator from New York. It's priceless.
JP Carter of Evangelical Outpost and I are going to have a duel to see who is the most Evangelical Evangelical. (Does that make sense?) It's all in good fun, of course, and it should help us to come up with the answer to a question that's been asked many times, Just what exactly is an evangelical?
I plan on firing my first shot on Monday. I hope Carter knows how to duck.
Fellow blogger, JP Carter of Evangelical Outpost received yet another mention in World Magazine's BlogWatch column. This is his fourth time I think and I have to admit that I'm a little jealous. JP related that a great deal of his traffic comes from the fact that he has the word Evangelical as part of the title of his blog. That started me thinking...
I'm not going to rename my blog. Afterall, Army of One gets plenty of traffic from it's name too and it does have the advantage of being toward the beginning of the alphabet. It is tempting to rename the blog to something like The Evangelical Hermit but I guess that name's already taken.
Instead, I'm going to take the less drastic action of just mentioning the word evangelical in this post a whole bunch of times. I don't understand the google search engine well enough to know if that will make a difference but it's worth a try. I know that if you do a google search on unicef abortion that, for a while, my site was the first search result. (Now it's the fourth.) I guess I'll just have to see what happens.
I can honestly lay claim to the Evangelical moniker. I was raised in an Evangelical church -- and continue to consider myself to be an Evangelical. In fact, I think I'm more of an evangelical than JP Carter but I guess that's debateable. I should challenge him to some sort of duel to prove that he's a better evangelical than I. My first point would be, Real evangelicals don't put evangelical in their blog name. --they don't do that because they are involved in the world although not of the world and the term evangelical just separates them into their own little cloister.
As I write this, I'm coming to grips with the fact that I might have to mention the term, "Evangelical" a whole lot more in order to get anywhere with my google rankings. I might have to throw the term in, more or less, at random. For example, I might be writing about President Bush and I could say, "He sure likes to spend the government's money, but at least he's an evangelical." or I could say, "One of the less publicized facts about the military is the fact that a very large percentage of the soldiers consider themselves evangelicals." or just one more example here, "Billy Graham is considered The Pope of evangelicals."
I had another post all ready to go for Saturday. It was about some issue of great import I'm sure, but this evangelical thing was just screaming, "post me on Saturday!".
Now, we return to our regularly scheduled blogging.
As far as I'm concerned, the AFL-CIO's support of John Kerry doesn't make much sense. [more discussion of the endorsement here] I don't necessarily agree with Ann Coulter's combative approach to politics but she makes some good points here.
Yesterday, in an unfortunate decision, the US Supreme Court ruled to deny scholarships for religious studies. [story here] The court's 7-2 ruling held that the state of Washington was within its rights to deny a taxpayer-funded scholarship to a college student who was studying to be a minister even when money is available to students studying anything else. The ruling has important implications for Christian Colleges...
First off, let me say that I'm not against Christian Colleges. I have both a graduate and undergraduate degree from one. I think they can be great places of learning. However, the supreme court decision today touches on a subject that has long concerned me.
Many times, Christian Colleges will offer degrees in things like, "Youth Ministry", "Christian Ministries" or "Biblical Studies". For undergraduates, these degrees are, in my opinion, almost worthless. They prepare a young man or woman to work full-time in the church. The catch? They typically aren't ready to work full-time for a church.
Let's face it, there aren't exactly tons of jobs available for a 21 yr old with a degree in "Christian Ministries". If for any reason, the young person decides to seek a job that is outside of the church they'll be qualified for, maybe, working as a cashier at Wal-Mart.
Often times, Christian colleges take the idealism of young Christians who want to serve Christ and sell them on a "fantastic" degree program in one of the above mentioned areas. They fail to tell them the difficulty they might have paying off their student loans or supporting a family while working full-time in the church.
Obviously, none of the 12 disciples went to a Christian college. The Apostle Paul was a tent-maker for a while after he became a Christian. (No, I don't believe he put up a sign saying Christian Tents for Sale.) I believe that the best way to prepare for Christian ministry (other than growing as a Christian) is to first spend some time working in the secular world.
Although I disagree with the Supreme Court decision, I hope it will encourage Christian Colleges to stop offering degrees with limited career opportunities. Instead, they should encourage their students to Major in an area such as Education that has a secular application and perhaps they could minor in an area that includes "Youth Ministry" - or simply require them to take such courses as part of a general education requirement.
Not only would such a thing encourage the development of more marketeable skills but it would also send these idealistic young Christians to where they are needed the most -- around non-Christians.
Okay, so now you're saying, "What about Pastors?"
Yes, I think we need to have people who are specially trained to be Pastors. The knowledge and various skills that are part of being a Pastor of a Church require specialized study in a reputable seminary. I think the ideal way to prepare for being a Pastor is to get an undergraduate degree so they can work in a secular field - then if they feel called to full-time Christian service, they can always get into a graduate program.
You might also be wondering about certain ministries that cater to youth - parachurch organizations. In some cases like that I suppose that a person graduating with a BS in Youth Ministry might be uniquely qualified. However, I still think they should get a little experience in a secular field first. As unfortunate as this court ruling is, I hope it helps Christian colleges to take a more realistic look at the degrees they are offering.
(Disclaimer: No I don't have any degrees in "Biblical Studies" or anything like that. My undergraduate degree was almost as worthless though - it was in Psychology.)
Recently in an article titled, Old Soldiers, I discussed the concern that we have too few people in our military in order to honor our national interests and commitments around the world. I suggested that the US ought to consider a system where those normally considered too old for military service could qualify for service in certain specialty areas. As a result of the article, I received some comments from a few ex-soldiers who convinced me that there's a better way to address this problem...
John of Arrgghhh! provided many comments that were very helpful and are excerpted below.
In regard to bringing in older people to serve in the military:
The services already have this ability for the officer corps, and infrequently use it for medical professionals who come in on contracts, vice standard commissions and warrants. They are called direct appointments.
He points to some real problems with recalling retired soldiers:
You'd think they'd want to recall the retirees - except by definition, the retirees have more rank, and are actually harder to fit into the structure (and cost more). In that regard your idea has merit. Again, among the officer and warrant corps, they have the ability to recall people back at a lesser grade - but you can start to see some issues with that. Recall me to active duty as a Captain, for example, that takes away my VA disability, and I lose my civilian job - all of a sudden I'm taking just over a two-thirds hit in pay. Tough to get me to volunteer for that! If they need me bad enough that they're willing to do it involuntarily, I'll go - but I don't think I'd volunteer under those circumstances. And, as you point out - the need is really in the junior ranks.
In reply to his comments, I pointed out:
...If I have civilian training and/or experience that would benefit the military, let's say in civil affairs or health care and the military needs more people in those areas, then why shouldn't they find a way to get me in there where I can be of use.
As an individual, the barriers would have to do with being unable to support the family with low military pay and being unable to leave a civilian career. By instituting a program legislatively that would allow a temporarily leave from their job for a period of say two years and by finding a way to keep the pay at a reasonable level, the military would be able to bring mostly-trained, experienced people into service within a relatively short time frame.
Then John really deflated my whole proposition with the following:
The way we are actually doing this kind of thing now - as long as it doesn't involve direct combat, is with contractors, i.e., guys like me, and to a lesser extent, the civilian workforce.
And there's going to be more contracting going on, as spaces are converted to MP, infantry, and CA stuff. Where I work the workload has increased, no increase in personnel authorizations has been forthcoming - so they are filling the spaces with contractors, pretty much exactly what you are suggesting, without getting into the legal issues of Title 10, Title 18, and Title 35 statuses (legal status/governmental authority). And if the need goes away three months from now, they can cancel the contract and my company will find something else for me to do.
I hate to admit it, but he's right. The answer that's being used more frequently now is contracting with companies called Private Military Corporations (PMCs) to provide many of the functions that can be outsourced.
The first time I remember hearing about this kind of outsourcing is when a PMC was contracted to provide protection for the Afghanistan Prime Minister, Hamid Karzai. There's a story here about one of the men on that detail.
It's difficult to find information on the PMC's that isn't ideologically based. It seems that this issue really rankles a lot of people on the left. They've written many articles condemning PMC's due to some very real but, in my opinion, exaggerated concerns.
One article I found, gives some information on the increasing frequency of PMC's as well as some of the concerns:
According to ICIJ, since 1994, the U.S. Defense Department has entered into 3,061 contracts valued at more than $300 billion with 12 of the 24 U.S.-based PMCs. More than 2,700 of those contracts were held by just two companies: Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton Corporation, and Virginia-based management and technology consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton. The ICIJ report could not determine what percentage of these contracts was for training, security or logistical services because of the breadth of the services offered by the larger companies and the paucity of information provided by the Pentagon.
Other unresolved issues include the specific obligations of private contractors in times of combat. Experts agree that private contractors are not obligated to take orders or to follow military codes of conduct, since a contractor is bound by contract, not by oath. One suggested solution is to have contractors sign pledges to stay in the battlefield. But according to a legal opinion cited in an Army study, such agreements cannot be enforced, since it would constitute involuntary servitude. Nor are contractors subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Equally ambiguous is the question of who protects contractors in combat and who exactly is in charge of them. According to a November 2, 2002 U.S. News and World Report article, the Army has ordered an about face in the use of battlefield contractors. The article also reported that a series of exercises run by the Joint Staff showed that contractors make the military more visible to its enemies, require more troops for force protection, and require backup plans if contractors default. [Source]
Nearly all of the men and women employed by these companies are former soldiers or marines. Most of them were formerly in Special Operations. (Delta Force, Green Berets, etc.) They undergo additional training and then are put into operation around the world. They work for companies like Dyncorp, Kellogg, Brown & Root, Military Professional Resources (MPRI), and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). The US isn't the only country to do this. The UK caused some controversy when they hired Sandline International for some operations in Papua New Guinea.
While there seems to be many concerns about the practice of hiring PMC's, it seems to me to be a good solution to some of the problems caused by the shortage of soldiers. The public is not about ready to re-initiate the draft. If we had a catastrophic terrorist attack there might be a sufficient outcry to mobilize large numbers of Americans for military service. However, in the meantime, these companies seem to offer the flexibility and the capability to handle the missions for which they've been contracted.
Eventually, I assume, someone for one of these PMC's will do something collosally stupid and invigorate negative press coverage of this practice. Depending on who is in the White House, something like that could be the end of PMC's. In that case, as a country we'll have to make some decisions: Do we want to be the lone Superpower with worldwide security commitments? Are we going to increase funding for our military? In the meantime, these private soldiers will be serving their country - but in a different way.
Special thanks goes to John at Arrgghh!. Now, If I could only get his response (and those of his comrades) on this post I'd be really happy.
Looking for a job?
Kellogg, Brown & Root Government Operations Jobs
Dyncorp Careers
MPRI Job Listings
The following articles provide information critical of Private Military Corporations:
The Center for Public Integrity
Privatizing War: How affairs of state are outsourced to corporations beyond public control
I think congratulations are in order. It seems that I've received a special award. I was notified of this award in a letter that says the Republican party, "wouldn't be where we are today without you." Pretty impressive. Of course, there's a catch...
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might remember a little incident I had with a National Leadership Award through Congressman Tom Delay's office. Fortunately, Congressman Delay isn't involved with The Congressional Order of Merit. Instead, this dubious honor is from the National Republican Congressional Committee.
The letter informing me of winning The Congressional Order of Merit contains some interesting items. It starts out like this:
Dear Friend, On behalf of the Executive Council of the NRCC, I'm honored to inform you that your unfailing support of President Bush, the men and women who serve him, our nation and our Republican cause so impressed the Council they've nominated you for the NRCC's highest honor.
Other than voting, I've done nothing for the Republican Party. I don't even vote a straight Republican ticket. The letter goes on to say, "...your record is too impressive to ignore".
Now, here's the catch. In order to be included in The Congressional Order of Merit Register you're supposed to send them a donation. They don't get around to this until the last page of the three page letter.
Your past support of President Bush and the Republican Party has been nothing short of heroic. I hope you will continue that work now with a special contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or whatever you can afford.
In other words, the award is basically just a ploy to get a donation. The last time I received one of these phoney baloney awards I contacted my US Senator to complain about it. These things are sleazy and they portray the Republican Party in a bad light.
I support the President. Afterall, this is a Blog for Bush, but this type of thing needs to stop. It's dishonest and just plain insulting to my intelligence.
But not everyone sees through this scam. There's a big story in the Georgetown Record about a guy named Arthur Greenburg. The story starts out with this key information:
Local businessman Arthur Greenberg has given generously to both political parties over the years, most recently the Republicans, saying he wanted to contribute to President Bush's war against world terrorism.
There's even a picture of Mr. Greenburg with his award.
I don't want to take anything away from Mr. Greenburg. He's probably a really good guy, but the award is a fund-raising scam.
There's also Al Jolson. The movie, The Jazz Singer, is based on his life. Well, you can go right here and read all about him. The very last sentence says this, "He left millions to Jewish and other charities and received posthumously the Congressional Order of Merit."
How do I know this is a scam? Well, it's for me. I've never done anything even remotely great for the Republican Party and I certainly haven't given them any appreciable amounts of money. Let's face it. If they're saying all of those great things about me in the letter - it can't possibly be genuine.
But they didn't fool everybody. This guy also saw through it and wrote an amusing article about his adventure with The Congressional Order of Merit.
I prefer to think on the bright side. It could've been worse. Much worse. I could've received The Congressional Order of Merit posthumously.
Cargo Cults were first discovered back around 1919. The indigenous peoples of Melanesia created complex religions out of actions they observed stemming from European and American exploration of their islands. The term "Cargo Cult" stems from the idea that if you are faithful and follow the right set of rituals, you'll receive all sorts of nifty gifts. These Cargo Cults seem pretty crazy until you start comparing them to some modern day organizations...
The islanders of Melanesia saw how explorers would come to their islands, build landing strips and ports, and then magically goods would start to arrive. To hasten the coming of their own merchandise they started building ceremonial landing strips and ports. Cargo Cults believe in the imminence of a new age of blessing which will be heralded by the arrival of special cargo sent to them from the gods. These cargo cults existed long before the arrival of American and other European troops during WWII, but there were several cults spawned by that time period.
One of the older cargo cults worships a faded portrait of King George V of England. Another Cargo cult, an active one, is the Jon Frum Movement. The Jon Frum Movement even has it's own homepage.[Web HQ of John Frum Movement] JFM believes in a messianic figure known as Jon Frum. The symbol most closely associated with him is a red cross. (The same symbol associated with The American Red Cross.) The movement believes that on the 15th of February, Jon Frum will return bearing goods for them. Jon Frum is identified as the "King of America". Villages who are believers in JFM fly the American Flag and the US Navy Flag. They erect tall poles which they string with wires and tin cans as a radio antenna so Jon Frum can speak to them.
It's estimated that there are about 70 cargo cults. They all seem to have the following basic beliefs:
-A new age of plenty is imminent and will arrive in the form of a special cargo that comes from powerful gods.
-The cargo hasn't arrived yet because powerful people (usually Westerners) are diverting the goods for their own selfish uses.
-Performing important rituals are the key to causing the cargo to come to them.
-There is a central messianic figure who provides the cargo.
These tenets of the cargo cults discourage prudent planning for the future. They discourage hard work as a means to success because cargo will come to them regardless of the work they do. The cargo cults remain a powerful force due to the circular logic that perpetuates them. If the cargo fails to arrive it is due to powerful forces diverting it, not due to any failure on the part of the deity or belief system.
Cargo cults are pretty strange, yet we have certain belief systems in place today that mirror them. Some have speculated that the dotcom bubble was a form of cargo cult. Another writer has made some good points in favor of popular American culture as a cargo cult.
The recent endorsement of John Kerry by the AFL-CIO reminded me of Cargo Cult theology. A recent news article about the endorsement seems eerily reminiscent:
Against the backdrop of a giant banner declaring "America Needs Good Jobs" draped across the front of the AFL-CIO headquarters, the giant union group's president, John Sweeney, said its executive board had voted unanimously to endorse Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts.
"John Kerry has stood up and fought for working Americans when it counted for more than 25 years," Sweeney told cheering labor activists in downtown Washington. "He will be our champion in the White House and work to bring jobs back to America."
It seems that John Kerry is going to somehow magically overcome various problems caused by huge impersonal forces in order to bring "cargo" to union members.
"The time has come to unite behind one man, one leader, one candidate," John Sweeney, president of the umbrella organization for 13 million union members, said at a rally after the organization's general board made the unanimous decision. [Source]
It certainly appears that this "Cargo Cult" has it's messianic figure. Never mind the fact that Mr. Kerry also voted for NAFTA.
The union leaders glossed over their differences with Kerry, especially his vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which they blame for the escalating loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States in the decade since its enactment. [Source]
There is no real mention about how Kerry will bring all of these jobs to union members. Perhaps it's his desire to raise taxes. Maybe he'll do it through protectionism. Oh, who cares about the details. George Bush couldn't possibly be working for more jobs for Americans - what would he gain by doing that? No, John Kerry will bring us the cargo. We don't have to be more competitive in a global economy or even more competitive in the domestic marketplace. All we have to do is perform the magical endorsement rite and Mr. Kerry will make the cargo appear. What? Have doubts? The fact that jobs have not already appeared is not due to John Kerry or the Democrats but to large impersonal factors (namely Republicans) who are just hogging everything for themselves.
Maybe the AFL-CIO endorsement isn't exactly the same as a Cargo Cult, but it seems to be at least as logical as one.
Source Articles:
Cargo Cults
Principles of The American Cargo Cult
Cargo Cult Definition from Encyclopedia Britannica
Dotcoms as 20th Century Cargo Cults
Cargo Cult Programming from ESR
Does it bother anyone besides me to see the Palestinian terror group Hamas using American-made M-16 machine guns?
There's an excellent news special on Fox News tonight called, "Breaking Point: The Terrorists Next Door". It's truly scary to see how many people are actually making it across our borders, both on the Canadian side as well as the Mexican side. This description of the show from Free Republic:
Since September 11, 2001 more than two million illegal aliens have been caught trying to sneak across our borders into the United States. Most of the people apprehended have been Mexican Nationals looking for work, but in 2002, about 8,000 of the illegals arrested were “special interest aliens”. What's that term mean? It means that they were from countries with known ties to terror, people from countries like: Libya (search), Pakistan (search), and Iran (search). There is an endless stream of foreigners, impossible to identify, flooding into the United States, and Americans living on the frontline are concerned. Are these people looking for a better way of life or a way to destroy ours?
It's nothing short of a miracle that we haven't had another 9/11 type incident.
Rex Hammock has been blogging about something that I've always thought would be cool; A Private Meeting with President Bush. He's received a massive number of emails and press coverage on this, both praising him and condemning him as a puppet of the administration. His post has prompted me to imagine what I would say to President Bush in a private meeting...
(Liberals and other Bush-haters need not read any further. There's nothing here for you - move along.)
Mr. President:
Thanks for showing us that it's possible to have deeply held traditional religious beliefs and still be successful in politics. Your leadership throughout your presidency, but especially after the horrible events of 9/11 have been essential to our country. Thanks for holding true to your principles and taking a principled stand on things like:
-The International Criminal Court: You refused to sacrifice our national sovreignty for a "court of law" that would've placed our soldiers and citizens at risk of unjust imprisonment by those who do not hold the same ideals.
-The Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming: You managed to keep us out of this politically correct millstone with it's unreachable goals and onerous cost.
-Partial Birth Abortion: This heinous practice has finally been outlawed thanks to the fact that you weren't afraid to oppose the feminists on a practice that cheapens all human life.
-The UN: You tried to work with the UN to bring justice, peace and stability, but didn't seek a permission slip from them for taking actions in Iraq and Afghanistan that needed to be taken as part of the war on terrorism.
Mr. President, I believe that your term will go down in history as a great one, but there are some things that I don't understand.
Your support for steel tariffs went against free market principles and looked like an attempt to buy the votes of organized labor.
You've been tepid in support of Cubans who have tried to establish a new life for themselves in the country while fleeing an evil dictator.
You've given the Saudis way too much political support despite the fact that they've worked against us in so many ways.
You committed even more money to the National Endowment for the Arts despite the hard financial times and despite the fact that this organization has a history of using taxpayer funds to denigrate the beliefs of many citizens.
You created yet another bureacracy in the form of The Department of Homeland Security and our government spending has grown to tremendous levels. Republicans are supposed to be against the "nanny state" yet you've encouraged government to be more involved in our lives and not less.
Our intelligence services and military were gutted under the Clinton Administration. You've helped our military to recover but have done little to address the shortcomings of the CIA and FBI. Someone needs to be held responsible for the embarassing intelligence failure with WMD in Iraq.
Like I said, you've been a great president and it is crucial that you be re-elected so that you can finish what you've started in the war on terrorism. I'm hopeful that you'll use your second term to more aggresively pursue the war on terror against Iran and Syria. I'm hopeful that you'll use your second term to scale back government spending.
I'm proud of our country's actions and proud to have you as our president.
That's what I would say to POTUS. Still, I'd love to meet him, even if I didn't have a chance to enlighten him with my view of his actions.
What would you say to POTUS?
Lately, I've been visiting The Thinklings weblog. Maybe it's because I'm getting really sick of politics or maybe it's because the Bush Administration seems to be going through a kind of malaise right now.
A recent post there pointed me to an extremely funny series of Open Letters To People or Entities Who Are Unlikely to Respond. My favorite Open Letters are, An Open Letter to The People at Motts, An Open Letter to Centripetal Force, and An Open Letter To The Guy Who Scored Only 12 "Fast Money" Points On Family Feud in The Mid-Seventies. It's been a while since I've laughed that hard.
If you find these Open Letters funny, you may want to get Letters from A Nut.
A story from Slashdot yesterday mentions there is a way to ensure that you win Pepsi's iTunes contest every time...
The details can be found here or just keep on reading below.
Pepsi is giving away 100 million free song downloads from iTunes. In order to win, you buy 20 oz and 1 liter bottles of Diet Pepsi, Pepsi, and Mountain Dew. However, one thing Pepsi forgot is that if you tip the still sealed bottle over at a 25 degree angle, you can actually read some of the writing underneath the cap. If you see the word, "again" - it's a loser - move on to the next bottle. If you see what looks like a code - buy it - that's a winner. Pepsi says that 1 in 3 bottles are winners so it shouldn't take you very long.
Instead of using your code to get music from one of the 5 big music labels you can go to Tune Recycler and use it to get some music from the independent labels.
An interesting analysis of the "end game" for Iraq can be found here. The analysis isn't necessarily flattering to the Bush Administration but it makes for interesting reading. For instance:
Washington has gotten whatever it’s going to get out of the Iraqi campaign, and is refocusing on its core security concerns, Al Qaida and nuclear proliferation. The answer to both issues lies in Pakistan. The key allies are Israel and India.
The situation in Iraq is still far from stable. However what we are seeing is a transformation from an insurrection primarily aimed against US troops to the beginnings of the battle for control of post US Iraq.
The publication featuring this analysis is called Maariv International. It's a newspaper in Israel with an interesting global perspective. I'm putting them on my list of "sources" - I think they're going to have some interesting stuff. Read the rest of it here.
After hearing of the attack on the Iraqi police station in Fallujah and of their terrible losses, my first question was, "Where were US forces during this time?" Now, an article in Today's Stars and Stripes answers that question.
Read more...
From the article in Stars and Stripes we learn:
Iraq’s civil defense force asked U.S. soldiers not to aid a besieged Fallujah police station Saturday to keep the defenders from losing face with locals, according to the U.S. commander of coalition forces in the area.
Col. Jefforey Smith, commander of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, now based in Fallujah, said U.S. soldiers prepared to head to the police station after hearing gunfire.
However, the troops at Volturno Forward Operating Base, about seven miles from the police station, were held back at the request of the commander of the 506th Iraqi Civil Defense Corps battalion.
“He almost demanded we not put forces into Fallujah at that time because it would damage their credibility with the people there if they could not protect themselves.”
Smith promised not to intervene for two hours and provided the civil defense corps with 20,000 rounds of ammunition for their AK-47 weapons and machine guns.
Fallujah police chief Abud Farhan Jrad Al-Isawi said he would have accepted help from U.S. troops during the attack.
Al-Isawi said before the attack he asked the U.S. troops to stay inside their bases and leave security at Fallujah to his forces.
“We told our American guests to be safe and take their rest at the outskirts of the city and we’ll do the job inside,” he said.
I don't think there can be any doubt that these Iraqi forces are serious about protecting their country. As an American, I find it hard to understand the Arab desire to save face, but it's easy to see the courage these men possess.
Those of you who want to insist that MyLai was the norm in Vietnam ought to read this post over at ACOT.
It seems a little weird to be rehashing this stuff so many years after it's been argued to death, but such is the candidacy of John Kerry. (Did I forget to mention he's a war hero?)
Thanks to Alpha Patriot for a link to a report today in the International Herald Tribune called, Among Attacks Iraqis Relish New Liberties. The IHT isn't exactly what you'd call Conservative or Pro-American so this report seems to be a good indication that things are moving in the right direction. A quote from the article, "Indeed, the scene at the Falluja Youth Center last week seemed a validation of every idealistic notion that democracy could take root in a land that has never known it. "
Reading this kind of stuff makes does my Neocon heart good.
The Washington Times reports that Most Americans Take Bible Stories Literally. They report the results of an ABC News Survey which found:
61 percent of Americans believe the account of creation in the Bible's book of Genesis is "literally true" rather than a story meant as a "lesson."
Sixty percent believe in the story of Noah's ark and a global flood, while 64 percent agree that Moses parted the Red Sea to save fleeing Jews from their Egyptian captors.
There isn't anything in the article about the demographics of those who participated in the survey. I wonder, are they from Red States or Blue States?
Woke up this morning feeling like I had - what's the way the way to say this without sounding gross? - like I had to cough up some really big phlegm. I spent several minutes in the shower making all sorts of gagging sounds trying to expectorate this phlegmy stuff until I made a discovery. What the hey! -- this thing is attached to the back of my throat.
After revealing this interesting fact to my wife, she informed me that it was called my "uvula". My first reaction, "I thought only women had those!" Apparently I was thinking of another body part with several of the same letters. In the past, and I don't think I'm alone on this, I've always called this part my "hangy down thing". (She doesn't plan on getting too close to me until I only have one part of my body that I can describe as such.)
The hangy down thing (the one in my throat) was long and swollen. Inflamed might be the word I'm looking for here. Being the genius that I am, I quickly determined that a visit to a doctor was in order. The doctor wasn't that impressed with the fact that my uvula had learned how to jump up onto the back of my tongue. He said he'd seen it before. I guess I'm not that unique. After writing out a prescription for some antibiotics he left. I must've been his easiest case of the day.
My uvula should be shrinking. In fact, my hope is that it's shrinking even as I type this. The antibiotics should be fighting off the infection and allowing my uvula to return to the size of its former self. Normal blogging will return at that time.
There are some difficult decisions that need to be made if we are able to meet our military commitments around the world. Many soldiers will be leaving the military as soon as they are able and recruiters are unsure they'll be able to meet their enlistment goals. With the war on terror, it's more important than ever to keep a strong military. As a nation, we may want to consider some non-traditional ways of augmenting our military forces.
The other day as I was listening to a call-in show on c-span. (on xmradio) I heard a veteran call in to say he was disappointed that older people couldn't serve in the military. The shocking part came when he said his age, - 70. It dawned on me then that one way to increase the troop strength of our military is to take a good hard look at older soldiers. Not just retired soldiers, but older men who could make a significant contribution.
The maximum age of first enlistment for our armed forces is 35. There are some good reasons for this. Younger warriors are physically easier to train. Their bodies respond much better to the physical rigors of basic conditioning and subsequent combat. More importantly, younger men (and women) are easier to mold into loyal soldiers who will follow orders that may lead to their deaths. Since most new recruits are in their late teens or early twenties, their identities aren't completely formed. Their drill sargeant is able to finish that process. There is also the practical matter of helping the country get the most for their money. Younger troops can serve longer, therefore the value of their training is maximized. But older soldiers also have some advantages.
A middle aged man (or woman) has a stable identity. His family life is more likely to be stable. His personality has finally settled into the man he will become. Concepts like justice, freedom, and sacrifice are, for many middle-aged men, now more than just abstract ideas because they have the perspective of age. Physically, a middle-aged man will never equal an 18 year old at their physical peak. However, most middle aged men in good physical condition can sufficiently fulfill the duties of a soldier.
As far as training is concerned, many middle-aged men have already been trained and not at the cost of the government. For specialty areas like healthcare, engineering, personnel and civil affairs, this experience would be an asset. It would seem that an older enlistee would have some value for the armed forces, but there are some additional factors that keep this from becoming a reality.
Middle-aged men have families to support. They may be at the apex of their careers. They have house payments to make, a commitment to their employer, and kids to send to college. They can't afford to join the military where they will get only a fraction of the pay. Since they're older, they won't have the time to make the military their career. In terms of supporting their families, joining the military would be a financial disaster.
To solve this problem I propose,
1. The military allow older people to enlist for two year tours of duty in certain specialties for which they are already trained or, due to their experience, are easily trainable.
2. The federal government should mandate that employers retain these people and continue to pay them. (Only employees who have been employed at organization for a certain minimum period of time would be eligible.) The government would then re-imburse the employer for the cost of the employee.
I find it hard to imagine that any of these proposals will ever be taken seriously. It is a time-honored tradition in our military to train young men and women to be soldiers with the goal of building on that training throughout the remainder of their military careers. But when retention rates plummet and our nation finds itself with far too few soldiers for far too many commitments, maybe this will be an option considered.
An opinion piece in the Nashville City Paper discusses one of my favorite guys, George Soros. In case you aren't acquainted with George Soros, I've written about him, here, here, and here.
The column in the Nashville Paper is written by a guy with whom I don't always agree, Bill O'Reilly, but in this respect I have to say that I agree with him completely. He writes:
Billionaire George Soros is the big money man for the Democrats this season, and old George is one far out character. He wants to legalize pretty much every vice, sees merit in euthanasia and is moaning there isn’t enough “income redistribution” in the world.
Maybe that’s because the Soviet Union collapsed, George. Get a clue.
Soros is pouring millions of bucks into radical movements like Moveon.org, a Web site that never saw a left-wing issue it didn’t embrace. Recently, in New York City, the Moveon people held a contest to see who could come up with the best anti-Bush ad. When a few Bush-Nazi commercials showed up, the Web site panicked because of the bad press.
You have to admit, Bill O'Reilly has a way with words.
Maybe you've noticed the webring link off to the lower right on this page that refers to Pre10tious Twits. The Pre10tious Twits webring finds it's genesis in a rant originally posted on the Kuro5hin website.
Keep reading for more on the History of Pre10tious Twits...
The title of the article is, Why Your Movable Type Blog Must Die. In it the author, one James AC Joyce,says:
You are all pretentious twats. Every last one of you. You're all latte-sipping, iMac-using, suburban-living tertiary-industry-working WASPs who offer absolutely no new insights on anything whatsoever apart from maybe one specialist field if we're lucky.
The article goes on to deride weblogging and webloggers.
Of course, there was a great outcry from the blogging community. There was
this response over at Random Fate, this one at Velociworld, some comments from Politburo Diktat and my favorite response at Wizbang.
As a further "stick in the eye" to the insulting post on Kuro5hin, one blogger who runs Arrgghhh! decided to start a webring of bloggers. The list of bloggers in this ring is found here.
If you have a blog and you want to join I would encourage you to go there right away and sign up. The currency of blogging is Pagehits and those hits come from the links posted by other bloggers. Joining the Pre10tious Twits is a good opportunity for a newer blogger to make a good investment that will pay dividends in terms of more pagehits down the road. If you aren't a blogger and are just looking for a few good posts, click on the link down there and pay us a visit!
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I'm not referring to the immortal classic by Herman Melville. Instead, I'm referring to the music artist, Moby, who has been very vocal in his support for John Kerry. He's also been very vocal in his complaints against President Bush. Previously, Moby was one of the judges for moveon.org's anti-Bush advertisement contest. Other notables on the panel of judges were Al Franken, James Carville and everyone's favorite idealogue, Michael Moore.
Moby has been in the news lately because of some controversial suggestions.
He suggested that Democrats spread gossip about President Bush on the Internet. He went on to say,
"It's a lot easier than you think and it doesn't cost that much. This election can be won by 200,000 votes. Moby goes on to suggest that it's possible to seed doubt among Bush's far-right supporters on the Web. You target his natural constituencies. For example, you can go on all the pro-life chat rooms and say you're an outraged right-wing voter and that you know that George Bush drove an ex-girlfriend to an abortion clinic and paid for her to get an abortion. Then you go to an anti-immigration Web site chat room and ask, 'What's all this about George Bush proposing amnesty for illegal aliens?'
If that isn't offensive enough, Moby has suggested that he can't understand all the fuss caused by Janet Jackson baring her breast at the Super Bowl. He's quoted on his website www.moby.com as saying, "Show me a 10-year-old boy who hasn't seen an image of a naked breast and I'll show you a child who either lives under a rock or will grow up a serial killer. Breasts are fine. What's the big deal about breasts?"
Of course, Moby is entitled to his idiotic ideas, but it doesn't mean that anyone has to support him. At this point, I'm ashamed to admit that I have his cd, 18, which I am now selling at a great price. Interested? Go here. I like the cd, but I don't want to have to look at it anymore since it now represents the antithesis of what I believe. If that doesn't bother you -- buy my cd!
Moby is typical of many artists. Not only do they have eccentric personalities as a result of the mixture of narcissism and creativity, but they also have way too much money and are plagued by the false guilt experienced by other rich liberals. In my opinion, Moby and his ideas really can be summed up by the title of Herman Melville's famous book.
The ad in the paper said, "Brother for Sale $50". She had a few callers interested in the deal until they realized it was a Brother Sewing Machine, not a sibling. See the article: $50 buys a Brother that can really sew
Hey I just noticed in my logs that someone from the UN was visiting me. I wonder if they saw this post? Maybe someone there decided to get a little reality check. If so, then they should also check out this post over at The Noble Pundit. It just so happens that there's some history that UN-ocrats ought to be studying.
It hardly seems possible that almost a year has passed since our soldiers were poised to invade Iraq. Via a link at Stryker News comes a series of articles from Opinion Journal written by Brian Taylor, a Marine Corps Reservist called up for service in February 2002. He kept a journal while deployed with the Fox Company, Second Battalion, 23rd Marines in Kuwait and Iraq.
If you want to know how the US is doing in Iraq, take a good look at the strategy of the terrorists. In recent days it has become obvious that Al-Qaeda is shifting it's tactics. As noted here, instead of being content to kill American Soldiers, they are now targeting innocent Iraqi civilians. This is surely an act of desperation since each Iraqi death only helps to stiffen the resolve of other Iraqi's. No one has ever won a war exclusively through acts of terrorism. Acts of terror against civilians only cause more opposition to the terrrorists as friends and family of the martyred now strive to make sure they didn't die in vain.
Thanks to these Marines the fight has only just begun.
Some people are extremely gifted in working with their hands. They can take a block of wood and transform it into a masterpiece. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. Give me a computer, heck, give me any kind of electronic item and I can program it, or at the very least make it work the way it was intended. I can even program the VCR so the 12:00 doesn't keep flashing. However, this weekend my utter failure at woodworking was highlighted for everyone to see.
If you've been in Boy Scouts or AWANA, you've probably heard of the Pinewood Derby. Other organizations, like churches and schools also put on Pinewood Derby Races. A Pinewood Derby car comes as a block of wood approx 7 inches long by 1 3/4 inches high. You're supposed to cut or carve it into some sort of shape, (usually car-like)then you attach the included wheels in some slots on the bottom and the cars are raced down an angled track. Usually an elementary school aged boy or girl is supposed to assemble the car to race. I said "supposed to" but it's common knowledge that a lot of fathers build the cars.
As a kid, I made a fair share of Pinewood Derby cars and, no, my dad didn't do the work for me. I never came anywhere near winning. Perhaps, that's why for the last two years I've entered the "open category". This category generally includes adults who just feel like racing a car and even some kids that want to try and race last years' car. In fact, my last year's car is still sitting out in the garage. I could've just raced it again. It didn't come close to winning, of course, but it didn't come in last or anything. No, I thought I'd build an even better, faster car this year and possibly win.
A year is a lot of time and I apparently forgot how utterly hopeless I am at building these cars. My first attempt looked okay but after I got the wheels on, only three of them actually touched the ground. I got so fed up with it that I went out and bought another kit to start all over. Unfortunately, I bought the additional kit only two days before the actual race and only had one day to work on it.
I decided to forgo any fancy design and simply spray paint the block of wood and stick some wheels on it. It didn't look sexy but I reasoned that if I could make the wheels spin fast I just might win. Oh, and I forgot to mention the "modular weight system" I installed. Well, I accidently drilled a hole in the car while hollowing out a place for extra weight so I ran a short bolt through it with some washers. That way I could change the weight to be as close to the 5 oz weight limit as possible. (It's not a bug its a feature!)
Before I tell you how miserably I lost, it's important to add another detail. The area of the country where I live has a lot of factories related to the auto industry. These factories employ a lot of engineers and apparently engineering work is good preparation for building a pinewood derby car. Some of the other cars in this race were incredible. I have no idea how these guys managed to make such cool-looking and fast cars out of a hunk of wood but they did.
So, the big day of the race comes. My car, aptly named, The One Day Wonder, gets to race. Several heats are run and points accrued during the derby. I didn't have to worry about that because I didn't accrue any points. My car came in dead last every single time it ran. In fact after the race, I doubled the weight in it and it still lost to a car that was of legal weight.
The moral of the story is this, know what you're good at and stick to it and the inverse of that; figure out what you stink at doing and stay as far away from it as possible. I don't think I'll be in the Pinewood Derby next year, although a year might just be long enough for me to forget about my humiliation this year.
I see a fair number of .mil domains in my referrer logs thanks to ACOT and occasional mentions from MilBlogs, Black Five and Arrgghhh!. I'm not a military person myself but I am interested in the types of things that can be learned from the war in Iraq.
To that end, I've put together a list of "Lessons Learned" links that may be of interest to military readers along with a short summary of what you'll find at the link. I have the links divided into categories; Weapons and Tactics, Policy and Strategy, and OIF Major Conflict only. I haven't included articles from major publications like the NYT since those have already been widely disseminated. All of the information is considered open source.
Weapons & Tactics:
Operation Iraqi Freedom PEO Soldier Lessons Learned
Excellent resource. Focuses on equipment - what works and what doesn't.
PEO Soldier Lessons Learned
Looks like a PDF version of the above link.
Insight from a USMC First Sergeant on the War in Iraq
Some really good stuff. Some of it is trivial and common sense but seemed to apply equally well to both the major conflict and current operations.
Fort Irwin NTC Report
Very detailed analysis of Lessons Learned on a variety of topics. Includes topics like ammo load, convoys, perimeter defense and medical information.
Combat Lessons Learned
Mostly applicable to major conflict but some information that could still be useful on the ground. From StrategyPage.com
Portable Power
Some information on batteries that may be helpful.
Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures
Links to reports that detail lessons learned in a variety of missions like peace operations, counterdrug operations, and humanitarian assistance.
Small Arms and Individual Equipment Lessons Learned
The title explains it all.
An Army Captain Sounds Off
In between the whining about the conditions, he gives a few good tips.
Center for Army Lessons Learned
Describes call and gives links to some resorces.
Lessons Learned Online
Discusses the effort to gather lessons learned and make them accessible online.
Policy/Strategy:
Iraq and the Future of Warfare
From the Army War College these are slides used in testimony before the house committee on Armed Services on October 21, 2003.
Instant Lessons Learned
Interesting only from a policy perspective.
The First Peacekeeper Division?
Interesting only to policy wonks.
OIF Major Conflict Lessons Learned
Lessons learned that mostly apply to the initial conflict and probably don't have much use in the current Iraq situation.
OIF Engineer Lessons Learned
From an engineer's point of view, describes the challenges of the major conflict including bridge seizure, force protection, and convoy protection. Useful from a future planning and operations perspective.
Mobsta Lessons Learned
An alphabet soup of acronyms that a non-military person most likely would not understand. The content seems to be applicable mainly to the major conflict.
III Corps Artillery
Interesting information about what worked and what didn't but mainly applicable only to the major conflict.
3rd ID Mechanized Afteraction Report
Some useful information on mechanized operations on urban terrrain but otherwise not applicable to the current situation in Iraq.
Fires in The Close Fight - US Army 3rd Infantry Division
Applicable for logistics and future operations. Some really incredible action photos.
Operations in Iraq: Lessons for the Future
Lessons learned from the UK perspective.
Lessons Learned from Marine Corps Systems Command
Excellent information on things like dust abatement.
Aftermath of the Iraq war and lessons learned
Initial lessons from a UK perspective.
Official Report on the 507th Maintenance Company
Official report of the ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company
Military Reporters Lessons Learned
Some lessons learned from military reporters.
Technology Wish List
Information Sources:
Global Security Org
The best place for Lessons Learned information and the source of many of these links.
Intel Center
Information on current terrorist threats.
Small Wars Center for Excellence
Mostly policy information or information applicable to major conflict. The site offers a wealth of information.
Soldiers for The Truth
Magazine of the British Army
It's amazing how much has changed since 1980. The threat of a nuclear showdown with the Soviet Union is a distant memory. Gasoline shortages, embassy hostages, and leisure suits are, fortunately, also distant memories. Yet it was in the context of all these things that the USA won the Olympic Gold Medal in Hockey over the USSR. The movie, Miracle, is about this event. The quest for the gold medal game ended up becoming a symbol of the not too distant future. A time when America would once again become, without question, the greatest nation on earth.
Under the leadership of former President Jimmy Carter, our nation seemed to sink deeper into its failures in Vietnam and elsewhere. A survey given during that time found that Americans were less optimistic about the next five years than they had been during the previous five years. It seemed that our best days were behind us.
Of course, the election of Ronald Reagan helped to change all of that. He declared that better days were ahead of us not behind us. He helped the economy to improve and he helped us to victory over the Soviets in the cold war. Ironically, Ronald Reagan is silent now, but Jimmy Carter continues to insist that he knows what is right for our country. Fortunately, our country still seems to be on the right track. Miracle shows where it all started.
Some recent studies suggest that a large majority of those in Protestant denominations do not hold to the basic teachings of the church. According to one study done by the Barna Research group 49% of Protestant pastors reject certain core biblical beliefs. Similar results in a study conducted by the PCUSA lead me to wonder what is happening to the American Church and what can be done to stop the alarming rise in heresy and unbelief.
The study by the Barna Research Group sought to determine the level of certain "core" biblical beliefs held by ministers.
The Core Beliefs were defined as:
There is absolute moral truth based on the Bible
Biblical teaching is accurate
Jesus was without sin.
Satan Literally Exists
God is omnipotent and omniscient.
Salvation is by grace alone.
Christians have a personal responsibility to evangelize.
71% of Southern Baptist pastors, 27% of Methodist pastors, 57% of non Southern Baptist pastors, 51% of non-denominational Protestants and 44% of Pentecostal pastors hold to these core biblical beliefs.
Of those in mainline Protestant Churches (denominations that belong to the National Council of Churches), only 28% of those pastors hold these core biblical beliefs.
A recent study completed by the Presbyterian Church (USA) of it's members, lay leaders and pastors finds that:
70% of members, 75% of elders, 71% of pastors, and 55% of specialized clergy strongly agree or agree that “the only absolute Truth for humankind is in Jesus Christ.”
43% of members, 50% of elders, 39% of pastors, and 24% of other clergy strongly agree or agree that “only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved.”
Clearly a large percentage of the Protestant Church as well as the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) do not hold to certain beliefs that characterize Christianity. To use an analogy, if these churches were factories the defect rate of their "product" would be at least 50%. When only 39% of Pastors believe that only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved, how can the remaining 61% possibly lead others in the faith?
To put it more bluntly, the 61% of Pastors in the PCUSA who do not believe that only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved are heretics. They are teaching a "different gospel". Similarly the elders who hold beliefs that are inconsistent with the gospel are committing a disservice to the faith.
In recent online discussions I've seen various issues brought up such as the women's role in the church, pre-tribulationism, dispensationalism, etc. If such a large percentage of those in the Protestant church do not hold to the very basic beliefs of Christianity, why are we wasting our time arguing about other issues?
If you hold to these basic and core Christian beliefs and you're a Pastor in one of the denominations mentioned above, why aren't you sounding the alarm? If you're an elder, why aren't you alerting the membership and the pastors that the Christian church is in danger of becoming institutionally non-Christian? More importantly, how can we work to evangelize others, if a large number of our own pastors, elders, and members don't even believe?
Terry Mattingly and Douglas LeBlanc discuss the case of Matthew Bass. Mr. Bass says he was forced out of the seminary at Baylor University because of his sexual orientation. Of course, the story goes a little deeper than that and you can read all about it here.
Terry Mattingly's column has been linked from this weblog before, but now he has one of his own called, Get Religion. If it's half as good as his regular columns, I'll enjoy visiting regularly.
In the passing of each day we sometimes forget the struggles faced by generations before us. Great leaders of the past rallied citizens, soldiers, and nations to do great deeds. They did so through their words and that is why I keep a collection of what I consider to be "Great Speeches".
There is the speech given by General George Patton to the US Third Army in 1944...
Each man must not only think of himself, but of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this army. They should all be killed off like flies. If not they will go back home after the war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed brave men. Kill off the goddamn cowards and we'll have a nation of brave men. [Read the rest]
On May 12, 1962, General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Sylvanus Thayer Award and delivered the following speech to the 4,000+ Corps of cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York:
"Duty," "Honor," "Country" — those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you want to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.
The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule. [Read The Rest]
Speech before the people of the city of West Berlin, June 12, 1987.
President Reagan's words at the Brandenburg Gate
As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom. [Read The Rest]
Speech to The House of Commons Winston Churchill
June 4, 1940
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old. [Read The Rest]
Delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" [Read The Rest]
The President's Remarks at The National Day of Prayer and Remembrance at The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
September 14, 2001
1:00 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: We are here in the middle hour of our grief. So many have suffered so great a loss, and today we express our nation's sorrow. We come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who love them. [Read The Rest]
These speeches are a part of our history. Not only do they deserve to be remembered but they also help us to view current events with the proper perspective.
Other Great Speeches are here.
A couple of weeks ago I posted an article about Electronic Countermeasures to help prevent IED attacks against our soldiers in Iraq. I wanted to know why there wasn't something available to jam the frequencies being used to trigger these devices. There were some great comments from military guys including the following one which was so good I thought it deserved a little more attention:
Be sure to read further. You won't want to miss this...
Comment posted by Joe P.>>
There is no reason but stupidity and cost as to why more jammers are not deployed. The Israelis have used them for over ten years to successfully limit their vulnerability to IEDs.
The Dept of Defense is spending a fortune on building many sophisticated electronic devices, most of which never are used. Nobody cares about the grunt in
