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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chowder who wrote (22477)	11/22/2004 6:01:30 PM
From: jim_p	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23153

Last Thursday I put out one of my Bush/Cheney signs in my front yard. Between midnight and 3:00 a.m. someone stole it. On Friday night I put out sign No. 2. Since I didn't have to get up early, I thought my dog and I would "stake out" our sign. This time I put the sign a little closer to the gate leading to my backyard. With my dog on an extra long leash, I planted myself on a lawn chair and read "Unfit for Command" by flashlight until about 1:00 a.m. Here comes the fun part . . . I noticed that the car coming down the street was slowing down and pulling over to the curb right next to my yard. Sure enough, he gets out of his car and heads right for my sign. Just as he was about to uproot and desecrate it, I opened my gate and let my dog make the initial introduction! As he ran to hide behind the rear end of his car, I promptly moved to the driver-side door, which was still open. It was a fairly nice car with power everything and still running. While my dog continued to "introduce" herself, I rolled up the window and hit the power door lock button. With that, I slammed the door, grabbed my Bush sign and headed into the back yard. And now for the "rest of the story." About 40 minutes later, I heard a knock at the door. I opened the door to one of our city's finest . . . the Vancouver Police Department. The officer asked me what was going on and when I told him, he could not stop laughing! I followed him out to the perp's car and stood there while he asked the guy a few more questions. Upon learning that the guy lived a couple of streets down, I -- knowing what was about to happen -- asked him, "Why do you have Oregon plates on your car if you live just down the street (here in Vancouver, Wash.)?" Larry, Oregon has no sales tax, so often Washington residents will buy and register cars in Oregon to avoid paying sales tax . . . it's a crime and the fine is pretty stiff. Here comes the best part. . . . The look on this guy's face told me he knew he was about to get busted. When the officer asked for his license and registration, the "Democrat" mumbled that (his license) was suspended. Just for kicks and giggles I asked the officer if he smelled any alcohol coming from the guy! The officer looked at me, smiled and promptly gave him a field breathalyzer test. Guess what? You got it, he blew a .10, legally drunk in the state of Washington. DUI, illegal registration and the brand of "MORON," all 'cause he hates Bush! Sincerely, John Cost of Bush signs: $5.95 each Cost of Flashlight batteries: $3.95/Pack Seeing a Leftwing Numbskull carted off to the hoosegow: Priceless.

To: chowder who wrote (22477)	11/22/2004 8:56:15 PM
From: aerosappy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

likethelanguage.mu.nu The Real News New from Lt. Col. Bellon. The real news of Fallujah. Dear Dad - Just came out of the city and I honestly do not know where to start. I am afraid that whatever I send you will not do sufficient honor to the men who fought and took Fallujah. Shortly before the attack, Task Force Fallujah was built. It consisted of Regimental Combat Team 1 built around 1st Marine Regiment and Regimental Combat Team 7 built around 7th Marine Regiment. Each Regiment consisted of two Marine Rifle Battalions reinforced and one Army mechanized infantry battalion. Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT-1) consisted of 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (3rd LAR), 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5); 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (3/1)and 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry (2/7). RCT-7 was slightly less weighted but still a formidable force. Cutting a swath around the city was an Army Brigade known as Blackjack. The Marine RCT's were to assault the city while Blackjack kept the enemy off of the backs of the assault force. The night prior to the actual invasion, we all moved out into the desert just north of the city. It was something to see. You could just feel the intensity in the Marines and Soldiers. It was all business. As the day cleared, the Task Force began striking targets and moving into final attack positions. As the invasion force commenced its movement into attack positions, 3rd LAR led off RCT-1's offensive with an attack up a peninsula formed by the Euphrates River on the west side of the city. Their mission was to secure the Fallujah Hospital and the two bridges leading out of the city. They executed there tasks like clockwork and smashed the enemy resistance holding the bridges. Simultaneous to all of this, Blackjack sealed the escape routes to the south of the city. As invasion day dawned, the net was around the city and the Marines and Soldiers knew that the enemy that failed to escape was now sealed. 3/5 began the actual attack on the city by taking an apartment complex on the northwest corner of the city. It was key terrain as the elevated positions allowed the command to look down into the attack lanes. The Marines took the apartments quickly and moved to the rooftops and began engaging enemy that were trying to move into their fighting positions. The scene on the rooftop was surreal. Machine gun teams were running boxes of ammo up 8 flights of stairs in full body armor and carrying up machine guns while snipers engaged enemy shooters. The whole time the enemy was firing mortars and rockets at the apartments. Honest to God, I don't think I saw a single Marine even distracted by the enemy fire. Their squad leaders, and platoon commanders had them prepared and they were executing their assigned tasks. As mentioned, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry joined the Regiment just prior to the fight. In fact, they started showing up for planning a couple of weeks in advance. There is always a professional rivalry between the Army and the Marine Corps but it was obvious from the outset that these guys were the real deal. They had fought in Najaf and were eager to fight with the Regiment in Fallujah. They are exceptionally well led and supremely confident. 2/7 became our wedge. In short, they worked with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. We were limited in the amount of prep fires that we were allowed to fire on the city prior to the invasion. This was a point of some consternation to the forces actually taking the city. Our compensation was to turn to 2/7 and ask them to slash into the city and create as much turbulence as possible for 3/1 to follow. Because of the political reality, the Marine Corps was also under pressure to "get it done quickly." For this reason, 2/7 and 3/1 became the penetration force into the city. Immediately following 3/5's attack on the apartment buildings, 3/1 took the train station on the north end of the city. While the engineers blew a breach through the train trestle, the Cavalry soldiers poured through with their tanks and Bradley's and chewed an opening in the enemy defense. 3/1 followed them through until they reached a phase[line deep into the northern half of the city. The Marine infantry along with a few tanks then turned to the right and attacked the heart of the enemy defense. The fighting was tough as the enemy had the area dialed in with mortars. 3/5 then attacked into the northwest corner of the city. This fight continued as both Marine rifle battalions clawed their way into the city on different axis. There is an image burned into my brain that I hope I never forget. We came up behind 3/5 one day as the lead squads were working down the Byzantine streets of the Jolan area. An assault team of two Marines ran out from behind cover and put a rocket into a wall of an enemy strongpoint. Before the smoke cleared the squad behind them was up and moving through the hole and clearing the house. Just down the block another squad was doing the same thing. The house was cleared quickly and the Marines were running down the street to the next contact. Even in the midst of that mayhem, it was an awesome site. The fighting has been incredibly close inside the city. The enemy is willing to die and is literally waiting until they see the whites of the eyes of the Marines before they open up. Just two days ago, as a firefight raged in close quarters, one of the interpreters yelled for the enemy in the house to surrender. The enemy yelled back that it was better to die and go to heaven than to surrender to infidels. This exchange is a graphic window into the world that the Marines and Soldiers have been fighting in these last 10 days. I could go on and on about how the city was taken but one of the most amazing aspects to the fighting was that we saw virtually no civilians during the battle. Only after the fighting had passed did a few come out of their homes. They were provided food and water and most were evacuated out of the city. At least 90-95% of the people were gone from the city when we attacked. I will end with a couple of stories of individual heroism that you may not have heard yet. I was told about both of these incidents shortly after they occurred. No doubt some of the facts will change slightly but I am confident that the meat is correct. The first is a Marine from 3/5. His name is Corporal Yeager (Chuck Yeager's grandson). As the Marines cleared and apartment building, they got to the top floor and the point man kicked in the door. As he did so, an enemy grenade and a burst of gunfire came out. The explosion and enemy fire took off the point man's leg. He was then immediately shot in the arm as he lay in the doorway. Corporal Yeager tossed a grenade in the room and ran into the doorway and into the enemy fire in order to pull his buddy back to cover. As he was dragging the wounded Marine to cover, his own grenade came back through the doorway. Without pausing, he reached down and threw the grenade back through the door while he heaved his buddy to safety. The grenade went off inside the room and Cpl Yeager threw another in. He immediately entered the room following the second explosion. He gunned down three enemy all within three feet of where he stood and then let fly a third grenade as he backed out of the room to complete the evacuation of the wounded Marine. You have to understand that a grenade goes off within 5 seconds of having the pin pulled. Marines usually let them "cook off" for a second or two before tossing them in. Therefore, this entire episode took place in less than 30 seconds. The second example comes from 3/1. Cpl Mitchell is a squad leader. He was wounded as his squad was clearing a house when some enemy threw pineapple grenades down on top of them. As he was getting triaged, the doctor told him that he had been shot through the arm. Cpl Mitchell told the doctor that he had actually been shot "a couple of days ago" and had given himself self aide on the wound. When the doctor got on him about not coming off the line, he firmly told the doctor that he was a squad leader and did not have time to get treated as his men were still fighting. There are a number of Marines who have been wounded multiple times but refuse to leave their fellow Marines. It is incredibly humbling to walk among such men. They fought as hard as any Marines in history and deserve to be remembered as such. The enemy they fought burrowed into houses and fired through mouse holes cut in walls, lured them into houses rigged with explosives and detonated the houses on pursuing Marines, and actually hid behind surrender flags only to engage the Marines with small arms fire once they perceived that the Marines had let their guard down. I know of several instances where near dead enemy rolled grenades out on Marines who were preparing to render them aid. It was a fight to the finish in every sense and the Marines delivered. I have called the enemy cowards many times in the past because they have never really held their ground and fought but these guys in the city did. We can call them many things but they were not cowards. My whole life I have read about the greatest generation and sat in wonder at their accomplishments. For the first time, as I watch these Marines and Soldiers, I am eager for the future as this is just the beginning for them. Perhaps the most amazing characteristic of all is that the morale of the men is sky high. They hurt for the wounded and the dead but they are eager to continue to attack. Further, not one of them would be comfortable with being called a hero even though they clearly are. By now the Marines and Soldiers have killed well over a thousand enemy. These were not peasants or rabble. They were reasonably well trained and entirely fanatical. Most of the enemy we have seen have chest rigs full of ammunition and are well armed are willing to fight to the death. The Marines and Soldiers are eager to close with them and the fighting at the end is inevitably close. I will write you more the next time I come in about what we have found inside the city. All I can say is that even with everything that I knew and expected from the last nine months, the brutality and fanaticism of the enemy surprised me. The beheadings were even more common place than we thought but so were torture and summary executions. Even though it is an exaggeration, it seems as though every block in the northern part of the city has a torture chamber or execution site. There are hundreds of tons of munitions and tens of thousands of weapons that our Regiment alone has recovered. The Marines and Soldiers of the Regiment have also found over 400 IEDs already wired and ready to detonate. No doubt these numbers will grow in the days ahead. In closing, I want to share with you a vignette about when the Marines secured the Old Bridge (the one where the Americans were mutilated and hung on March 31) this week. After the Marines had done all the work and secured the bridge, we walked across to meet up with 3rd LAR on the other side. On the Fallujah side of the bridge where the Americans were hung there is some Arabic writing on the bridge. An interpreter translated it for me as we walked through. It read: "Long Live the Mujahadeen. Fallujah is the Graveyard for Americans and the end of the Marine Corps." As I came back across the bridge there was a squad sitting in their Amtrac smoking and watching the show. The Marines had written their own message below the enemy's. It is not something that Mom would appreciate but it fit the moment to a T. Not far from the vehicle were two dead enemy laying where they died. The Marines were sick of watching the "Dog and Pony show" and wanted to get back to work. Dave

To: chowder who wrote (22477)	11/27/2004 9:40:56 AM
From: jim_p	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23153

Memo to the Left: To Michael Moore: Sit down and shut up... And do something about your hair. And the ball cap. To Jimmy Carter: big mistake to sit down and shut up next to Michael Moore at the convention. Spend more time with drywall and the glue gun. To Tom Daschle: If you lean too far to the left, voters will tend to lean right for a while, but will eventually push you out of the boat. To Al Gore: Please, sir, before it's too late ... Seek an experienced mental health professional. You're beginning to make Christopher Lloyd in "Back To The Future" look downright Rotarian-like. To Dan Rather: Enjoy your early retirement. The next memo you get will be real. To the DNC: Your platform must not have lurched far enough to the left. Keep it tilting southpaw. Read more Marx. P.S. Keep insulting the voters with your moral and intellectual condescension too. It goes well with that warp speed registering of folks in plaid wool blankets pushing shopping carts. Lovely constituency. To Bill Clinton: Thanks for hitting the campaign trail for Kerry. Some of us needed a reminder of what we were trying to avoid. To Hillary Clinton: PLEASE run in '08. The Heartland will be hungry for more hors d'oeuvres by then. To the MTV Kidz: Vote or die - or not. Like, whatever, dude. To John "Breck Girl" Edwards: Can you help Michael Moore and Whoopi Goldberg with a little basic grooming? To Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Bono, etc.: We still like your music, but if you ever want to sell another record, just sing and don't go where you don't know. We don't pay to hear Colin Powell or Condie Rice do air guitar either. To George Soros: Want to buy an election? Not in MY America, you monomaniacal, socialistic buffoon. To the Mainstream Media: Congratulations on getting Kerry at least thirty more electoral votes than he would have gotten without your covert support. Imagine how badly he would have lost if you were actually unbiased. To the United Nations: Your worst nightmare will continue for another four years. Deal with it. To Howard "I Have A Scream" Dean: stick with something you understand; like proctology for instance. To Richard Holbrooke: learn to tell a joke. Learn to laugh at one. To John Zogby: monster.com will post your resume. To Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, Robert Scheer, and your minor league imitators, Greg Plast and Mark Morford: you have no red states readers. To Teddy Kennedy: sigh, it's still the blonde in the pond that leads your highlight reel. To Ron Reagan "Junior:" Do you have talent for anything? Nexxxxxxxxxxxxxxt ...? To the Exit Pollsters: As long as you keep skewing the results in an attempt to influence the election, we'll keep lying to you. If you quit, so will we. Deal? To Osama bin Laden: Bring it on, you sonofabitch, What's that? The only attack you can muster now is on videotape? Hmm... No surprise there, I guess. To Teresa HEINZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Kerry: teaching is a real job. The Teachers Union, who supported your husband, can clarify any continuing confusion. Oh, and it's not a "real job" to sleep with a third generation ketchup heir and then cash the plane crash check. To the European Union: See message for Michael Moore. To Terry McAuliffe: See message for Dan Rather. And pay a little attention to what Zell Miller reminds us of: 20 Democratic senators from the south in 1960 and only six from the GOP. Today, 22 Republicans and four Dems. To MoveOn.org: See message for George Soros To James Carville: you're the only guy who seems to get it; and you're very smart. Good luck finding an audience that's neither medicated nor mendacious. And finally, to John Kerry: Thank you for reporting for duty. You are hereby dismissed 8

To: chowder who wrote (22477)	11/27/2004 6:39:08 PM
From: aerosappy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Give Thanks for These Patriots -- Civilian turkey- eaters: Show your gratitude for the armed forces. It is all too easy to take the all-volunteer armed forces for granted. They've been around now for 31 years, ever since the draft was abolished in 1973. We have become used to having a high-quality military filled by dedicated young women and men willing to put their lives on the line for less money than Donald Trump hands out in tips every week. It is worth remembering how extraordinary and unusual our service members really are — and how much we owe them this Thanksgiving. The voluntarism tradition stretches far back in U.S. history, all the way to the colonial militias, but it has never produced such a superb fighting force. For most of their history, the peacetime Army, Navy and Marine Corps were laughingstocks that could not compete with the world's best. The entire armed forces in the 19th century usually numbered no more than 35,000 men — smaller than the New York Police Department today. Traditionally, they were so ill prepared that they wound up losing critical early battles, from the Civil War's Bull Run (1861) to World War II's Kasserine Pass (1943). To get a sense of the old military, read two novels written by veterans (and made into memorable movies) — Richard McKenna's "The Sand Pebbles" and James Jones' "From Here to Eternity." Both were populated by misfits, "lifers" for whom the military was a welcome alternative to the penitentiary or the poorhouse. The hegemony of the hard-bitten regulars ended in 1940, with the introduction of a draft that lasted until the last years of the Vietnam War. In their post-Vietnam agony, all the services had trouble attracting recruits, and those who signed up tended to come from the bottom of the barrel — half were not even high school graduates. Low morale, racial tensions and drug and alcohol abuse were rife in the 1970s. By the 1991 Persian Gulf War, those problems had evaporated. Entry standards for volunteers were higher, the quality of recruits improved, and the first-rate military we know today was created — a military force that is better educated than the civilian population, whose enlisted ranks are composed of high school graduates and whose officers are college graduates (many with graduate degrees). A force in which drug use has fallen into insignificance and morale and discipline are sky-high. A dedicated, courageous, professional force capable of knocking the stuffing out of just about any foe, anywhere in the world, at a moment's notice. Some antiwar protesters want to spread the idea that the military is composed of victims who have no alternative but to become cannon fodder. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially in front-line combat units in which everyone is a volunteer twice over. Why do they do it? Why have 1.5 million men and women enlisted in the active-duty military, and 861,000 more in the National Guard and Reserves? The reasons vary, of course. Many are drawn by the prospect of learning a trade or earning a college scholarship. Others want an adventure or a sense of purpose. Once they spend some time in the service, the pull of camaraderie leads many to reenlist. But it would be a mistake to overlook the simplest and most obvious motive of all: patriotism. People pull on their BDUs (battle dress uniforms) out of a desire to defend a great nation. Such sentiments can sound corny in today's ironic culture, but the military is one place where old-fashioned pieties are uttered without a subversive smirk. The all-volunteer force is now being tested as never before; it's never had to fight a war as prolonged as the one in Iraq. The media naturally tend to focus on problems — small numbers of soldiers who refuse to obey orders or break the laws of war, reservists who fight recall to duty or complain about their hardships. This is to be expected. What's amazing is not how many problems the military is experiencing but how few. In spite of a punishing operations tempo and dismaying shortages of critical equipment like armored Humvees and the latest body armor, today's GIs soldier on. They undertake incredibly difficult and dangerous assignments like the assault on Fallouja with less grumbling than the average commuter stuck in a traffic jam. There is no way that we civilian turkey-eaters can properly show our gratitude for those whose Thanksgiving meal comes in a chow hall thousands of miles from home. But for a start we can at least contribute to a number of charities that provide important aid to service members and their families. For a list, go to defendamerica.mil and click on "Support Our Troops." latimes.com