The "Audacity of Biden"

Apparently General Patraeus' "Surge Strategy", had nothing to do with the success in Iraq, it's because of Biden

Just Noticed the "P"

...in a commenter's name here. (As in "Maj (P) John".)

But maybe I'm the last to know.

On the Bubble

When Navy Captain Mustin wasn't fooling around with catapults, he was playing with "sleds."

As explained here.

Ships on anti-pirate patrol in the Gulf of Aden might see a new pirate trick

CTF 150 out in the Gulf of Aden might want be aware that the Somalia pirates may have a new trick up their sleeves, as set out here.

Sort of a reverse Q-ship...

Six degrees of Sarah Palin

The world just keeps getting smaller and smaller.

But I suppose it's more like two degrees, actually. I've learned that GOP hopeful Sarah Palin just so happens to be the friend of a friend.

Great personal insight on the VP candidate, and doesn't even have to resort to busybody gossip mongering. (So you know he doesn't write for US Weekly!)

*Update: My wife, who frequently acted in campaign and industrial commercial spots for Dave in Alaska, recently recalled accompanying him to the picturesque Palin home on the lake in Wasilla back in 2002. Wifey reports that then-Mayor Palin was "extremely gracious and seemed genuinely interested in the particulars of my life." After which the Mayor returned to fishing out back with her kids.

Incidentally, Dave gave me a copy of his book just before I deployed, and it is an excellent read.

Death Tolls

Headline:

Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer
Total Is About Double The Death Toll In Iraq

Story:CHICAGO (CBS) ― An estimated 123 people were shot and killed over the summer. That's nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.

In May, cbs2chicago.com began tracking city shootings and posting them on Google maps. Information compiled from our reporters, wire service reports and the Chicago Police Major Incidents log indicated that 123 people were shot and killed throughout the city between the start of Memorial Day weekend on May 26, and the end of Labor Day on Sept. 1.

(Via Insta.)

Ahhh... Opportunity to Save a Misguided Youth??

Read this

CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — A California teen was arrested and charged with criminal impersonation in eastern Tennessee for allegedly fooling businesses into thinking he was a soldier to get discounts and other perks.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Department arrested 19-year-old Damian Paul Castillo of Anderson, Calif., last week on 25 counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, six counts of violation of the bad check law and one count of criminal impersonation.

Sheriff's Investigator Ben Waller says Castillo is accused of passing himself off as a member of the U.S. Air Force by wearing a military uniform. He's also accused of bilking nine businesses out of more than $14,102. Investigators say the Air Force confirmed he had never enlisted.

Some of the alleged scams included getting plane tickets upgraded, shopping tax-free or getting a military discount. Investigators say he's also accused of using a credit card that was not valid and writing bad checks from another fraudulent account.

Wonder if he had a fake I.D.? So, is this one of those opportunities for the Court to say, "Marine Corps or Juvie Hall? You choose." Of course, the Corps might have no use for him... but I'm thinking (if he meets the other requirements), he could be straightened out... quick. If he declines to join the brothers he seems to so "admire", I say "Throw the book at him!" But that's a mom thing...

The UK's treatment of Troops is Unbelievable

Wounded soldier forced to sleep in car after hotel refuses him a room

A wounded soldier home from Afghanistan on sick leave was forced to spend the night in his car after a hotel refused him a room.

Corporal Tomos Stringer was told by staff at Metro Hotel, in Woking, that it was company policy not to accept members of the armed forces as guests. The 24-year-old had travelled to the Surrey town to help with funeral preparations for a friend killed in action.

It was so late that Cpl Stringer, who had broken his wrist jumping off an Army truck as it was attacked, had no choice but to bed down in his tiny, two-door car, arm covered in plaster.

Cpl Stringer, of 13 Air Assault Support Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps, has now returned to Afghanistan, but his mother, Gaynor Stringer, from Criccieth, north Wales, told The Times that she is still furious about the incident.

<...>

A wounded soldier home from Afghanistan on sick leave was forced to spend the night in his car after a hotel refused him a room.

Corporal Tomos Stringer was told by staff at Metro Hotel, in Woking, that it was company policy not to accept members of the armed forces as guests. The 24-year-old had travelled to the Surrey town to help with funeral preparations for a friend killed in action.

It was so late that Cpl Stringer, who had broken his wrist jumping off an Army truck as it was attacked, had no choice but to bed down in his tiny, two-door car, arm covered in plaster.

Cpl Stringer, of 13 Air Assault Support Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps, has now returned to Afghanistan, but his mother, Gaynor Stringer, from Criccieth, north Wales, told The Times that she is still furious about the incident.

WTF? Is this campaign strategy?

Obama might pursue criminal charges against Bush· Biden says criminal violations will be pursued

· Democrats have issued subpoenas to Bush aides
· 3 staffers have been held in contempt of Congress

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued," Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

"[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution," he added, "out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."

Obama sounded a similar note in April, vowing that if elected, he would ask his attorney general to initiate a prompt review of Bush-era actions to distinguish between possible "genuine crimes" and "really bad policies".

What is Pashto for, "Go pick up your jock." ?

I love a great con.

No weapon is more effective in war than the lie. No one has deployed military deception, over the years, more effectively than the British. And there are few better examples of the successful British War Lie than Operation Kajaki, the transportation of a giant turbine through 100 miles of hostile Afghan territory carried out by British troops this week.

That operation relied in part on a very simple, very old and very effective ruse: we pointed one way, and then went the other.

For weeks, military engineers have been seen working on Highway 611, the most obvious route from Kandahar to Kijaki, preparing the road and clearing explosive devices. In the end, the convoy took a completely different path across the desert, mapped out by a secret reconnaissance team and codenamed Harriet. While the Taleban waited on Route 611, the main convoy trundled safely along Harriet while a decoy column of Danish troops took the main road.

Some Parting Thoughts from Major Thomas Sadiq

One of the officers from here has finished his tour. I thought his parting message was a good one. See it here.

Let's talk about Religion and Politics and War

"that's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan"