India

Indian troops show their combat skills with the 8 men and a motorcycle combat assault maneuver....These elite troops patrol India's borders, the look out scouting for trouble while the assorted riflemen provide 360 firepower protection to the driver...

 

So much more fuel economical too...

 

 

 

 

 

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers

Political Commentary

In November 2008, George W. Bush was at 27 percent; 80 percent thought the country was headed in the wrong direction; 92 percent thought the economy was poor or worse. As James Carville said, if the party can't win with these numbers, it ought to go into a new line of work.

The one attribute Americans wanted most in its next president was that he be for "change." And Obama had cornered the market on change, while John McCain had voted 90 percent with Bush.

But instead of seeing the election as a repudiation of the Bush Republicans, Obama, Pelosi and Reid read it as an embrace of their wonderful selves and a national cry for more government.

Following Rahm's Rule—never let a crisis go to waste!—Obama and his party took the collapse of the banks and spreading economic chaos to attempt the greatest leap forward in federal power since World War II.

Most Americans understood candidate Obama's health care plans to mean that folks who could not afford care would be able to get it, whatever their conditions. As the plan evolved, however, it grew in the eyes of the public into precisely what the Tea Party and town-hall protesters said it was: a federal takeover of one-sixth of the economy. Bureaucrats would decide who gets what care, when and for how long. And a panoply of new taxes, fees and regulations would be imposed, producing a revenue windfall for the federal government and a quantum leap in power for federal bureaucrats.

What Massachusetts is telling the nation is what the Tea Party people was about; America doesn't want what Washington is pushing and either put it down or we remember in November.

( As they said during the Bush -Clinton campaign, "Its the economy, STUPID")

Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, sentence reduced.

The Army Clemency and Parole Board today reduced the sentence of Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna from 20 to 15 years, according to a news release from Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.).

Lieutenant Behenna, who is currently serving his sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., was convicted of unpremeditated murder in the shooting death of Ali Mansur, a known Al-Qaeda operative, while serving in Iraq.

Previous cases of similar or more aggravating circumstances, where the defendants were found guilty of premeditated murder, have resulted in less severe sentences, which prompted the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation to appeal to the board for a careful review of this case and relevant precedent.

A government witness, a highly respected Forensic expert, Dr. Herbert Leon MacDonell, Director of the Laboratory of Forensic Science in Corning, N.Y, insisted Behenna was innocent and he could prove it. His testimony would have prove that the angle of the gun shots and the blood spatter were consistent with self-defense not premeditated murder.

But after telling prosecutors what the forensic evidence showed - that Behenna was guiltless - this expert witness was sent packing. Dr.MacDonnell told Behenna's lawyer Jack Zimmerman, who had successfully represented one of the Haditha Marines, that he fully agreed with Behenna's account of what happened, essentially destroying the government’s case he had been called to support.

Incredibly, the key witness in the case was not called to testify in the case and was sent home. Before he retrieved his coat from the prosecution room he told the three prosecutors that, "The
explanation that Lt Behenna just testified to was the exact same scenario I told you yesterday. Lt Behenna is telling the truth."

 

Military justice is a funny cross between the laws of the United States, law of warfare and conduct, and military discipline. While I am no legal expert, the following is an analysis by a retired Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer:

SSG Warner and LT Behenna are now both serving time for a death of a detainee.  The trials of both men were complicated by the fact that they each knew that Ali Mansur was a suspected AQI member.  LT Behenna did have justification for the killing, but it probably wasn’t the justification that the US Army wants to hear.  Regardless, this whole event should have been stopped before it ever got started.  Another platoon should have done the detainee drop off.  The blame for the shots being fired can be laid at LT Behenna’s feet, but the death of Ali Mansur and the conviction of two US Infantrymen can be laid at the feet of the chain of command. 

Audacity of a Dope (or a blog just for the heck of it)

What a interesting week so far...politically, people in a dominantly Democrat state elect a sort of Republican (who says he is also sort of independent) to the US Senate mostly to tell the national politicians to stop whats going on in Washington, and listen to the people...Our government admits they didn't use a new anti-terror interrogation unit because OOPS nobody thought to call them? And in th middle of this our now one year learning on the job Presidente says banks suck, wall street is evil, and I am thinking what a damn liar he is, knowing a crap load of support for him as a candidate came from the very people he is "angered" with...Come to think of it, i need to re watch that Elliot Ness movie, so i can get a refresher on the Chicago way of doing things, I mean seeing as Obama and company really believe they are the Untouchables...geeez.. Its like everyone in Washington is on some mass delusional power trip and I have to wonder what they are drinking...

I watch TV when i get home, and usually flip the channel when Obama comes on, I have come to loath that looking down his nose smug attitude he has, like the picture in this blog...I call it audacity of a dope...

I can hardly stand it when I hear people on TV or the radio speak of what a giant intellect, what a impressive ly smart man Obama is. Based on the reviews of what little published accounts of his scholarly endeavors are available, i surmise I am smarter than he is...at least my thesis is available in the university library as a public document, although if I ran for office I too might seek to have it sealed, just so people cant see what goofy ideas I had at 23... I talk about running for office, and my spouse talks me out of it, not wanting to go through that again. I ran for a local office in 1992, and lost by a Coakley like margin, although had I not run, the outcome would have been the same, since the guy was running unopposed in a non-partisan office. Seemed kind of like a sham election running one person, so I ran as well, and got pretty well slammed by the BIG MEDIA in out town, who played on the fact that I was a "mere office worker" ...Well another "receptionist" is running for office here in California, Carly Fiorina.

She started out as a receptionist and ended up being CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP) ...She is running for the nomination to run against Barbara (Babs) Boxer, our Senator who once whined on the Senate floor "I don't deserve to be here"..hey, no shine-ola lady...

Well, guess, i'll take the dog out for a minute, she is whining, then maybe some popcorn and then see if I can watch that movie on demand...

One darn thing after another...building a legacy of failure?

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that he was not consulted on whether Abdulmutallab should be questioned by the recently created High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG.
 
"That unit was created exactly for this purpose," Blair said. "We did not invoke the HIG in this case. We should have."
 
Under questioning by Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, Blair and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said they were not consulted before the decision was made to not use the high-value detainee interrogation group. Also, Michael Leiter, chief of the National Counter Terrorism Center, said he was not consulted.
 
"That is very troubling," Collins said.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was interviewed by federal law enforcement investigators when Northwest Flight 253 landed in Detroit after he allegedly tried to detonate a homemade bomb sneaked through airport security in Nigeria and Amsterdam. Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, is being held in a prison near Detroit.

Very troubling indeed

Agencies don’t talk to each other, there is no procedure or protocol in place that should be well known to everyone in the intelligence, and law enforcement communities…I mean a bomber on a plane that was trying to blow away 278 people probably should have been questioned by intelligence gatherers, rather than crime solvers…or did I miss something here?

Republican Brown wins Senate seat in Massachusetts

 

 Republican Brown wins Senate seat in Massachusetts

Was it something I said???Or didn't say??

The other day one of my longtime web based pals wrote about losing friends and a general slow down in traffic on Multiply. It started me thinking about it. Again.

Well, its official, I have 20 friends now on Multiply. And of those I would say I regularly hear from maybe  a dozen. Which means over the course of the last year and a 1/2 I have probably lost 8 people.

On the other hand, on Twitter, i am always gaining followers, same on Facebook. But those are different sites, with different demographics, and honestly more visibility than Multiply...I mean when do you see news stories about Multiply? I never have and honestly hope I don't. Because as long as Multiply is like it is, maybe, just maybe, the people you meet here are interested in maintaining some contact, for whatever reason. Maybe not anymore than elsewhere.  So, thanks for being my friends.

For those that left, I guess it was a bad match, so it probably is better for both of us you are gone.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States

As Ed Morrissey noted: The big news here isn't so much that a heckler appeared at a Coakley rally - with passions this high, it would have been news if one hadn't - but that a series of hecklers threw Obama so far off his stride. It didn't matter to the people who attended this rally, of course, but it's a bit strange to see an experienced politician allow a couple of loud voices to interrupt for as long as this goes ... and then to ask "Where were we?"

It was the worst of times...it was the best...no its worse

I have to admit that I was openly skeptical of Obama's campaign pledges, and so  in the primaryI voted for a candidate I thought the least fouled up, and even then didn't like it. But Obama gained the nomination, and won the Presidency.
What I absolutely did not envision was how divisive and absolutely devoid of any redeeming qualities the current administration would be. Administration would only cast these doubts on the President, and my contemptuous view of government includes Congress and our state  governments, inept at doing most anything constructive at the moment. Apparently I was not alone in these thoughts, as I witnessed first hand at a Tea Party event in Sacramento.

But folks, the governing class just don't seem to get it...and again i am not alone in thinking that, since today I stumbled upon this online:

We elected you on a promise of hope and change. You've disappointed us. In 2010, we are taking the country back. Blue collar democrats, independents, and conservatives. We love our country. We are proud of our founders. And we will fight to protect our traditions. We don't want your revolution.
Here is the video on the same blog:

PS. from YouTube

;"This video..is powerful. It hit me hard. It echoes the sentiment that many of us have been dealing with over the past year.

Originally created by the former YouTube user "buckrush", this video has been repeatedly attacked by Obots and removed by YouTube several times.

.Many have been called racists and have received threats for putting this video up.

My name is obvious, it's not too hard to find out where I live..so if you want to threaten me- I Say, Bring It.Maybe YouTube will take this video down..Bookmark it to see how long it stays up and monitor the view count. Download this video and upload it to your own account to show you've had enough.. if you don't know how to download YT videos, you can download the entire video at my website link below.

Joe Seales"

American Politics...

By now those that are following the political news across America are aware that President Obama is actively promoting the election of Martha Coakley to fill the US Senate seat now vacant after the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.  Here it the video ad Obama made:

 

What is interesting to me, aside from the effect losing this seat will have on many of the President's agenda items, is that the Democrat candaidate, Ms. Coakley, has doen more damage to her campaign that anyone could imagine.  A large percentage of the population in the commonwealth of Massachusetts at Catholics, yet that has done little to dissuade the candidate to make statements that have caused concern. Specifically, she discussed on a radio show that if a medical professional has religious objections to performing a procedure like abortion, they probably shouldn't be working in the emergency room. Here is the clip:

 

OK, that appears to have, as mentioned in the Boston media, alienated "Catholics, roughly 39% of the voters" . Not a good choice of words by her... From my perspective out here in California, if her opponent wins and deprives the Democrats the 60 votes they need to steam roller legislation thru against the will of a majority of Americans,well... as The Atlantic stated " Brown's victory would represent both a tactical blow to the filibuster-proof majority and a mojo killer, which could make liberal Democrats start to wonder whether they could be Coakleyed in November. That would tie huge anchors to the Democrats already plodding economic agenda. Stay tuned. Tuesday is huge." I can't argue with that

Neglected blogs...

I am just such a jerk sometimes. I really cant believe I used to blog on several blogs almost always at a minimum of several times a week, and now its lucky if I update one or the other every other month. With pages on Facebook, Twitter, Multiply, Blogger, Yammer, MySpace...jeez, i can't be so fractured in my attention!

I used to blog almost daily on Yahoo 360, but those idiots practically forced everyone to leave, and now the Yahoo experience is, well, crappy, IMHO. Sort of like how AOL was the rage back a decade ago, and now is so blah, I don't know hardly anyone using AOL.

I recently found out my mom was still on it for like $26 a month (for dial-up-yewww) and so i got her signed up with the phone company DSL for under $10 a month, undoubtedly a rate subject to change.

Anyway, i decided I need a blog t6o talk about what I want, and the multiply space has become so dominated by political stuff, i decided to resume blogging here awhile.
What do i talk about? Do I share the fact that since turning 60, my honey has started working only 3 days a week, and on those 4 day weekends doesn't accomplish much. And whats up with going to bed at 7:30??? I work a full time job, and routinely go to bed between 10:30 and 12, but then I am only mid-50ish. But 7:30???
I decided a while back to discontinue talking about my lack of sex life, except to simply state the obvious...menopause has a down side..

Well, if that is taboo, what am supposed to write about? My internet friends that don't bother to write me any more? Maybe.
I have one friend, he used to stay in touch all the time and now he never bothers to sent me any notes...he knows who he is, because I know he reads my blogs...there are the people that used to write me often on Yahoo, many of whom were in into s&m, bondage, etc...not my cup of tea, heck i even got into a sort of dispute with some of them over that...but we are still friends. Well i guess we are, I haven't heard from any of them in awhile.

How about Christmas, should I talk about that? I got a lot of stuff, but at my age who needs more stuff?? I got several clothing articles, and i really like the velour pants and hoodie i got, so much so i went and bought a couple of others. I predict these will be like leisure suits were back in the day, and people will wear them everywhere...oops, too late, already happens...hey, and while I am at this line of thought...why do people in their 20's like to show off their fat so much. My nieces do it, I guess having a "muffin top" is supposed to be cool or something. Or whats up with wearing clothes that are too small?
I know how my parents must have felt when they saw men wearing miniskirts...

The biggest thing on my mind is the future...will our house every come back up in value, so we can sell it and move? What if I lose my job? While a remote possibility, I am always cognizant that its there. What if my pension goes bust? I lost a crap load in my 401k when the market went bad, but since that forced me to pick different investments, I have maybe recovered some. I trusted my broker years ago to buy GM, what a bummer that turned out to be. I generally now only pick companies I know something about.
Well, its closing time here at the woe- is -me lounge..

Reality Check- is this our Congress?

General McChrystal: U.S. can't defeat al Qaeda

By NAHAL TOOSI and MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writers Nahal Toosi And Maamoun Youssef, Associated Press Writers – 2 hrs 22 mins ago

ISLAMABAD – The Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan said in video clips broadcast posthumously Saturday that all jihadists must attack U.S. targets to avenge the death of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Footage showed Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi — whom the CIA had cultivated as an asset against al-Qaida — sitting with Mehsud's successor in an undisclosed location. It essentially confirmed the Pakistani Taliban's claim of responsibility for one of the worst attacks in CIA history, though a senior militant told The Associated Press that al-Qaida and Afghan insurgents played roles, too.

MEANWHILE, in a separate universe

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top military commander in Afghanistan, said that the United States can't defeat al Qaeda unless Osama bin Laden is captured.

McChrystal said that bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda,  is an "iconic figure" whose survival "emboldens" the extremist group's franchise.

The problem with that thinking is (in my view) that our struggle with  al Qaeda has moved beyond simple combat; our actions to defeat them have probably helped make al Qaeda a movement far beyond what they could have become on their own. Even when given a clue to how we can defeat them, provided by one of their own, we seem oblivious to it.

In 2005 Abu Yahya al Libi's  stock within al Qaeda when up when he and 3 others escaped US custody from Bagram AFB in Afghanistan. His stock has continued to rise. As a member of the infamous "Bagram Four" Abu Yahya publicly defied and embarrassed the United States and gave hope to his fellow jihadists. Abu Yahya laid out how the United States could defeat Al Qaeda. In his video titled "Dots of the Letters," the Libyan provided six steps for the United States to win the war of ideas.

Abu Yayha’s six steps for defeating Al Qaeda are:

1. Focus on amplifying cases of ex-jihadists who have renounced armed action

2. Fabricate stories about Jihadist mistakes and exaggerate mistakes when possible

3. Prompt mainstream Muslim clerics to issue fatwas that incriminate the Jihadist movement and its actions

4. Strengthen and back Islamic movements far removed from Jihad, particularly those with a democratic approach

5. Aggressively neutralize or discredit the guiding thinkers of the Jihadist movement

6. Spin minor disagreements among leaders of Jihadist organizations as being major doctrinal or methodological disputes

Obama and the Broken Promise

This clip shows a smiling Pelosi comment on the growing furor over Obama's abandoning his multiple pledges for an open and transparent government, including CSPAN coverage of the working on Health Care Reform.
Pelosi emerged from a meeting with her leadership team and committee chairs in the Capitol to face an aggressive throng of reporters who immediately hit her with C-SPAN’s request that she permit closed-door final talks on the bill to be televised. A reporter reminded the San Francisco Democrat that in 2008, then-candidate Obama opined that all such negotiations be open to C-SPAN cameras. “There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail,” quipped Pelosi, who has no intention of making the deliberations public.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31180.html#ixzz0bzYY7MRx

Meanwhile, C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb accused President Obama of using his network as a "political football" during the presidential campaign, citing the president's broken pledge to televise health care reform negotiations on the nonpartisan channel which is devoted to covering Washington.  Lamb, speaking on liberal host Bill Press' radio show Wednesday, said Obama had "no right" to assume C-SPAN would cover the talks in the first place. ...He said the "only time" the network has been allowed to cover the White House's involvement in the talks was a "one-hour" event in the East Room which he described as a "show-horse" affair.  ..."We obviously would cover these negotiations. ... It's just a gut reaction that if we pay for something, and it's the public's business, we ought to be able to see how it's done," he added.
The comments were the latest shot in the semi-feud between C-SPAN and Democrats in control of the health care talks.  Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open "all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings," to televised coverage on his network.

 "The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety," he wrote.  The request generated tremendous attention, since Obama, as a candidate, repeatedly said he would televise the talks on C-SPAN but has not followed through since then.

Oh, the shock of it all...a politician of hope and change actually  not changing much of how business is done...

Our President...and the Potential Human Caused Unnatural Flight Disruption

He finally said it...the words war on terror. Almost.

He cant though. Not after vilifying the previous administration for using scare tactics.

So what now Mr. President?

"This was a screw up that could have been disastrous," he said at the meeting, according to a senior administration official. "We dodged a bullet but just barely. It was averted by brave individuals not because the system worked and that is not acceptable. While there will be a tendency for finger pointing, I will not tolerate it."

I feel so much safer now...

<sarcasm off>