Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Melanie Bowers, the 13-year-old student who claimed she was beaten up and threatened with rape and death over an anti illegal immigration poster was lying lying lying:
After Melanie’s accusations, administrators reviewed school survellience videotape of the incident – which, instead of showing students beating or attacking her, showed Bowers scratching herself on her arms, face, and neck, and walking through the halls of the school calmly long after she claimed the incident happened.
After Melanie’s parents were presented with that information and the video, the school confronted Melanie, and she admitted that she made the story up.
Good idea. Make up stories. Get on the news. That will only be with your for…oh, I don’t know…the REST OF YOUR LIFE.
From now on, whenever anyone googles Melanie Bowers (like prospective employers and boyfriends), they will find out she’s that stupid girl who is a liar.
Nice.
UPDATE: Forgot the link.
UPDATE: The girl was lying.
Student Attacked by Classmates Because of Anti-Immigration Sign
Homework can be dangerous:
Melanie Bowers, 13, was told to make a protest sign for or against an issue for her U.S. history class. So, she came to school March 31st with a sign that said “If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration.”
My guess is that isn’t the sort of protest that they meant. They meant acceptable protests, like “Impeach Bush,” “Christians Are Totally Stupid,” or “Eat the Rich.” My guess is that any of those would NOT have resulted in physical violence. But Melanie’s sign got her just that.
The girl’s father, J.R. Bowers, says his eighth-grade daughter was attacked last Friday in a hallway. She suffered scrapes and bruises and later needed medical attention.
“I don’t know any of these people,” Melanie says. “He jumped on my back and he put me in a chokehold thing, like that. And we have brick walls in the middle school, he slid my face on the brick wall.”
Melanie Bowers also claims some boys threatened to rape and kill her. The family also says she was ordered back to class and was not allowed to call her parents.
Now, we don’t know how accurate the claims are and I don’t want to jump to conclusions. But I’ve got to think the school’s reaction is more troubling than the attack, if that can be believed.
Her family is keeping her out of school until the issue is resolved. Physical attacks? Threats to rape and kill? My daughter would never be going back if that happened.
In the end, this will be held up as an example of intolerance by a white American citizen.
Next time, draw people smiling, dogs running, and rainbows. They don’t have meetings about rainbows.
11 April 1945
Kamikaze Compared To Suicide Bombers
Over at Strategy Page they discuss the campaign of suicide bombers in Iraq:
This effort has become the second largest suicide attack campaign in the last century. The largest was the Japanese use of suicide pilots, in air attacks on the U.S. Navy (and some allied ships) during the later stages of World War II. Some 2,800 suicide pilots died. They managed to sink 34 ships and damage 368 others. About 4,900 sailors died. Only about 14 percent of the Kamikaze pilots survived U.S. fighters and anti-aircraft fire, to actually hit a ship. The Kamikaze always attacked military targets, while the suicide bombers tended to avoid anyone who could shoot back.
That last sentence is what has always set the Japanese kamikazes apart from today’s suicide bombers, and I guess I’ve never really equated the two in any way other than the obvious fact that both include self-destruction as part of their mission.
This is different than what we normally mean when we say things like “suicide mission” we don’t really mean ‘suicide’ but ‘so difficult you might not survive.’ Even guys who charge a machine gun bunker with a .45 and a grenade have some hope, however dim, that they will survive. Even then, its not the sort of action taken when reasonable alternatives exist.
With both the Kamikazes and Islamic suicide bombers, the idea was to demoralize the opponent, and force an end to the conflict, or at least reduce the extent of the attackers defeat. The tactic failed in both cases, although both Kamikazes and Islamic “martyrs” are admired for their courage.
Maybe it’s just Murdoc, but I have no admiration for your typical Islamic suicide bomber, not even anything resembling the grudging sort that I have for the Japanese kamikaze pilots. I keep hearing things like “no matter what side you’re on, you can’t deny that the 9/11 terrorists were brave men.”
Excuse me, but I can deny it. Sure, the 9/11 hijackers had to overcome their own personal fears to carry out their mission, but that hardly qualifies one deserving respect for bravery. They hijacked basically defenseless civilians for the purpose of using their plane as a weapon against other basically defenseless civilians. I don’t really see a lot of difference between the 9/11 bastards and the bastards that blow up dozens or hundreds of worshipers at mosques or random patrons at an open-air deli.
The Japanese pilots who tried to fly their planes into Allied warships were uniformed members of an official government military on a military mission against military targets for military purposes. Virtually none of today’s suicide bombers fit this profile.
What’s next? Do we have to respect the killers at Columbine and Virginia Tech and Westroads Mall for their courage?
CO2 output must cease altogether, studies warn
Using advanced computer models to factor in deep-sea warming and other aspects of the carbon cycle that naturally creates and removes carbon dioxide (CO2), the scientists, from countries including the United States, Canada and Germany, are delivering a simple message: The world must bring carbon emissions down to near zero to keep temperatures from rising further.
Meanwhile: Pentagon’s environmental variances questioned
The Pentagon hasn’t made the case for exemptions from three environmental laws or provided examples of how military operations have been impeded by them, a congressional report said Friday.
Though it probably sounds pretty nerdy to those who never or only rarely played D&D or other role playing games, Dungeons & Dragons had a profound effect on my youth. And, therefore, my life.
Just got this in my inbox:
From: Glenn Pxxxxx
Subject: LifeGet a life. Failed policy by President Bush will be felt for a generation.
It’s always nice to hear from my fans. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks!
Nir Rosen in Rolling Stone magazine:
To engineer a fragile peace, the U.S. military has created and backed dozens of new Sunni militias, which now operate beyond the control of Iraq’s central government. The Americans call the units by a variety of euphemisms: Iraqi Security Volunteers (ISVs), neighborhood watch groups, Concerned Local Citizens, Critical Infrastructure Security. The militias prefer a simpler and more dramatic name: They call themselves Sahwa, or “the Awakening.”
At least 80,000 men across Iraq are now employed by the Americans as ISVs. Nearly all are Sunnis, with the exception of a few thousand Shiites. Operating as a contractor, Osama runs 300 of these new militiamen, former resistance fighters whom the U.S. now counts as allies because they are cashing our checks.
You know, I find all this hand-wringing over paying militiamen to side with us hilarious. Absofreakinglutely hilarious. And here’s why.
Overshadowing almost every moment of our campaign in Iraq have been claims that Americans just don’t “get” the culture in Iraq. Virtually every single thing any one of our people says or does is presented as some offensive insult of Iraqi culture or Islam or Arab common sense.
Stupid Americans.
Also, all sorts of people who claim to have supported the invasion of Afghanistan (never mind that they were against it at the time) wonder why we abandoned that model when we invaded Iraq. What worked so well (never mind that they laughed about it right up until the moment it worked) was cast aside so Bush and Cheney and Rummy and who knows who else could have their big glorious war in the desert.
Stupid Americans.
Meanwhile, once the war with no plan had been won in weeks, the biggest dumb move by the US was the dissolution of the Iraqi Army. Now we had all sorts of unemployed Iraqi soldiers running around with weapons and no way to support themselves save by hiring themselves out to the bad guys.
Stupid Americans.
Now, with a strong, capable, professional Iraqi Army coming into its own, security back under control thanks to a number of strategies including additional US forces deployed to hunt down insurgents and terrorists, and legislation working toward various forms of reconciliation moving in the Iraqi government, the “surge” has failed because we’re hiring Sunni militiamen to fight our enemies instead of us.
Aside: There’s a whole nother school of thought that supposes the “surge” has failed because US and Iraqi troops didn’t restore security, Moqtada al Sadr allowed security by calling a truce with US and Iraqi forces. Security exists at his whim and any peace is illusory (and the illusion is only temporary), they say. It’s interesting that if the failure of the “surge” is so plain and so clear, why do failure proponents offer completely different reasons? Anyway,
Once the pants-wetting dies down, maybe critics will realize that paying Sunni militiamen to side with us against insurgents, terrorists, and criminals is almost exactly what they’ve been advocating we do all along.
They wanted the old Iraqi Army intact? Well, the old Iraqi Army was almost completely Sunni and totally rotted by corruption and graft, with loyalty guaranteed only by payrolls, tribal pressures, and threats of force. Oops. Sounds a lot like the “Awakening” to me. Just more manageable and more likely to play ball.
They wanted an Afghanistan model for the campaign in Iraq? Well, is anyone still pretending that the Northern Alliance sided with us because they support baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet? Or did maybe all of those suitcases of cash affect loyalties and alliances? We convinced enough Afghanis that not only did we want the Taliban out of power, we’d pay them to help us make it happen. Oops. Substitute “Iraqis” for “Afghanis” and “terrorists who are killing your families and generally making life rough for everyone” for “Taliban,” and you could be talking about the Concerned Local Citizens.
Finally, this isn’t being done in ignorance of the culture. It’s being done because of the culture. It’s showing signs of success because of the culture. The culture in Iraq, to a large degree, doesn’t frown on what we consider bribery. It’s profitable and it’s honorable. Oversimplified? Absolutely. But true to a large degree.
Make no mistake, this campaign is far from over. There is a long way to go. Some of the tribes we’ve paid off could (and will) flip back. But the wind is blowing in the right direction. This is the way a counterinsurgency is won.
Gateway Pundit has the story on two separate incidents. In both cases the police have yet to find the head.
No wonder they’re trying to outlaw swords in Britain.
Heartless Libertarian wonders why the military is never included in lists of Recession Proof Jobs.
Low unemployment always makes military recruiting tougher.
