The Christmas holidays were over, and now we were in the lull between Christmas and New Year's. By now everyone had long since gotten over the "no rotation" bombshell that the DoD had dropped on us on November 10, and we had all resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to be there "until" and we might as well make the best of it. As for creature comforts, there wasn't much else we could do; most of the process was simply getting your mind wrapped around the fact that you were there and didn't know when you were going home.
Actually, the past 30 days right before Christmas were the least strenuous days we had experienced, since the day before Thanksgiving "Wambo" finally decided to take us out of 12 hour shifts and put us in a normal work schedule of 8 hours. We had been in 12's for so long that we literally didn't know what to do with all of the free time. The opportunities for recreation were really limited considering where we were, although the REMFs and the BOW-WOWs were still taking their jaunts downtown to the TCN mall and crap like that. But as for us line troops who were still taking the threat seriously, the LAST thing we were gonna do would be to go downtown in a civilian area and expose ourselves to kidnapping or attack. I guess the REMFs never thought of this. So we made do with the Rec Tent and the Oasis, the old swimming pool that we found and the nice folks from MWR fixed up for us. It was cold as hell at night but the temps during the day were still hitting the high 90's, so the pool was getting a pretty good workout.
Just about the time we were all getting used to working like a "normal" person again who worked only 8 hours a day, "Wambo" suddenly decided for whatever reason that the threat around Christmas required us to go back into 12 hour shifts, so on Christmas Eve we went back into 12's. Ho, ho, fuckin' ho, Merry Christmas. And we stayed in 12 hour shifts until the day we worked our last shift on March 8, 1991. I'd like to give the man the benefit of the doubt and say that the OSI had given him a threat briefing which led to the decision to throw us back into 12's, but I can't do that. I ran into an OSI agent I knew at the chow hall a few days after we went back into 12's and asked him about that, and he said that there was "no significant increase in the threat level" that he was aware of.
Knowing "Wambo," I think he did it just because he thought it was a good idea and just because he could.
I had also been paying attention to the news from back home, specifically CNN, and was keeping track of the way things were going in Kuwait and the UN attempts to get Saddam to leave Kuwait. What I was seeing and hearing from the news agencies pretty much mirrored what we were getting told on the base, only we were getting told much more than the news agencies were (for obvious reasons). The storm clouds were building, and I just knew that shortly after the first of the year the shooting was gonna start. We were about as prepared for it as we could have been, so it was simply a matter of just waiting for the balloon to go up.
By this time the remnants of the Kuwaiti Air Force had been rounded up and assembled at Dhahran, and the parking area for their aircraft was in my patrol zone. I got to know the Kuwaiti Wing Commander pretty good, and from what he was telling me he and the rest of his pilots couldn't wait for President Bush (the first one) to give them the word so they could climb in their planes and go bomb the crap outta Baghdad. All of the aircraft had "FREE KUWAIT" written on the sides in big, bold, black letters, and all of the pilots wore a "FREE KUWAIT" patch on their flight suits. These guys were ready for some serious payback, and were just chomping at the bit to go dish it out.
I had a feeling they were going to get their chance before long.
IHC
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
December 25, 1990
The desert night air was clear and cold, belying the myth that it never gets cold in the desert. The stars were shining in the night Arabian sky, clear and bright, and the only other light that could be seen was the glow from the tip of my cigarette. It was 0005 hours (five minutes after midnight) on 25 December 1990, and my Hummer was parked out in The Middle of Nowhere, the 13 miles of lonely road behind me and about two clicks off to the left. It was Christmas Day in Saudi Arabia, the absolutel last place I ever thought I'd be spending this Christmas or any other, for that matter.
I sat on the roof of my Hummer, smoking my cigarette and thinking about Christmas the year before when I was in Korea. I spent that Christmas away from my family as well, being assigned to a base that was considered a "remote" assignment in that you couldn't take your family with you. I was remembering how I was sitting out on the flightline in my truck that year, looking up at the stars and thinking about how much I missed my family and how lucky I was that it had been ten years since I had missed a Christmas with them. And that first Christmas away from my home and family had also been in Korea, this time in 1979, and it was a tough one because it was the first. I didn't think it could get any tougher than that, and ten years later I thought the same thing - the first one was the toughest, and it couldn't get any worse than that.
I was wrong. Sitting on the roof of my Hummer eleven years after my first Christmas away from home and family, with war only weeks away, it was clear to me I was wrong. This Christmas was the toughest yet, and I consoled myself with the thoughts that what I was doing in that foreign land was a good thing and the right thing, and that next year I'd most certainly be home with my family.
At least I hoped so.
To all of my family, friends, and fans I wish you a most merry and joyful Christmas, and ask that you please take a moment out of your day to remember and pray for our men and women in uniform who are spending this Christmas away from their family and friends in the service of our nation, and especially for those who are in harm's way.
IHC
I sat on the roof of my Hummer, smoking my cigarette and thinking about Christmas the year before when I was in Korea. I spent that Christmas away from my family as well, being assigned to a base that was considered a "remote" assignment in that you couldn't take your family with you. I was remembering how I was sitting out on the flightline in my truck that year, looking up at the stars and thinking about how much I missed my family and how lucky I was that it had been ten years since I had missed a Christmas with them. And that first Christmas away from my home and family had also been in Korea, this time in 1979, and it was a tough one because it was the first. I didn't think it could get any tougher than that, and ten years later I thought the same thing - the first one was the toughest, and it couldn't get any worse than that.
I was wrong. Sitting on the roof of my Hummer eleven years after my first Christmas away from home and family, with war only weeks away, it was clear to me I was wrong. This Christmas was the toughest yet, and I consoled myself with the thoughts that what I was doing in that foreign land was a good thing and the right thing, and that next year I'd most certainly be home with my family.
At least I hoped so.
To all of my family, friends, and fans I wish you a most merry and joyful Christmas, and ask that you please take a moment out of your day to remember and pray for our men and women in uniform who are spending this Christmas away from their family and friends in the service of our nation, and especially for those who are in harm's way.
IHC
Thursday, December 16, 2010
What Would Have Happened if Ginger Had A Gun?
If you've been paying even the slightest amount of attention to the news over the past three days I'm sure you've seen the story about the nutjob who went into a meeting of a school board in Florida, pulled out a can of red spray paint, painted a big "V" with a circle around it on the wall, and then pulled out a gun. After some useless dialogue with the chairman of the school board who was trying to persuade the man not to shoot anyone, the nutjob - who had stated right up front that he wanted to die that night after he shot everybody there - then did just what he said he was going to do, shooting at first the chairman and then a couple other members of the board. An armed security guard rushed in and exchanged shots with the nutjob and hit him at least once, but not before the nutjob had taken potshots at three of the board members. The nutjob then killed himself before the cops got there and did it for him.
The good news out of all this is that the only person who died that night, or who was even wounded, was the nutjob. He didn't hit anybody he was shooting at, except himself when he put the gun to his own head and blew his brains out. One out of four ain't bad, I guess, as long as it's the bad guy who's the "one."
When the story broke all of the news agencies carried the same footage from the security cameras in the meeting room, and all of them stopped the video of the footage after the nutjob takes his first two shots - the first at the chairman and the second into the floor when his finger slipped on the trigger before he could bring the gun back up after lowering it following the first shot. You heard the audio of people screaming and a hell of a lot of shooting, but you didn't see anything until the cops came in. Scary stuff to be sure.
But not as scary as it really was...you see, with a little searching I found another source for another video of the event, this one taken by a live cameraman who was filming the meeting. This video shows something that you didn't see on the "mainstream" news networks, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why.
What this video showed was a woman who was later identified as "Ginger" coming into the room from a darkened hallway, directly behind the nutjob, clutching a rather larger purse in her hands. The look on her face tells you what she's about to do, and the catlike manner in which she is sneaking up on the nutjob verifies it.
And the nutjob has no idea that she's there!
Ginger then lifts the purse over her head and smacks the nutjob right on the top of the head with it; unfortunately, either the blow was very weak or the purse was very light, because all it did was draw the nutjob's attention to her and make him point his pistol at her. Luckily for Ginger all the nutjob did was tell her to drop the purse and "go over there" instead of shooting her. The Big Biker was with Ginger that day, lemme tell ya. Shortly after that the shooting started, and we all know how it ended up.
At this point you have to ask yourself one simple question: What would have happened if Ginger had a gun?
Answer: Instead of giving him a slight headache and annoying him, she'd have been able to blow his friggin' brains out and end the drama right then and there before he had a chance to fire a shot.
So why won't the "mainstream" news media show this video? Simple - it shows how one person who, if armed, could have prevented a tragedy BEFORE it took place, thereby demonstrating both the need for and the good that can come out of the average citizen being armed.
No, they'd much rather air a video showing how one nutjob armed with a pistol can terrify six helpless, defenseless (and unarmed) people before opening fire on them, demonstrating to the American people and the people of the world that "guns are bad, and we must eliminate them."
I'm sure the assholes at the Useless Nations are dancing a jig right now.
As for Ginger, while I admire her courage at doing something instead of lining up to become just another victim, I also have to say that while what she did was incredibly brave it was also incredibly stupid. But you get an "A" for effort, Ginger.
For the most part, people walk around with their heads in the clouds, intentionally oblivious to the bad people and the evil in the world. They keep their heads up there until someone like this now-dead nutjob pops up and reminds them that yes, Virginia, there is evil in the world, and in case you need help in remembering that let me shoot you a few times to drive the point home. And each time something like this happens the liberals and the liberal news media all jump up and down, wringing their hands and bemoaning how dangerous and deadly guns are, and how the only way to stop things like this from happening is to ban them entirely.
And as crime statistics have been showing ever since the "Brady Law" was allowed to expire, they couldn't be more wrong.
So let me throw another question at ya, and while I personally hate "what if" questions, I'm forced to use one here. So here's the question:
What if the people on the school board - ALL of them - had been armed?
What do you think the chances would be that this nutjob would have seriously even considered doing what he did if he knew that everyone he was going to encounter at that meeting was armed and could blow his brains out as soon as he showed a gun? Would he have done it?
Maybe, maybe not. On one hand, he WAS a nutjob with a self-proclaimed death wish, so he very well may have gone in there anyway. On the other hand, by everyone being armed he would have been deprived of the opportunity to make a statement and terrify, terrorize, and then attempt to murder the people in the meeting room. And isn't that what ALL nutjobs like him want, to terrorize people and make a statement before they die? The one thing you CAN say is that if the people there were armed, the terrorizing would have been very short-lived, lasting for mere seconds instead of nearly ten minutes. It would have lasted only as long as it took for one or more of the board members to clear leather and shoot the son of a bitch where he stood.
Once upon a time in this nation nearly every male citizen and a heck of a lot of women carried a firearm. They carried it for protection, mainly, from the evils of the new world around them. Sure, there were those in that time too who used their firearms as instruments of evil, but back then people knew that if you wanted to stop a man from killing again and again you put him on the business end of a noose instead of trying to ban the very thing that the good people in the world were using to protect themselves.
Somewhere along the way we got "civilized," and people who supposedly knew what was best for us told us that we could stop carrying firearms, that all of the bad people and evil in the world were gone, and it was safe now.
Bullshit. Me and the other sheepdogs out there know this to be a lie, and we'll continue carrying our weapons and being alert for the wolves of the world. We know that evil still exists, and it preys on the weak, the helpless, and the defenseless.
I just wish the rest of the nation would wake up and realize this, too.
IHC
The good news out of all this is that the only person who died that night, or who was even wounded, was the nutjob. He didn't hit anybody he was shooting at, except himself when he put the gun to his own head and blew his brains out. One out of four ain't bad, I guess, as long as it's the bad guy who's the "one."
When the story broke all of the news agencies carried the same footage from the security cameras in the meeting room, and all of them stopped the video of the footage after the nutjob takes his first two shots - the first at the chairman and the second into the floor when his finger slipped on the trigger before he could bring the gun back up after lowering it following the first shot. You heard the audio of people screaming and a hell of a lot of shooting, but you didn't see anything until the cops came in. Scary stuff to be sure.
But not as scary as it really was...you see, with a little searching I found another source for another video of the event, this one taken by a live cameraman who was filming the meeting. This video shows something that you didn't see on the "mainstream" news networks, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why.
What this video showed was a woman who was later identified as "Ginger" coming into the room from a darkened hallway, directly behind the nutjob, clutching a rather larger purse in her hands. The look on her face tells you what she's about to do, and the catlike manner in which she is sneaking up on the nutjob verifies it.
And the nutjob has no idea that she's there!
Ginger then lifts the purse over her head and smacks the nutjob right on the top of the head with it; unfortunately, either the blow was very weak or the purse was very light, because all it did was draw the nutjob's attention to her and make him point his pistol at her. Luckily for Ginger all the nutjob did was tell her to drop the purse and "go over there" instead of shooting her. The Big Biker was with Ginger that day, lemme tell ya. Shortly after that the shooting started, and we all know how it ended up.
At this point you have to ask yourself one simple question: What would have happened if Ginger had a gun?
Answer: Instead of giving him a slight headache and annoying him, she'd have been able to blow his friggin' brains out and end the drama right then and there before he had a chance to fire a shot.
So why won't the "mainstream" news media show this video? Simple - it shows how one person who, if armed, could have prevented a tragedy BEFORE it took place, thereby demonstrating both the need for and the good that can come out of the average citizen being armed.
No, they'd much rather air a video showing how one nutjob armed with a pistol can terrify six helpless, defenseless (and unarmed) people before opening fire on them, demonstrating to the American people and the people of the world that "guns are bad, and we must eliminate them."
I'm sure the assholes at the Useless Nations are dancing a jig right now.
As for Ginger, while I admire her courage at doing something instead of lining up to become just another victim, I also have to say that while what she did was incredibly brave it was also incredibly stupid. But you get an "A" for effort, Ginger.
For the most part, people walk around with their heads in the clouds, intentionally oblivious to the bad people and the evil in the world. They keep their heads up there until someone like this now-dead nutjob pops up and reminds them that yes, Virginia, there is evil in the world, and in case you need help in remembering that let me shoot you a few times to drive the point home. And each time something like this happens the liberals and the liberal news media all jump up and down, wringing their hands and bemoaning how dangerous and deadly guns are, and how the only way to stop things like this from happening is to ban them entirely.
And as crime statistics have been showing ever since the "Brady Law" was allowed to expire, they couldn't be more wrong.
So let me throw another question at ya, and while I personally hate "what if" questions, I'm forced to use one here. So here's the question:
What if the people on the school board - ALL of them - had been armed?
What do you think the chances would be that this nutjob would have seriously even considered doing what he did if he knew that everyone he was going to encounter at that meeting was armed and could blow his brains out as soon as he showed a gun? Would he have done it?
Maybe, maybe not. On one hand, he WAS a nutjob with a self-proclaimed death wish, so he very well may have gone in there anyway. On the other hand, by everyone being armed he would have been deprived of the opportunity to make a statement and terrify, terrorize, and then attempt to murder the people in the meeting room. And isn't that what ALL nutjobs like him want, to terrorize people and make a statement before they die? The one thing you CAN say is that if the people there were armed, the terrorizing would have been very short-lived, lasting for mere seconds instead of nearly ten minutes. It would have lasted only as long as it took for one or more of the board members to clear leather and shoot the son of a bitch where he stood.
Once upon a time in this nation nearly every male citizen and a heck of a lot of women carried a firearm. They carried it for protection, mainly, from the evils of the new world around them. Sure, there were those in that time too who used their firearms as instruments of evil, but back then people knew that if you wanted to stop a man from killing again and again you put him on the business end of a noose instead of trying to ban the very thing that the good people in the world were using to protect themselves.
Somewhere along the way we got "civilized," and people who supposedly knew what was best for us told us that we could stop carrying firearms, that all of the bad people and evil in the world were gone, and it was safe now.
Bullshit. Me and the other sheepdogs out there know this to be a lie, and we'll continue carrying our weapons and being alert for the wolves of the world. We know that evil still exists, and it preys on the weak, the helpless, and the defenseless.
I just wish the rest of the nation would wake up and realize this, too.
IHC
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Misplaced Anger and the TSA
Those of you who have been following my blog for the past two years know that I'm pretty much done with online forums, except for one. And I don't really post there all that often, but every now and then I do if the subject sparks my interest.
Well, something was posted there yesterday that sparked my interest, so of course I replied...and at the end of the reply I thought to myself, "Hmmmm, I see a blog entry coming here." So here it is.
The post concerned the ludicrous "security" procedures that a group of returning servicemen on their way home from Afghanistan had to go through because they were flying on a commercial airline. All of them were carrying weapons (all unloaded, of course, and NO ONE had any ammunition) and they all had gunpowder residue on them which means they all failed the "screening test" for explosive residue. Well, DUH, of course they had explosive residue on them - they just came from a war zone, stupid! But anyway, along the way one of the TSA screeners made one of the servicemene surrender his nail clippers because "they could be used as a weapon to take over the airplane." And this directed to a guy carrying a rifle, who replied, "THIS is a weapon!"
OK, on the serious side, you can't do much damage with a pair of nail clippers, and unless you use it as a club to beat your way into the cockpit the rifle isn't much of a weapon either, since no one had any ammo. But that's not the point. The point is that the ire of the people involved was focused on the TSA screener, and that's what prompted my reply.
Rather than repeat myself, here's my reply cut ver batim from the forum:
"Stop blaming the TSA employees, because it isn't their fault. First and foremost, THEY DON'T MAKE THE RULES. They just enforce them, and from the conversations I've had with a friend of mine who works with the TSA at Columbia Airport, THEY think some of the rules are pretty stupid, too - but just like the police, they don't get to pick and choose what rules they enforce and upon who.
If you wanna blame someone, here's the list for you:
First blame the people who screamed bloody murder about the FAA and the Feds "not doing enough" to prevent the 9/11 attacks.
Then blame the politicians who screamed bloody murder about the FAA not doing enough.
Then blame the people at the FAA who screamed back about them not having the people nor the authority to do anything about an attack that NO ONE had thought possible until it actually happened.
Then blame the people at the Department of Homeland Security who came up with the TSA concept.
Then blame the Congress who passed the laws creating the TSA and their rules.
Then blame the politicians and administrators who keep coming up with more and more things that they say you can't take on a plane because it could be used as a "weapon."
Then blame the administrators who failed to take into consideration that military folks who carry weapons sometimes travel on commercial airlines, and should be exempt from some of the rules.
See where I'm going with this?
What happened to our country while this serviceman was gone wasn't NObama, as much as I'd like to say it was; what happened was a collective "sticking of heads up asses" by designing this program that is so widespread, so massive, and so complicated to administer that it's doomed to failure from the start. And every "improvement" that they come up with, like the full body scanners, just seems to make it worse.
But on the other hand, the moment the TSA stops doing this and we lose another airplane to a terrorist attack, who do you think is gonna be screaming the loudest?
There's plenty of blame to pass around as to just what the TSA is doing, but the last folks you want to blame are the ones who are working the gates. These folks are paid MINIMUM WAGE, they work lousy hours, they work with borderline morons because that's what you get when you pay minimum wage, they have to enforce rules that they themselves think are stupid and/or a violation of your person, and on top of all that they have to put up with angry passenges who take their frustrations at the system out on the TSA person standing in front of them.
Kinda like you take your frustrations out on getting caught speeding on the cop. You're mad and he's handy.
One of the LAST jobs in the world I'd ever do would be that of a TSA employee, for two reasons: the pay is shit, and so are the passengers. I don't suffer fools well, and I'd get fired within a week because I'd tell some fat, slovenly, holier-than-thou first class passengers to stick it up his ass."
As I've said before, the two things in life that everyone wants but that are both inconvenient are safety and security. After the 9/11 attacks everyone was screaming for more safety and security, and these same people are the ones who are screaming now about the new security measures and the full body scanners being "inconvenient" and an "invasion of privacy." (I've already addressed that, so I won't repeat myself.) But I can guarantee you that it'll be these very same people who will be screaming if we relax our security measures and lost another airplane to a terrorist attack.
When you get right down to brass tacks, if you want to blame the people responsible for all this, blame the Muslim radicals who staged the 9/11 attacks to begin with.
Just don't blame the TSA screeners who are, after all, just doing their job. It's a lousy, crappy, shitty job, and I applaud them for doing it.
IHC
Well, something was posted there yesterday that sparked my interest, so of course I replied...and at the end of the reply I thought to myself, "Hmmmm, I see a blog entry coming here." So here it is.
The post concerned the ludicrous "security" procedures that a group of returning servicemen on their way home from Afghanistan had to go through because they were flying on a commercial airline. All of them were carrying weapons (all unloaded, of course, and NO ONE had any ammunition) and they all had gunpowder residue on them which means they all failed the "screening test" for explosive residue. Well, DUH, of course they had explosive residue on them - they just came from a war zone, stupid! But anyway, along the way one of the TSA screeners made one of the servicemene surrender his nail clippers because "they could be used as a weapon to take over the airplane." And this directed to a guy carrying a rifle, who replied, "THIS is a weapon!"
OK, on the serious side, you can't do much damage with a pair of nail clippers, and unless you use it as a club to beat your way into the cockpit the rifle isn't much of a weapon either, since no one had any ammo. But that's not the point. The point is that the ire of the people involved was focused on the TSA screener, and that's what prompted my reply.
Rather than repeat myself, here's my reply cut ver batim from the forum:
"Stop blaming the TSA employees, because it isn't their fault. First and foremost, THEY DON'T MAKE THE RULES. They just enforce them, and from the conversations I've had with a friend of mine who works with the TSA at Columbia Airport, THEY think some of the rules are pretty stupid, too - but just like the police, they don't get to pick and choose what rules they enforce and upon who.
If you wanna blame someone, here's the list for you:
First blame the people who screamed bloody murder about the FAA and the Feds "not doing enough" to prevent the 9/11 attacks.
Then blame the politicians who screamed bloody murder about the FAA not doing enough.
Then blame the people at the FAA who screamed back about them not having the people nor the authority to do anything about an attack that NO ONE had thought possible until it actually happened.
Then blame the people at the Department of Homeland Security who came up with the TSA concept.
Then blame the Congress who passed the laws creating the TSA and their rules.
Then blame the politicians and administrators who keep coming up with more and more things that they say you can't take on a plane because it could be used as a "weapon."
Then blame the administrators who failed to take into consideration that military folks who carry weapons sometimes travel on commercial airlines, and should be exempt from some of the rules.
See where I'm going with this?
What happened to our country while this serviceman was gone wasn't NObama, as much as I'd like to say it was; what happened was a collective "sticking of heads up asses" by designing this program that is so widespread, so massive, and so complicated to administer that it's doomed to failure from the start. And every "improvement" that they come up with, like the full body scanners, just seems to make it worse.
But on the other hand, the moment the TSA stops doing this and we lose another airplane to a terrorist attack, who do you think is gonna be screaming the loudest?
There's plenty of blame to pass around as to just what the TSA is doing, but the last folks you want to blame are the ones who are working the gates. These folks are paid MINIMUM WAGE, they work lousy hours, they work with borderline morons because that's what you get when you pay minimum wage, they have to enforce rules that they themselves think are stupid and/or a violation of your person, and on top of all that they have to put up with angry passenges who take their frustrations at the system out on the TSA person standing in front of them.
Kinda like you take your frustrations out on getting caught speeding on the cop. You're mad and he's handy.
One of the LAST jobs in the world I'd ever do would be that of a TSA employee, for two reasons: the pay is shit, and so are the passengers. I don't suffer fools well, and I'd get fired within a week because I'd tell some fat, slovenly, holier-than-thou first class passengers to stick it up his ass."
As I've said before, the two things in life that everyone wants but that are both inconvenient are safety and security. After the 9/11 attacks everyone was screaming for more safety and security, and these same people are the ones who are screaming now about the new security measures and the full body scanners being "inconvenient" and an "invasion of privacy." (I've already addressed that, so I won't repeat myself.) But I can guarantee you that it'll be these very same people who will be screaming if we relax our security measures and lost another airplane to a terrorist attack.
When you get right down to brass tacks, if you want to blame the people responsible for all this, blame the Muslim radicals who staged the 9/11 attacks to begin with.
Just don't blame the TSA screeners who are, after all, just doing their job. It's a lousy, crappy, shitty job, and I applaud them for doing it.
IHC
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning
So here I am, sitting in my living room, typing out my blog entry on my wife's Netbook while waiting for our new computer from Dell to arrive. And yes, I'm still wishing the assholes at ThinkPoint in hell, thank you very much.
The news tells me this morning that NObama has "reluctantly" agreed to extending the Bush era tax cuts to all Americans in exchange for another 13 months of unemployment benefits. I have several thoughts on this: first, raising taxes at a time when our economy is just starting to recover from the worst recession in its history would be an extremely BAD idea. Second, extending the free ride to those lowlife, scum-sucking, good-for-nothing slugs who would rather suckle from the government tit via unemployment than go get a freakin' job is also a bad idea. While the extension of benefits for those who are actively trying to get a job but have been unsuccessful is good, allowing the bottom-feeders to go along for the ride is not. Third and most importantly, this announcement by NObama has further alienated him from his own party which will almost surely kill ANY chance he may have had of running for a second term, and it's showing the people who voted for him that he's not the "champion of hope and change" that they thought he was; he's just another politician who made promises he knew he couldn't keep in order to get elected.
Like I've said before, "How's that 'hopey-changey' thing workin' out for ya?"
And speaking of useless politicians, Chuck Rangel needs to be run out of Washington on a rail. He honestly expects us to buy the bullshit line that he simply "made a mistake" and didn't understand what he was doing was WRONG? Sure, but for 17 YEARS? Some of us aren't as stupid as Chuck thinks we are - but unfortunately, those who support him simply because of his race will turn a blind eye to this and continue to support him. ('Scuse me, isn't that called RACISM?)
This year's budget includes a whopping 1.4 percent pay raise for the military, the lowest pay raise since the 1960's. The "analysts" say that military pay has finally caught up to civilian pay levels, so the low pay raise is appropriate. They also fall back on the tired old tactic of saying that the military gets things that civilians don't, like free health care, free housing, and financial assistance if you choose to live off base.
Damned right they do, as well they should. What the analysts (who have never served a day in uniform in their lives, by the way) refuse to acknowledge is the big difference between military life and civilian life, that difference being in the civilian world your employer can't tell you to get on a plane, fly across the world to a land you've never heard of, fight people you've never met, and risk getting killed along the way. And they can tell you to do this as many times as they like, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. Personally, I think military pay should be so good that people would line up to get in the military just for the pay alone.
But then again, those of us who have served know that it's not about the pay - it never was, and it never will be. It's about service, patriotism, and pride, plain and simple. If you've been in the military you understand what I'm talking about; if you haven't served then you'll never fully understand, and I can't help you with that.
The Sarah Palin public affairs campaign continues, in case you haven't noticed. Right after she resigned as Governor of Alaska my mom and I were talking about it, and I told her that I thought Palin had made a wise move. I then told my mom what I thought Palin was going to do next, and here's what I said: I said Palin was going to lie low for a while, 6 months or maybe a bit longer, and then she was slowly going to get her face back in the news by supporting key things that would boost her popularity and making appearances that would cast her only in a positive light. That way she would slowly build her support base so that when 2012 rolls around she'd be a strong contender for the Republican nomination for President.
And in case you haven't been paying attention, that's exactly what she's doing. The Liberals, for the most part, haven't been giving it much thought, but I have a feeling that's gonna bite them in the ass come November 2012. Unless Palin does something really stupid between now and then or unless the Republicans field a better candidate - like Fred Thompson - I'll sure as hell vote for her.
As for the folks at ThinkPoint, I hope all of you rot in Hell. After your dicks fall off, that is.
And lastly, it's a chilly 34 degrees outside right now, and this is South Carolina. What's up with that?
IHC
The news tells me this morning that NObama has "reluctantly" agreed to extending the Bush era tax cuts to all Americans in exchange for another 13 months of unemployment benefits. I have several thoughts on this: first, raising taxes at a time when our economy is just starting to recover from the worst recession in its history would be an extremely BAD idea. Second, extending the free ride to those lowlife, scum-sucking, good-for-nothing slugs who would rather suckle from the government tit via unemployment than go get a freakin' job is also a bad idea. While the extension of benefits for those who are actively trying to get a job but have been unsuccessful is good, allowing the bottom-feeders to go along for the ride is not. Third and most importantly, this announcement by NObama has further alienated him from his own party which will almost surely kill ANY chance he may have had of running for a second term, and it's showing the people who voted for him that he's not the "champion of hope and change" that they thought he was; he's just another politician who made promises he knew he couldn't keep in order to get elected.
Like I've said before, "How's that 'hopey-changey' thing workin' out for ya?"
And speaking of useless politicians, Chuck Rangel needs to be run out of Washington on a rail. He honestly expects us to buy the bullshit line that he simply "made a mistake" and didn't understand what he was doing was WRONG? Sure, but for 17 YEARS? Some of us aren't as stupid as Chuck thinks we are - but unfortunately, those who support him simply because of his race will turn a blind eye to this and continue to support him. ('Scuse me, isn't that called RACISM?)
This year's budget includes a whopping 1.4 percent pay raise for the military, the lowest pay raise since the 1960's. The "analysts" say that military pay has finally caught up to civilian pay levels, so the low pay raise is appropriate. They also fall back on the tired old tactic of saying that the military gets things that civilians don't, like free health care, free housing, and financial assistance if you choose to live off base.
Damned right they do, as well they should. What the analysts (who have never served a day in uniform in their lives, by the way) refuse to acknowledge is the big difference between military life and civilian life, that difference being in the civilian world your employer can't tell you to get on a plane, fly across the world to a land you've never heard of, fight people you've never met, and risk getting killed along the way. And they can tell you to do this as many times as they like, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. Personally, I think military pay should be so good that people would line up to get in the military just for the pay alone.
But then again, those of us who have served know that it's not about the pay - it never was, and it never will be. It's about service, patriotism, and pride, plain and simple. If you've been in the military you understand what I'm talking about; if you haven't served then you'll never fully understand, and I can't help you with that.
The Sarah Palin public affairs campaign continues, in case you haven't noticed. Right after she resigned as Governor of Alaska my mom and I were talking about it, and I told her that I thought Palin had made a wise move. I then told my mom what I thought Palin was going to do next, and here's what I said: I said Palin was going to lie low for a while, 6 months or maybe a bit longer, and then she was slowly going to get her face back in the news by supporting key things that would boost her popularity and making appearances that would cast her only in a positive light. That way she would slowly build her support base so that when 2012 rolls around she'd be a strong contender for the Republican nomination for President.
And in case you haven't been paying attention, that's exactly what she's doing. The Liberals, for the most part, haven't been giving it much thought, but I have a feeling that's gonna bite them in the ass come November 2012. Unless Palin does something really stupid between now and then or unless the Republicans field a better candidate - like Fred Thompson - I'll sure as hell vote for her.
As for the folks at ThinkPoint, I hope all of you rot in Hell. After your dicks fall off, that is.
And lastly, it's a chilly 34 degrees outside right now, and this is South Carolina. What's up with that?
IHC
Thursday, December 2, 2010
So Who Would You Wish in Hell?
If you had one wish to wish someone in Hell, who would it be? Yeah, I know, that's a pretty bleak, insensitive, harsh and hateful thing to think about this close to Christmas, but believe me I have my reasons. Reasons which will become apparent shortly, and once you hear what they are, I'm quite sure you'll agree.
So, back to the question: if you had one wish to wish someone in Hell, who would it be?
Fidel Castro? Nah, he's gonna be dead soon enough anyway, and he's finished being dangerous or harmful to anyone now that his brother's in control anyway.
Mahmood Ahmadinijad, The President of Iran? A definite member of the Top 3, to be sure, but not my #1 choice.
My former Regional Directory of Security for Macy*s East? Nah again; he's my #2 choice, but he's not first on my list.
So just who is #1 on my "Wish You In Hell" list? Simple - that would be the scum-sucking, lowlife, scab-picking, shit-eating, ass-licking, cocksucking, bottom-dwelling asshole who created the ThinkPoint virus, that's who.
Show of hands: how many of you know both understand and agree with me? Uh-huh, I thought so.
For those of you who don't know, the ThinkPoint virus is one of those cute little computer virus programs that infiltrates your computer through various ways and generates fake "popup" virus alerts. These phony alerts are cleverly crafted to appear genuine, even incorporating the Microsoft/Windows logo in the alert box. As soon as the alert box pops up and you foolishly click on it, you'll see another screen showing a phony "virus scan" of your computer which will invariably show as many as two dozen "virus infections." The program will then tell you to erase these "viruses" all you have to do is click on the "SCAN" button in the alert box, and all will be right with the computer world once again.
And if you're foolish enough to do this, that's when the real fun begins.
At that point a second phoney "alert" box will pop up, this one telling you that the "free" version of ThinkPoint can't fix the "virus infection," and it directs you to their web site where you can purchase the complete program that will remove the virus.
Sure, it'll remove the virus, all right - for a mere $99.00 they're remove the virus that they installed on your computer, that virus being the phony "virus alert" program you're seeing.
We had one of these viruses - not the ThinkPoint virus, but one similar - pop up on Gina's netbook last week, but that was an easy fix - a quick trip down System Restore Lane, and all is right with the world. Then, just to be on the safe side, a quick download of a totally ass-kicking and totally FREE anti-spyware program called Spybot, and I'm not worried about picking up that particular virus program again. I've used Spybot for more than six years, and absolutely love it. Aside from the fact that it's totally FREE, it's also an ass-kicking good anti-spyware program.
So when the ThinkPoint virus made its appearance on my desktop yesterday afternoon at 3PM, I wasn't worried. I figured all I had to do was take another stroll down System Restore Lane and I'd be golden again.
Were it that easy.
What I didn't know is that ThinkPoint is a much more insidious, much more complicated, and much more difficult to erase program than the one I encountered on the Netbook. This became apparent when I clicked on the START button at the bottom left corner of my computer, and discovered that the virus had re-written the program for that button. Instead of showing the programs on my computer like it's supposed to, which includes the ACCESORIES program in which the System Restore program lies, it showed me the contents of my DOCUMENTS file.
In other words, the asswipe who designed the program knew that it could be easily defeated by System Restore, so the cocksucker wrote the virus program so it prevents you from getting to it. Nice, huh? Personally, I'd like to pinch his head off and shit down his neck.
So now I'm stumped as to what to do, so I figure I'll just restart the computer and enter SAFE mode when it reboots. I have NOT clicked on any buttons for the virus program, so I'm still seeing that annoying little phony virus alert box, and it's really starting to piss me off. What happens when I click on the TURN COMPUTER OFF button next REALLY pisses me off.
What happens is nothing. Nada. Zilch. Another command re-write, courtesy of the asslicking designer of this virus program.
So now what? OK, if I cant' turn the computer off normally, I'll just turn off the power strip it's connected to and reboot that way. Should work, right?
Wrong. Seems the assfaced ball-licker thought of that, too, and when my computer rebooted it didn't start loading Windows. What it did in actuallity was nothing - nada, zilch, zip. I got the Dell Startup screen, and after that I got nothing. Not even any noise of computer components working coming from the tower, either.
So now what? Well, first I call Gina and tell her what's going on, then ask her to see if her boss's hubby - who is a computer genius - can fix it. She texts back in 5 minutes and says sure, he can fix it and all she has to do is bring it to work with her and he'll take care of it.
Excellent. So now what? In the mean time I have the Netbook, which is better than nothing. So to kill some time I go on the Netbook and do a BING.com search for this ThinkPoint virus, and I discover just how nefarious this thing really is. Not only does it redirect specific commands, it also blocks your Internet access to any site except - you guessed it - the ThinkPoint site where you can buy the "full program."
But here's the really scary part: it also acts as a keystroke recording program, which can then be used by the creators of the program to hack into your computer and steal your screen names, passwords, credit card account numbers, and everything else in your computer memory. In short, this program can be used to STEAL YOUR IDENTITY. The only saving grace for me is that I didn't click on the box directing me to the website for the "full program," so the required code wasn't downloaded onto my computer.
As I'm typing this - on the Netbook, of course - the desktop is with Gina's boss's hubby, and he's trying to fix it. Right now it's not looking good, because it appears that another cute little feature that the cocksucking, inbred, shit-eating little asshole who designed this program put in it was a feature that fries your hard drive and/or your motherboard if you do what I did and power down to reboot and access the SAFE mode at startup. So now it looks like I may be in the market for a new computer, which is just what I need right in the middle of the holiday season when money is already tight.
In the mean time, I'm sitting here thinking about how much I'd like to have the designer of that program standing in front of me, and me standing there with either a pair of pliers or a very long, very sharp knife in my hand.
Or both. I have two hands, you know.
IHC
So, back to the question: if you had one wish to wish someone in Hell, who would it be?
Fidel Castro? Nah, he's gonna be dead soon enough anyway, and he's finished being dangerous or harmful to anyone now that his brother's in control anyway.
Mahmood Ahmadinijad, The President of Iran? A definite member of the Top 3, to be sure, but not my #1 choice.
My former Regional Directory of Security for Macy*s East? Nah again; he's my #2 choice, but he's not first on my list.
So just who is #1 on my "Wish You In Hell" list? Simple - that would be the scum-sucking, lowlife, scab-picking, shit-eating, ass-licking, cocksucking, bottom-dwelling asshole who created the ThinkPoint virus, that's who.
Show of hands: how many of you know both understand and agree with me? Uh-huh, I thought so.
For those of you who don't know, the ThinkPoint virus is one of those cute little computer virus programs that infiltrates your computer through various ways and generates fake "popup" virus alerts. These phony alerts are cleverly crafted to appear genuine, even incorporating the Microsoft/Windows logo in the alert box. As soon as the alert box pops up and you foolishly click on it, you'll see another screen showing a phony "virus scan" of your computer which will invariably show as many as two dozen "virus infections." The program will then tell you to erase these "viruses" all you have to do is click on the "SCAN" button in the alert box, and all will be right with the computer world once again.
And if you're foolish enough to do this, that's when the real fun begins.
At that point a second phoney "alert" box will pop up, this one telling you that the "free" version of ThinkPoint can't fix the "virus infection," and it directs you to their web site where you can purchase the complete program that will remove the virus.
Sure, it'll remove the virus, all right - for a mere $99.00 they're remove the virus that they installed on your computer, that virus being the phony "virus alert" program you're seeing.
We had one of these viruses - not the ThinkPoint virus, but one similar - pop up on Gina's netbook last week, but that was an easy fix - a quick trip down System Restore Lane, and all is right with the world. Then, just to be on the safe side, a quick download of a totally ass-kicking and totally FREE anti-spyware program called Spybot, and I'm not worried about picking up that particular virus program again. I've used Spybot for more than six years, and absolutely love it. Aside from the fact that it's totally FREE, it's also an ass-kicking good anti-spyware program.
So when the ThinkPoint virus made its appearance on my desktop yesterday afternoon at 3PM, I wasn't worried. I figured all I had to do was take another stroll down System Restore Lane and I'd be golden again.
Were it that easy.
What I didn't know is that ThinkPoint is a much more insidious, much more complicated, and much more difficult to erase program than the one I encountered on the Netbook. This became apparent when I clicked on the START button at the bottom left corner of my computer, and discovered that the virus had re-written the program for that button. Instead of showing the programs on my computer like it's supposed to, which includes the ACCESORIES program in which the System Restore program lies, it showed me the contents of my DOCUMENTS file.
In other words, the asswipe who designed the program knew that it could be easily defeated by System Restore, so the cocksucker wrote the virus program so it prevents you from getting to it. Nice, huh? Personally, I'd like to pinch his head off and shit down his neck.
So now I'm stumped as to what to do, so I figure I'll just restart the computer and enter SAFE mode when it reboots. I have NOT clicked on any buttons for the virus program, so I'm still seeing that annoying little phony virus alert box, and it's really starting to piss me off. What happens when I click on the TURN COMPUTER OFF button next REALLY pisses me off.
What happens is nothing. Nada. Zilch. Another command re-write, courtesy of the asslicking designer of this virus program.
So now what? OK, if I cant' turn the computer off normally, I'll just turn off the power strip it's connected to and reboot that way. Should work, right?
Wrong. Seems the assfaced ball-licker thought of that, too, and when my computer rebooted it didn't start loading Windows. What it did in actuallity was nothing - nada, zilch, zip. I got the Dell Startup screen, and after that I got nothing. Not even any noise of computer components working coming from the tower, either.
So now what? Well, first I call Gina and tell her what's going on, then ask her to see if her boss's hubby - who is a computer genius - can fix it. She texts back in 5 minutes and says sure, he can fix it and all she has to do is bring it to work with her and he'll take care of it.
Excellent. So now what? In the mean time I have the Netbook, which is better than nothing. So to kill some time I go on the Netbook and do a BING.com search for this ThinkPoint virus, and I discover just how nefarious this thing really is. Not only does it redirect specific commands, it also blocks your Internet access to any site except - you guessed it - the ThinkPoint site where you can buy the "full program."
But here's the really scary part: it also acts as a keystroke recording program, which can then be used by the creators of the program to hack into your computer and steal your screen names, passwords, credit card account numbers, and everything else in your computer memory. In short, this program can be used to STEAL YOUR IDENTITY. The only saving grace for me is that I didn't click on the box directing me to the website for the "full program," so the required code wasn't downloaded onto my computer.
As I'm typing this - on the Netbook, of course - the desktop is with Gina's boss's hubby, and he's trying to fix it. Right now it's not looking good, because it appears that another cute little feature that the cocksucking, inbred, shit-eating little asshole who designed this program put in it was a feature that fries your hard drive and/or your motherboard if you do what I did and power down to reboot and access the SAFE mode at startup. So now it looks like I may be in the market for a new computer, which is just what I need right in the middle of the holiday season when money is already tight.
In the mean time, I'm sitting here thinking about how much I'd like to have the designer of that program standing in front of me, and me standing there with either a pair of pliers or a very long, very sharp knife in my hand.
Or both. I have two hands, you know.
IHC
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