Hello Russia!

I don’t know why the G7 (which used to be the G8 until Russia went and spoiled a great play on words) continues to think they can just tell Russia what to do with threats. It’s clear that Russia will go on like the Titanic, ignoring warnings and caring about danger. Maybe if we were a little less combative and insincere when we interact with Russia, they would be a little less estranged.

Apparently, Iraq has become the next Candyland. Not only are we pulling critical Marines out of the Anbar providence, but they are going to build – in Baghdad – a giant … ferris … wheel? Okay, don’t know how to react to that. “Hey, let’s go ride the wheel to look down on the splendid brown city of Baghdad.” Uh, okay? I get why there’s one in London, and in Japan. But … Baghdad?

Bush pushes for war with Congress! Get ready to ruuuuummbllleeee!

I know I’ve been hard on PUMA 08 and Clinton 4 McCain groups, but there is this inability to let go. Tonight, Bill Clinton gave reasons for standing behind Barack Obama 100%. Last night, Hillary said the same damn thing. Today, Hillary basically gave up her candidacy by energetically strolling forth onto the stage at the DNC and asking that the roll call be foregone to announce – unanimously – Obama as their Presidential candidate. Yet, for some reason, some people are just dedicated to derailing their own ideals and the ideals of their fellow Democrats by voting for the opposition.

Not voting, I understand. Voting for the other guy? That’s childish, bullshit and a move that cries, “I’m frightened!” Politics were broken a long time ago. None of your clamoring bullshit is new. If you hate the Party Politic, then you should have quit when you realized it, instead of dragging your heels. JFC, people.

If you support Republicans, join the GOP. If you support Democrats, join the Democrats. But for fuck sake DO NOT claim to be one and then go all bonkers supporting the other. This is why I left the GOP. It’s dishonest to say I support them. Disingenuous, to the core. It applies to all of you.

Don’t believe for a second that I forgot you Ron Paul fanatics/flip-flopping Republicans (Republicans for Obama or whatever) who will show up the RNC next week. I will say something about you next week.

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I Live To Create Anarchy! I Am Teh Evil!

Clearly, my post about PUMA ’08 and their ilk has created some … angry resentment by people who found my blog (mostly via Google according to my stats). One apparent member – I could be wrong, maybe they are just an associate or supporter – thought to comment on my particular take on the organization.

Even correcting my use of the acronymn*. Needless to say, I approved it (but not the 19 other comments that thought to bury me in links, bullshit and insults).

So, without further ado, I present Tuesday’s episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Skip ahead to like after the first commercial break. Now, watch the report with John Oliver about Party Healing. Take particular note that he consults a CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST.

In conclusion, even the comedians think you people are acting like children. There within lies the great irony – the great laugh.  The fact that the media – who they are trying to make more conscious of their mistreatment – thinks they are the present political fad (popular one day, crap the next). I dislike Obama, but I think they are the political Judas’s of 2008 (even more so than the Mitt Romney camp).

= OH, and I’m going to be at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend. I head off to Seattle, Washington early, early, God awful early on Thursday morning (like 05:00 early). I’m getting NO sleep, except maybe on the plane (yeah, right). So there will be no updates until next Tuesday.

Enjoy your break from my endless ranting and perceived villainy!

* Yes, I too thought this was hilarious that sarcasm was lost upon the uninformed.

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P.U.M.A. – Pretty Ugly MisAntrhopes

I understand when a party goes off on a tangent away from their Presidential nominee’s platform, but when a group of people intentionally try to sabotage their own nominee out of stupidity and hateful spite, then they need to STFU and GTFO. I aim this at P.U.M.A. and the NObama ilk because they are an example of the worst kind of retarded activism out there. I don’t want excuses, you morons – just get over Hillarity’s loss. I’m starting to dislike them even more than Code Pink, FFS.

So, we head into the last week in August with more devestation in Iraq. And then we have some pretty crazy shit going on in Pakistan. Taliban is just attacking right and left, on some sort of spree. Facepalm moment – the UN declares the US led forces are causing more civilian casualties in Afghanistan through neglegence. Add to the pile with North Korea halting the destruction of their nuclear facility, threatening to restart it. D’oh! WTF are we doing???

India clearly does not understand the meaning of “mass transit.” Their reaction basically tells me that they have no intentions of adapting mass transit over there, either. Freedom over security, status over life. Eh, whatever.

Russia kinda put the spin on the entire Georgian conflict:
- Georgia provoked the Russians.
- The Russians retaliated, so UN sanctions don’t apply here.
- Do a double whammy on Georgia by recognizing the separatist regions.
- All the West can do is try to look good by growling at Russia.
The US comes off particularly worse for wear because even with our warships patrolling Georgian shores, Russia still ignores us on the whole, stating they aren’t afraid of another Cold War.

See, this is why I dislike hate-mongers. It’s one thing to be anti-gay, but totally another to say that gay people have no rights. Sydney should just eject the guy into the ocean.

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Joe Biden for Vice President

Protip to John McCain:

When your opponent chooses his running mate before you do (literally beating you to the punch), do not let your campaign fire off an attack literally five minutes after the announcement. This makes you appear to be a paranoid douchebag who isn’t in control of your own people.

I know I’m harsh on McCain, but the dude has had the opportunity to show more constraint and make better choices. These moments reflect on him as a candidate – making these kinds of mistakes dulls your luster.

Protip to Barack Obama:

Don’t let Joe Biden outshine you, or it will bite you in the ass. Good choice, since you want to help close the experience and foreign policy gaps.

Biden reminds of me of Hagel – not afraid to say what he thinks. He’s going to be the one on Obama’s campaign who fires back at McCain, and that will definitely help.

It will be interesting to watch from here on out. I hope McCain chooses his running mate wisely. That’s his saving grace – getting someone a little more grounded and campaign savvy. Someone a little more … likeable.

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Eco-Friendly Nebraska Not So Child-Friendly

Pro-Nebraska News
Omaha’s slowly moving towards mass recycling, as surrounding communities take on incentatives from collectors. Also, we’re now 70% of the way to our goal with wind power. SCIENCE!!! and Environment + 1 bonus.

Bad Nebraska News
Not only can you abandon your newborns at the hospitals, you can also abandon any child under the age of 19 in “Safe Haven” areas. WTF? Child Care and Responsibility -2 penalty.

Makes me both happy and embarassed to be a Nebraskan.

The dollar’s shoring up, making oil prices drop another $6+. Hoping this is good news for consumers, but I won’t bet on it. I look at it this way: At least we’re not China, who’s going to crash hard sometime after the Olympics from all their artificial stimulation and boosting of their own internal economy.

EDIT: Okay, I do agree that Safe Havens are great things to have. I agree that maybe some abused kids should be able to get out of bad families. However, I can see this being abused by parents who could really do it if they tried, but since they have an easy out, they are tempted to take it. My problem is that with present day young parents, being allowed to dump your teenager off when they get unruly is not helping anyone. All it reinforces is that if it gets hard, quit.

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Achievement Unlocked # … 6?

Click to Enlarge

Courtesy of suggestions from people on other forums. Thanks to some of the Battle Forum people for their webcam pictures.

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10 Years

I’ve never quite explained every last detail of my military service. Mostly because most of it was in Intelligence, and that equates to a sealed record depending on what you do and where you go and when. But someone on the Boardgame Geek was interested in my background, because he had heard a lot – A LOT – of strange tales about phased out jobs and ranks in the AF from 1989 to 2001.

I knew Bob Barrow. The last “official” WO of the Air Force. It was a weird time for everyone in the military, including a few of my Marine buddies. I think a lot of shit in the Air Force was convoluted beyond reckoning during the 90s.

For instance, at some point, I started as a reservist that transferred to active duty. But my records didn’t show I was on active duty until 1995, nearly three years afterwards. And then after that, they failed to show my previous time as a reservist until I filled out another set of paperwork and sent it to Denver. I was in ROTC, but never an officer (I quit school). I went with a Canadian attachment to Bosnia originally. I faded out to the lowest enlisted rank I could get, because of a screw up in paperwork, and then promoted twice in a short span to get discharged as an E-6 (Tech Sergeant). My phasing out started before I actually transferred to active duty. My paperwork took 6 years to straighten out. Which is better than Doug Laugherty, who hung between SMSgt and WO-3 for almost 10 years (he had the enlisted rank, but his benefits had the previous WO rank from 1988).

This is why I hate talking about it. When I got faded*, I had the reputation of being the mouthy Chief to some senior officers in my squadron. Much to their ire, I was not immediately booted – instead, I rode a waiver out to 1999, sitting tucked away, migrating to a mobility position where I just waited until my time ran out and didn’t re-enlist. I didn’t want to re-enlist – just trying to become an E-7 at that point would be so hard, explaining to boards, filling out paperwork to make sure all my points were there. Fuck that. Who wants to go through that?

I kinda wish I had stayed in and retired. But that’s a “should of/could of” moment, and I hate those. But, some people I know and stay in touch with from the military (like CD Rhom) still call me Chief. It’s weird. I got used to that, but it seems so far away (and like yesterday at the same time). I think I put it out of my mind when I got out, like a lot of people do.

I’ll officially be out of the service for 10 years starting next March. I officially signed my form to get a general discharge when my time ran out on this day in 1998. I still have my uniforms. I still wake up at night some nights panicked.

* We called it ‘fading’ when I was at Minot AFB. I don’t know if everyone called it that, or if it was just us.

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No Assured Victory in Iraq

General Petraeus spoke up recently and said that he’ll avoid claiming victory in Iraq, because in reality, the goals and the successes of the war are fragile and have shifted since the invasion. At least he’s adjusted his attitude appropriately after being in charge during the surge. His speak of failures and concerns (and a shift towards Afghanistan), as well, and I think he got a little smarter from his experiences. He also understands the fact we’re pulling out of Iraq in a few years, so he’s keeping it cool. Good for him.

Lots of bombs lately. One in Turkey was targeting police, and killed 11. One in Pakistan targetted a major arms factory that supplies weapons to the Pakistan military, and killed 59. I believe there was one in Algeria, claimed by the North African branch of Al-Q.

India is suffering from monsoon season. I hope things get better for them.

2008 seems to be the year of evolving politics. We’ve been running on the 1976 process for 30 years, so it’s about time things change. First thing is that the blogsphere is apparently good for something other than ranting. Second thing is that even Republicans are moving towards more separation of church and state. It would be nice if I read that more people voted in the general election this year than in 2006. It’s sounding really probable. That would be the biggest and best change ever.

Department of Homeland Security isn’t so secure after all. LOL

I don’t know if the media is beginning to act a little more responsible or if it’s apathy, but there was a high school shooting that got very little – if any – big media attention. I’m hoping for the first, but I’m thinking that it’s the latter. US media sucks balls lately. Look at the medal race results if you don’t believe me – since when did more overall medals mean more than total gold medals? Putting the US on top is faggotry. Flag/dick waving propaganda machines …

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Rock Band 2 Set List

(or secretly – How Many Blag Posts Will I Make in One Day? )

Anyway, confirmed setlist for Rock Band 2 is as follows:

AC/DC–Let There Be Rock
AFI–Girl’s Not Grey
Alanis Morissette–You Oughta Know
Alice in Chains–Man in the Box
Allman Brothers–Ramblin’ Man
Avenged Sevenfold–Almost Easy
Bad Company–Shooting Star
Beastie Boys–So Whatcha Want
Beck–E-Pro
Bikini Kill–Rebel Girl
Billy Idol–White Wedding Pt. I
Blondie–One Way or Another
Bob Dylan–Tangled Up in Blue
Bon Jovi–Livin’ on a Prayer
Cheap Trick–Hello There
Devo–Uncontrollable Urge
Dinosaur Jr.–Feel the Pain
Disturbed–Down with the Sickness
Dream Theater–Panic Attack
Duran Duran–Hungry Like the Wolf
Elvis Costello–Pump It Up
Fleetwood Mac–Go Your Own Way
Foo Fighters–Everlong
Guns N’ Roses–Shackler’s Revenge
Interpol–PDA
Jane’s Addiction–Mountain Song
Jethro Tull–Aqualung
Jimmy Eat World–The Middle
Joan Jett–Bad Reputation
Journey–Anyway You Want It
Judas Priest–Painkiller
Kansas–Carry On Wayward Son
L7–Pretend We’re Dead
Lacuna Coil–Our Truth
Linkin Park–One Step Closer
Lit–My Own Worst Enemy
Lush–De-Luxe
Mastodon–Colony of Birchmen
Megadeth–Peace Sells
Metallica–Battery
Mighty Mighty Bosstones–Where’d You Go
Modest Mouse–Float On
Motorhead–Ace of Spades
Nirvana–Drain You
Norman Greenbaum–Spirit in the Sky
Panic at the Disco–Nine in the Afternoon
Paramore–That’s What You Get
Pearl Jam–Alive
Presidents of the USA–Lump
Rage Against the Machine–Testify
Ratt–Round & Round
Red Hot Chili Peppers–Give it Away
Rise Against–Give it All
Rush–The Trees
Silversun Pickups–Lazy Eye
Smashing Pumpkins–Today
Social Distortion–I Was Wrong
Sonic Youth–Teenage Riot
Soundgarden–Spoonman
Squeeze–Cool for Cats
Steely Dan–Bodhitsattva
Steve Miller Band–Rock’n Me
Survivor–Eye of the Tiger
System of a Down–Chop Suey
Talking Heads–Psycho Killer
Tenacious D–Master Exploder
Testament–Souls of Black
The Donnas–New Kid in School
The Go-Go’s–We Got the Beat
The Grateful Dead–Alabama Getaway
The Guess Who–American Woman
The Muffs–Kids in America
The Offspring–Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)
The Replacements–Alex Chilton
The Who–Pinball Wizard

There, each song with a link to a YouTube video so if you don’t recognize a song, you can listen to it. You’re welcome.

Anyway, the next 20 DLC songs for Rock Band 2 are free, as well.

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