Update: Dr. Sanity describes how to turn your botched political stunts into “victimhood.”
Islamic Terrorism
A Day That Will Live in Infamy
Today is the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A couple of days after the attack, a reporter named John Lomax was doing man-on-the-street interviews in Dallas, Texas; he interviewed an elderly woman, Lena Jamison, who had this to say back then:
“My first thought was, what a great pity that another nation should be added to those aggressors who choose to limit our freedom…I find myself at the age of eighty, an old woman, hanging on to the tail of the world, trying to keep up. I do not want the driver’s seat but the eternal verities. There are certain things that I wish to express: one thing that I am very sure of is that hatred is death, but love is light. I want to contribute to the civilization of the world but…When I look at the holocaust that is going on in the world today, I’m almost ready to let go…”
Image and quotation found in the archives of the Library of Congress.
It’s a pity today as well, that Lena Jameson’s sadness prevails in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, another infamous day. Hatred is death, indeed.
Update: To all WW2 Veterans and all Veterans who have served before and after, thank you and God bless you.
The Role of the Shotgun
Shotguns are just better for some jobs, like blowing the lock out of a door in Baghdad to gain entry to a suspected terrorist hideout and weapons cache. This soldier stows his assault weapon and uses an XM26 12-Gauge Modular Accessory Shotgun System (MASS) to gain entry to a building; when the door is “unlocked,” this “locksmith” falls to the rear of the column of soldiers behind him, retrieves the assault gun, stows the MASS and falls in with the search and confront tactical formation.
Photo credit: army.mil.
Oh – and God bless these guys.
NASA Goes to IRAQ
When I first read the NASA article Sci-fi Life Support, I missed the textbox at the bottom. When I went back to post about the system, I found out that this built-for-space wastewater reclamation system is currently in use in provinces of Northern Iraq.
The article itself describes a spaceborne system designed to recover up to 93 percent of water from exhaled air and urine. Such a system will be needed for long manned space missions and in remote outposts such as Lunar or Martian bases.
Here’s the story about the Earthbound version:
ECLSS in Iraq — Since April 2006, an Earth-bound application of a portion of the ECLSS water recovery system is being trucked from one rural village to another in northern Iraq to filter particulates and contaminants out of dirty groundwater or well water to provide residents with clean drinking water. That portable system—about half the size of a refrigerator including all its pumps and computer controls—purifies water at a good clip of 4 gallons a minute, for a cost of only about two cents a gallon.
Image: ECLSS Hardware (courtesy NASA)
Technical details of ECLSS appear in “Status of the Regenerative ECLSS Water Recovery and Oxygen Generation Systems” by Robert M. Bagdigian, Dale Cloud, and John Bedard (Paper 2006-01-2057) and in NASA Facts “International Space Station Environmental Control and Life Support System” (Pub 8-40399, May 2005).
New Name for Democrats
Why not change the name of the Democratic Party to the Benedict Arnold Party? Seems fitting enough, considering John Kerry’s recent remarks, and the on-going politicization of the Global War on Terror by Democrats. They have continually failed to support security for America, the war in Iraq and our Troops, in particular.
Left: John Kerry, still unfit for command.
As for Kerry’s “apology,” he manages to weasel his way into blaming stupid Americans for not understanding his nuanced sense of humor. Moreover, the cowardly Kerry did not appear personally to deliver the apology, but probably directed one of his minions to type something for his website.
We understood what you meant, Senator. We know you have falsely accused our soldiers of “terrorizing” innocent Iraqis. We sincerely hope that next Tuesday America holds your party accountable for their continued defeatist and traitorous behavior. You are the prototype of the party of Benedict Arnold, indeed.
ISF Hits Terrorists in the Wallet
Who says that the Iraqis aren’t willing to shut down the insurgency? And right in Saddam’s old stomping grounds at that.
From CENTCOM:
BAGHDAD — Local police, supported by special Iraqi Army forces, conducted a raid Oct. 9 in Tikrit against a local hawala allegedly used by individuals and businesses to provide financial support to insurgent groups and detained 16 individuals.
The hawala, a local financial system for banking and money exchange, was allegedly being used by insurgents and criminals to hide money made through illegal activity and illegally funneled into Iraq. The daylight raid was based on tips from Iraqi citizens.
Iraqi Police and Army forces, with coalition advisers, shut down the suspected illegal financial activity which was directly supporting foreign fighters and the ongoing insurgency. This support was directly responsible for attacks targeting Iraqi civilians as well as Iraqi Security and Coalition forces.
No significant damage was done in the area and there were no civilian, Iraqi forces or Coalition forces casualties.
This operation is an example of the resolve of Iraqi citizens to stop the illegal and violent activity bringing harm to their communities and demonstrates the increased ability of the Iraqi Security Forces to target and combat insurgent activity.
Organized Labor Crime
Apparently, we’re not the only ones who know the truth about unions. My opinion? The only difference between organized labor and organized crime is the way the second word is spelled. From CNS News:
Unions Have Embraced Anti-War Extremism, Report Says.
(CNSNews.com) – Labor leaders have established a close relationship with anti-American, anti-war activists as part of a move to the political left that began more than three decades ago, according to a recent report produced by a conservative think tank.
“Prominent self-styled ‘peace activists’ such as Cindy Sheehan, Leslie Cagan and Ramsey Clark rarely waste an opportunity to portray America as the number one obstacle to world peace,” said Carl Horowitz, author of the report “Common Cause With America’s Enemies: How Labor Unions Embraced Antiwar Extremism.”
