Aloha Siun!

Isn’t it sad that the GZG is proposing to build the biggest Ferris wheel ever in the Green Zone…? 8-(

Evening, Siun.

Evening CT! glad you’re back online!

Nice banner! Good evening, Siunshine.

Digg

Hi Siun, CT, ES!
Seems like our minds revolve the same way CT. I’ve been struggling to write an essay on that ferris wheel all week.

Mahalo! Glad to be back too! Hate to miss your wonderful posts…! ;-)

The one that reminds me of the old clay pipes on a wheel in the shooting gallery at the state fair?

Thank you so much Siun.

digg
and reddit

Did you see this article…

stop wasting our money

Before leaving the house, my wife told me that while she got some news about a plan for building the biggest Ferris wheel in the world in Baghdad. I replied mocking “let the government first supply us electricity for two continuous hours, then it can build this Wheel”.

and Hi Laura

Worse, we miss yours!

wtf?

Is it really supposed to be inside the Green Zone?

Yes indeed. And it’s a core of the essay. Laith is an e-friend of mine. His son just recently had surgery. My heart has been aching all week.

Have to run. Thank you Siun.

best to all.

*blush* You’re too kind…! *g*

I’m seriously concerned about who’s actually running the show over there these days…! Serious cracks are developing across the spectrum… Dawa/ISCI, ISCI/Kurds, all the PTB’s are flailing around for political traction… It’s really quite frightening, and, all the while our MSM is touting the success of the ‘Surge’… Good Gawd, it’s maddening…

Hearts and Minds.

Yep, along with a ’six-star’ hotel…! My question is; Is there such a thing as a 6 star hotel… The ‘Golden Coast’ here on the Big Isle has several 5 stars and 4 stars, never heard of a 6 star…!

Aloha Laura!

Dugg, as always with Siun. Thanks again, Siun.

Gonna one-up ‘em. Private maid at beck and call?

a fucking Ferris Wheel?

I was talking to a friend today about how it’s getting hard to tell The Onion from the real news, but seriously -

A fucking Ferris Wheel?

heh, the 5 stars already provide that ‘personal service’…! ;-)

A carousal might be good too. Round and round we go.

Wow… thanks so much, Siun. The pre-emptive house searches going on in Twin Cities chilled me.

Now, hearing the SOP of raids in Iraq, and the foggy variables for qualifying for “detainment” truly horrifies. The natural (or unnatural but ultimate) desensitization on the psyche of the troops from the situation and the quantity of raids, and their hopped up adrenalin from the fear and excitement of a possible enemy on the other side of the door. Add in the time of night, the language barrier.

I will pass this on to my network. Thanks again.

I wish I was joking…!

Envisioning the following press releases:

November 5, 2008: “Former Senator John McCain arrives in Baghdad to begin his new ‘Campaign’ as Ferris Wheel Operator.”

November 6, 2008: “Tragedy in the Green Zone as Giant Ferris Wheel Crashes into Giant Hotel.”

CTuttle, pls see mine to you epu’d from just previous thread.

Greetings, SIUN!

I always seek out your posts, and never have been disappointed with them. I cannot understand the carping of that group of your detractors. Just noise, IMO.

Heh, I liked the first headline… The article I linked to mentions that Tourism is a hard sell in Iraq…! Ya think…? ;-)

There are some very disturbing youtubes posted by war fans of house raids – celebrating the adrenalin rush of busting in doors and such. And I suspect the Twin Cities raids have some of the same appeal at least to those like Fletcher who order them.

For an example of how things like this go horribly wrong, take a look at this from the police response to the FTAA demos in Miami in ‘03 – watch until you get to the police reaction footage about halfway through:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-3msql8GZs

Tourism is a hard sell in Iraq…! Ya think…? ;-)

I’d rather not, really.

Maybe a new spot for filming a reality show?

“Survivor Season VI – Baghdad”.

Aah, cleanth, Raven and I are kindred souls in regards to Vet and Army issues, no concern trolling was intended… I have the highest regards for Raven and I’m sure he holds the same for me…! ;-)

Obama on 60 minutes now.

Now that would be interesting to watch… The battles for immunity could be for who can successfully negotiate a militia checkpoint or who can defuse an IED the quickest…!

Woops, intro now.

Sounds cool, I’ve another 2 hours before it airs here in the Isles… Thanks for the heads up!

Obama/Biden, CTuttle. Very cool.

Thanks, Siun. More chills. Once again, no hope for accountability. “Scurrying cockroaches!” Demonization of the victim, misogyny, xenophobia, male bonding group think, post 9/11 WE CAN GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING IN THE NAME OF SECURITY. Reining this back? The cops laughing about is just as shocking as the shooting. And the dehumanization/demonization of “them” I have been thinking had to do with another country and culture, but it can be turned easily on fellow citizens. Anti-intellectualism, racism, classism, misogyny, peer pressure. There is a will-ful “gated-community” “I’m okay” most everybody else who doesn’t belong in my “loyal, tight, particular kool aid drinking group” is not.

A lot of the videos posted at Youtube and LiveLeak piss me off with the callousness displayed, and, with the many asinine commenters that respond to the vids…! Virtually no respect is given to the sanctity of human life… 8-(

Here’s a case in point… 8-(

CTuttle, horrible info on American air strikes in Afghanistan on 60 Minutes.

nodding … I find them pretty hard to watch when I look for ones we should share here. The behavior that members of our armed forces find worthy of recording and popping onto youtube is not very impressive … whether it’s getting little Iraqi kids to say “fuck iraq” for a candy bar or laughing their asses off as they run an Iraqi car off the road.

Unfortunately the message they are getting from all the way up the chain of command is that the lives of little brown people have no value or sanctity. Nothing new there. It certainly happened in Viet Nam as well and in Korea. Probably in every other war. While wars may occasionally be necessary or even unavoidable, they are always very bad things for everyone involved.

I thought one of the things the 60 Minute interview showed was that Obama is in charge. Biden was great, but deferential. As he should be.

Hopefully, some justice will prevail over some of the more egregious acts… As I mentioned last thread, this episode needs to be highlighted and the 1SGT, amongst others, need to taste some justice… I’m not holding my breath, tho…!

Wow! McCain, in an exclusive interview with one of the local stations “serving” the area of his rally today says that because Palin was in the PTA, that she has far, far more experience than he does.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local…..38;catid=3

Agreed. Not holding mine either, unfortunately.

you got something to say, say it to me

A subtle reply, CT, and one which I am still trying to parse!

What is justice in cases like this? We have taken our young people to a foreign country, told them that the people there don’t matter, taught to kill and turned them loose. They will be forever changed and have to live with what they have seen and done. There’s no justice for this.

Guilty conscience? Geez, man, you are not the centre of everything.

No one was ever punished for No Gun Ri 58 years ago.

Night, all. Tomorrow is another day.

“Oh, I think when you look at the fact that she has been in office for many years, she was a member of the PTA, a city council member, mayor, governor of the state…”

Many years…? Council member and Mayor of Wasilla? 20 months as Gov…? WTF is that?

I don’t mean nobody should be punished. I just can’t figure out what justice is when we have virtually destroyed a country, its people, and thousands of our own troops. How do you fix that?

Night cleanth.

parse this

Now, now, Raven, be nice…! ;-)

wrote you a FB note earlier

Aloha cleanth!

Frankly, you don’t fix it. You can’t. You can hold people who committed war crimes responsible and see that they are punished. I am not sure what is appropriate punishment for war crimes, but it certainly is not sweeping it under the rug.

I feel compelled to tell you that I do not like your tone. I have been commenting here for some time, and I think perhaps Raven has been for longer than me. He may have had his differences with others from time to time, but who hasn’t? I get the feeling that you are trying to start something unpleasant, and I don’t like it. And CTuttle can look out for himself, I think. End of rant.

Or make an Iraqi boy run block after block after the convoy with a promise of a bottle of water. And then he doesn’t get the water because a teenager catches it.

Shame.

Uh oh! ;-) BRB!

I really, really hope there is video of that. I have been laughing about it all night. It will make a tremendous campaign ad when coupled with the “foreign policy” experience brought about through Alaska being so close to Russia and all (why don’t they mention Canada there, though, since they, like, share a border?).

Alaska National Guard General says that he and Palin play no role in national defense. So there, Ms. Palin.

Lord. How will we ever be forgiven for this?

You sexist. /snark

We won’t be forgiven.

His interview with Brian Williams tonight was very similar in its specifics about her experience, like how she is more qualified than Obama, etc. You can probably see it on the NBC site.

Gimme!

teddy upstairs

TPM and Huff

Teddy and I are upstairs.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/08…..lin-fail-2

I wasn’t using new lingo! I was trying to point out that some units have higher casualty rates than others and I fear that it’s a leadership problem more than a ‘wrong place, wrong time’ situation… However, I’ll temper it with a distinction that luck does play a role too… Both, HI and AK Guard units are 11B units, why the large disparity in casualties…? 107 to 7! From what I had gleamed they did overlap and are about to again if the AK unit deploys on 9/11 as mentioned…

Bringing the war home? Indeed it is, and it certainly follows logically if you believe that the war was always about oil, which I do.

It then follows next that to keep the oil barons flowing with money that the war would HAVE to come home during elections, and against the people who oppose war.

None of the reports about violation of civil liberties in Minn/St. Paul are surprising, frankly, if you think about it. It’s a natural branch from the original decision to go to war in the first place. Haliburton will hire the thugs, but it’s no different than having AT&T spy on you. Both are for the purpose of keeping those corporate interests first, and our interests way down the priority line.

Just my opinion.

MC: Awright boys! Awright! Quiet down now! Here she is, that lovely piece of cake we’ve all been waiting for, Miss Lillie LaMont!

Lurlene [singing] We’re bringing the war back home
Where it ought to have been before!
We’ll kill all the bees
And spiders and flies
And we wont play in iceboxes lying on their sides
We’ll wash our hands after wee-wee.
And if we’re a girl, before!
And we’ll march,march,march, et cetera!
’Til we never do march no more!
(All together, now, boys!)
We’re bringing the war back home
Where it ought to have been before!
The pretty donut girl on the corner
Will be smilin’ with a wringer in her hair!
We’ll wash our hands after wee-wee,
And if we’re a girl before!
And we’ll march, march, march, et cetera!
’Till we don’t have to march no more

Narrator: We’d like to express our appreciation to the United States Marines, The British Commonwealth Occupation Forces, the French Legumes, and the Hong Kong Fireworks Company, without whom all of this would not have been necessary!

Lurlene [singing]We won’t have to March!
We won’t have to March!
We won’t have to March no more!

–The Firesign Theatre, How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All, 1969

ah … Firesign …

thanks for the memories!

–The Firesign Theatre, How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All, 1969

Also: YOU CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE.

Finally got some of my ferris wheel thoughts into words, if anyone would care to see: here

Neuro, I have had nice exchanges with you. I have a dossier of vicious comments directed to me from Raven. If it comes to it, I can do very well without you, Neuro. Your attack is ill-founded and, frankly, surprises me. How little we know about online “pals”.

According to you, I ought to take all this abuse from Raven and suck it up.

I see the mods have deleted another vicious attack, great job!