NOSE ART WAR

Iran's Attempt to Modernize Its Fighter Planes as Member of IFAPSA Alliance Fails to Win Nose-Art War.

This ingenious piece of brilliance is courtesy Friend of STORMBRINGER Jim Wrenn of the Worthy Blog PoliSat.Com

As a member of the IFAPSA (Islamo-Fascist and Paleo-Stalinist Alliance) desperately needing a fighter plane that would at least have a remote chance against an F-22 Raptor, Iran is modernizing its air force. However, according to Jane's, the internationally recognized authority on military-weapons, Iran's most advanced fighter doesn't even have a prayer of winning even the Nose-Art War in that category . . .

. . . for the rest of this awesomeness click HERE



Theo and I corresponded yesterday -


STORMBRINGER: Post this wisdom Theo -


Solution to the problem in Libya:

They want a new Muslim leader.

I say, give them ours.

That solves 2 problems.


THEO: Have finally posted. Need some analysis on Libya and middle east. Had a rant last night.


STORMBRINGER: Yes I read it & I agree - right wrong or indifferent we're in it now; Linnane's First Principle of Warfare states: "When you find yourself involved in a war, you must commit to certain victory in as short a time as possible with every resource available; to do anything else equals criminal negligence."


THEO: So are we going to nobble Gadaffi or spend the next decade pissing about in the middle east. You have been there and done it . What are your thoughts on how we should proceed? Can use a pseudonym if you want to let rip.


STORMBRINGER: "Sean Linnane" IS a pseudonym . . . and I WILL let it rip . . .


THEO: Yes I know Sean is a pseudonym but if you really want to let rip use another.


This is too easy; sharpshooting the current Occupier of the Whitehouse - ESPECIALLY on this foreign military adventure - is the philosophical equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel . . .

. . . then events of the day overcame - I know it's incredible to imagine but yes I have a life & a career outside of Blog STORMBRINGER - and now it's going to have to wait until the weekend . . . Friday morning at the earliest . . . BUT I will end with a nice photo of our new allies:

. . . SEAN LINNANE SENDS



.

TESTING BULLETPROOF GLASS IN 1932 . . .

. . . or: Where have all the good wives gone ? ? ?






Today's Bird HERE.



.

WAR WITHOUT END - Part III

The War on Terror from the perspective of an Israeli soldier.


Continued from Yesterday and the Day Before.


From June 1967 on, the West, America and Israel, has only paid lip service to God. America fights in the name of “freedom”, which of course is a noble and true concept, but what is the source of that freedom? God. Our Creator. Israel fights for “peace”. What about the God of Peace? You’ll never hear those words from an Israeli leader.

If America does not fight in the name of the God of Goodness, of the God of Freedom, then the Jihadists will fight in the name of the God of Jihad. They will declare Jihad on you until you fall back in confusion and horror.

Fogel Family stabbed to death by Arab Terrorists in Itamar 11 March 2011

They will kill your women, your children, your men, soldiers and civilians, even your babies. It makes no difference to them.


You will be shocked by the scope of it and ask yourselves how and why. In the morning you will ask when is evening coming already, and in the evening you will yearn for the morning out of fear. (Leviticus) But they will keep doing it until we understand that we are the good in the world.

Patton understood that in World War II. That’s why we won and Nazism is dead.

General George S. Patton - Soldier / Spiritualist - the greatest American general since Stonewall Jackson.


But Nazism was spiritually weak. It fought not in the name of God, but in the name of Hitler. Once broken militarily, it fell easily. Not so Jihadism. Break it militarily, and it will keep going after you until you wake up spiritually. The Jihadists are weak militarily, but spiritually they are very, very tough.

To be clear, I am not saying that America has to militarily conquer the world in the name of God. I am saying that America, when she democratically chooses to act with force, should not do it in the name of Freedom, but in the name of the God of Freedom. I am also not saying the Israel has to destroy the Dome of the Rock in the name of the God of Israel. That would be insane. I believe in the God of Freedom, and anyone should be able to worship wherever they want, even if it’s on my Temple Mount. What I do believe, though, is that Jews and Christians should also be able to worship on the Temple Mount freely, which currently they cannot.

Anyway, what is happening in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Libya at this very moment is a war in a spiritual trap first set at the Temple Mount in 1967. America is fighting in a battlefield it does not comprehend, at least not yet. She cannot win with her current thinking. Neither can Israel.

The enemy is fighting in the name of God, and we, America and Israel, are not. This is a problem.


I love America. I was born there. I lived there for 24 years. It is the best country that has ever existed, and I thank her for everything she has done for me and for the Jewish People, who as everyone knows sometimes get very evil hosts.

But unfortunately, America is lacking spiritual inspiration. And whether Israel likes it or not, in the end we will have to be that inspiration. When the Jews return to the Temple Mount in the name of God Who is the source of all Freedom, the West will wake up. Yes, even Europe will wake up and save itself. The God of Freedom will win, terror will end, and America will take her place at the head of the world forever.

As we say in Hebrew, “Be’Ezrat Hashem” - בעזרת השם - With God’s help.

May God bless America and all the Armed Forces.


The author is a former Israeli soldier. Born and raised in America for 24 years, he moved to Israel in 2007. Here he shares his view of the War on Terror from the perspective of a religious Israeli soldier.


LISSEN UP Y'ALL DEPT.

For what it's worth, I personally share the beliefs expressed here. During the course of my military adventures I had the blessed good fortune to visit Jerusalem, twice; to walk in the footsteps of warriors, kings, prophets and the Messiah. When I went up to the Temple Mount, I made my prayers - in secret - on behalf of all True Believers; for it is my personal belief that there is no difference - spiritually - between the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims. That is to say that we all have one God, we are all People of the Book, and as a Christian it is my belief that ultimately the Messiah will reveal himself to all of us - the staggered timetable is for a reason, apparently, and that reason will also be ultimately revealed . . . not for me to quiz the bus schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SEAN LINNANE SENDS

GLOCK ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE

Everybody knows Glocks never go off on their own, right? RIGHT???


From the worthy blog Imminent Threats Tactical


“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?”


It took me a half a second to realize that my gun had just gone off . . . on my hip . . . in its holster.


Why it went off was immediately apparent.

One things for sure- this would never happen with an M1911.

Good safety info for all the Glocksters & "safe action" types out there.

Don't get me wrong- the Glock is a great weapon for general purpose standard issue, especially if your force has disparate levels of training. I've carried one, in fact I actually OWN one, and I'd swear by it, but my personal preference is the 1911.

STORMBRINGER SENDS



.

WAR WITHOUT END - Part II

the War on Terror from the perspective of an Israeli soldier.

Continued from Yesterday.

When Israel, representing the Jewish People, came back to the Temple Mount in June 1967, the Western World was electrified, the Islamic world dumbfounded, terrified, and confused. The Israelites returned to their ancestral homeland. Something monumental was happening. Western Reporters during the Six Day War could barely contain their emotions. Everyone was waiting for some kind of universal message to come flowing out of the Temple Mount like Isaiah or something.

This is the scene where 1,900 years earlier in the year 70, a crazed war-hardened suicidally determined Jewish People almost beat the entire Roman army defending the Second Temple. The Greeks at Thermopylae were a close second. Josephus speaks about how Titus had to bring in Legions all the way from England to finally crush the Jews, who even then kept on fighting after the Temple was destroyed.

And then, 1,900 years later in 1967, we got it back against our will. We didn’t even want it. Levi Eshkol, at the time the Israeli Prime Minister, was literally begging King Hussein of Jordan to stay out. He didn’t of course. So Israel had to take back Judea and Samaria, today sadly referred to as the “West Bank” to hide Jewish association with it. And then we came back to the Mount.

And everyone looked at us. What are they going to do? Their ancestors fought like rabid dogs there, they had a Temple, twice, that still is the very beating heart of what would later become Western civilization. “Do something!” the Western world screamed. They ached for some kind of Messianic message.

Of course, we had no idea what to tell them. Jews can’t stand all this responsibility. We don’t want to speak in the name of God. It makes us nauseous. We’re a stiff-necked people. The Temple Mount was too much for us, so we just gave it right back and did nothing. Now we think some wall that Herod, that evil king built, is holy. The Wailing Wall, we call it. Ha. What fools we are. Now the world sees us as occupiers in the “West Bank,” a land that isn’t ours. We showed everyone we didn’t want it, so why are we complaining?

When we left that Mount, the War on Terror began, in June 1967. Not September 2001. Why? Because the inspiration, the possibility for terrorism, began when they saw that the spiritual center and founder of Western civilization – the Jewish People – lacked spiritual direction, which we refused to provide the world when we had the opportunity. We were too scared to speak in the name of God. That’s when the other side realized the West is spiritually weak. That yes, maybe the West can destroy you militarily, but in the end, they’ll just retreat in confusion about why they fought you in the first place.

How do we turn this around?


To be continued . . .


The author is a former Israeli soldier. Born and raised in America for 24 years, he moved to Israel in 2007. Here he shares his view of the War on Terror from the perspective of a religious Israeli soldier.


.

THEY'D MURDER ME IF THEY EVER FOUND OUT . . .

The Incredible Story of Lt. Col. William M. Hoge and the Army's First Obstacle Course

Written by Dwight Jon Zimmerman for the Defense Media Network

Officers train on an obstacle course at Camp Edwards, Mass., around 1942. Hoge's invention of the American version of the obstacle course solved the problem of limited space and prompted countless groans and curses from generations of warfighters. Library of Congress photo


When World War II started in Europe in September 1939, the United States was the 17th largest military power. Its army, containing just 190,000 troops, was effectively a constabulary force. By February 1941, all that had changed. Thanks to the recently passed conscription law, the number of recruits had ballooned almost ten-fold, with millions more to come.

Before they could be shipped out to the new and expanding training centers being prepared for them, they had to be shaped up. While all base and camp commanders had that problem, it was particularly acute for Lt. Col. William M. Hoge.

Hoge’s most vexing problem was how to provide proper military outdoor physical exercise training. Because he was located on a peninsula, he couldn’t expand. Space was at a premium.

. . . one of his subordinates, Paul W. Thompson, had spent a year in Germany as an attaché. Calling Thompson into his office, Hoge asked him, “What in the hell do the Germans do to get exercise for their men? They have much less area than we have.” Thompson told him about specially designed fields filled with a variety of trenches and constructions that the men had to overcome through climbing, crawling, swinging, hopping, and jumping.

Hoge brought in the officer responsible for physical training and the three drew up a blueprint for the Army’s first obstacle course.


Read this incredible story in it's entirety HERE.

Enlisted men training on an obstacle course during World War II. The original caption reads: "Swinging across fifteen feet of horizontal ladders are soldiers of the anti-aircraft training center. This is the next-to-the-last obstacle on the course and comes at a time when a man's wind is coming hard and his arms are feeling fatigue. Library of Congress photo.



Today's Bird HERE


.

EARTH HOUR AL GORE THINGIE SABOTAGED

Here's the link that was supposed to be embedded in the post (below):


http://polisat.com/DailyPoliticalSatire-Commentary/Archives2011/du20y11m03d27-01.htm


Cheers,
S. L.



.

EARTH HOUR LIGHTS OUT FAILS . . .

. . . due to Right-Wing Sabotage: Al Gore explains:

WAR WITHOUT END - Part I

The War on Terror from the perspective of an Israeli soldier.


I’d like to thank STORMBRINGER for giving me the opportunity write down my thoughts. I was never a combat soldier, so I’m not writing from a combat perspective, but rather from a philosophical one.

The battlefield that America and Israel are on is a very dangerous one. The war we are fighting is identical. It might be surprising, but neither America nor Israel understands the enemy against which they are fighting. There is one reason for this. Both America and Israel do not know what they should be fighting for.

Sections of the Dead Sea Scrolls on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in 2008. Photograph by Baz Ratner, Reuters

Western civilization as we know it was founded by two nations: America and Israel. America is the muscle behind the West. It is the best country that has ever existed on Earth. Israel is the brain of the West. Not the State of Israel, as it is quite new in its third version, but rather the People of Israel, which goes back three millennia. We gave the world the Bible, the Judeo-Christian values of ethical monotheism, hard work, and faith, which are what inspired the Founding Fathers to establish the great force of freedom that is America.

Whatever happens to America and Israel will determine what happens to the West. To calm you down, I have no doubt whatsoever that we will win in the end. What I fear is how much we will both have to lose before we do.

Whether the Jews or the State of Israel likes it or not, the world watches us for spiritual direction. The People of Israel don’t really like this fact, we don’t want the attention, and we don’t even acknowledge it as a People. When Israel conquered the Temple Mount in 1967 after destroying the entire Egyptian Air Force in minutes, conquered the entire Sinai Peninsula in a day, and then took Judea, Samaria, and the Golan, the war ended on the Temple Mount.

Israeli soldiers at the recapture of the Temple Mount in 1967.

A few days later, when the Jews left that Mount, the entire idea of terrorism and the war against the West was born. How is that?

Israeli soldiers raise the Israeli flag over the Western Wall June 7,1967 alongside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel on the day of its capture from Jordanian forces in the June 1967 Middle East War. Photo: Getty Images

To be continued . . .


The author is a former Israeli soldier. Born and raised in America for 24 years, he moved to Israel in 2007. Here he shares his view of the War on Terror from the perspective of a religious Israeli soldier.



.

NEW SPONSOR

Jim from Pro Art Shirts contacted me regarding an image I'd used about a year ago on a post about le Legion Etranger. He has graciously allowed me to use it, and I updated the post to acknowledge his artwork.

The t-shirt designs available at Pro Art Shirts are fantastic - bold, basic military insignia. They are well-balanced, pleasing to the eye and representative of that which readers of STORMBRINGER respect and hold dear: our proud family of freedom-fighting military organizations, the warrior ethos incarnate. After exchanging notes with Jim, he sent me a collection of images representing the units I was assigned to:

I mentioned that I also served with the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (DERR) and the 7th Gurkha Rifles, and that I was present on the battlefield with the French Foreign Legion in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) although I do not know which regiment - we were busy working and there wasn't time to get acquainted. Jim said that he'd be happy to design something for those organizations so I'm looking around for some good high res references - he's been after a good reference for the Gurkha cap badge for a long time, still no luck with that. In a future post I'll tell you all about the DERR and what makes them special, even within the Great British Army.

Monday Mystery Bird HERE




.

THE ONGOING DRUMBEAT

This week's significant events:

HOMELAND SECURITY EXERCISE IN TREYNOR, IOWA

Treynor High School

School children were sent home with permission slips to participate in an exercise by the Pottawatamie County and Homeland Security with the Treynor, IA Community Schools to simulate a school shooting. The premise of the mock shooting suggested that a student, whose white, Conservative parents oppose illegal immigration, comes to school with a gun and shoots a Latino Student.

Treynor High School student made up as a roleplayer for the exercise.


This is nothing less than a thinly-disguised propaganda exercise for the Department of Homeland Security; part of the continual, deliberate campaign by Liberals to stigmatize, marginalize law-abiding citizenry - the ultimate goal being to constrain and restrict our God-given right to self-defense as inscribed in the 2d Amendment of the United States Constitution.

They cancelled this outrage after the Citizenry alerted on it; then used this opportunity to twist law-abiding citizen's concerns into "threats to their employees and buildings due to the planned 'active shooter' exercise."

Twist the truth and milk it for all it's worth - energize the mob, play upon their fears and anxieties - the doctrine of propaganda straight out of Saul Alinsky and Joseph Goebbels.



OPERATION ODDYSEY DAWN: UNITED STATES ALLIES ITSELF WITH AL QAEDA IN LIBYAN NON-WAR

Let's apply the basic beginning steps of analysis and planning:


WHO are we supporting? U.S. backed anti-government forces in Libya are being led by al-Qaeda fighters.

- Brilliant. Just brilliant.


WHAT's the plan? WHERE is this thing going?

Like many observers, I’m skeptical of how Operation Odyssey Dawn has been conceived, implemented, and explained. - James M. Lindsay, Council on Foreign Relations


WHEN do we get out? US OFFICIALS: LIBYAN OPERATIONS COULD LAST MONTHS.

I once got branded a racist for using the "tarbaby" cliche -
the term has nothing to do with race; it means violence that develops into sticky mess you can't get yourself out of.


WHY are we there?

President Barack Hussein Obama took a break from important carnival activities in Rio de Janiero to issue to following statement on 19 March 2011:

"Our consensus was strong and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians our coalition is prepared to act and to act with urgency."


So why are we there and not the Darfur, Ivory Coast, or maybe even Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba?


HOW LONG will the Gadster hang in there? Gaddafi vows "Long War"

When you have secured the area, make sure to inform the enemy. - Murphy's Law of Combat #27

Gaddafi is seen here in a recent photo with a member of his elite female-suicide-sex-commando-bodyguard.(Getty Images)



MEANWHILE Hamas makes good use of that $500 million in humanitarian aid the Obama Administration threw their way:

HAMAS ROCKET ATTACKS ON ISRAEL GO PRACTICALLY UNNOTICED.




.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Some wanka out there busted me out in comments on my describing Angie as "my best mate's girlfriend". It was more disturbing than watching a modern re-make of Lawrence of Arabia - I shudder to think of how the freaks in Hollywood would blaspheme that - and so for the first time in the history of STORMBRINGER I have deleted a comment.

In case you haven't noticed Thickhead - and you know who you are - I am not a 'mo, I am an Antipodean and "mates" is how we describe our friends. "Mateship" is friendship, nothing more, nothing weird or pre-verted going on here - anyways the post is about a beautiful woman and so I say to you: anybody who gets queerdom out of THAT has got to be POOFTER.

While we're on the subject I suggest you click HERE and stare long and hard at what is shaping up to be the greatest collection of female pulchritude since the Sistine Chapel - you're hovering dangerously close to the crossover line mate you need rehabilitation.



Today's Bird HERE



"Take due notice thereof and keep your kink in the closet where it belongs" . . . STORMBRINGER SENDS

OPERATION ODDYSEY DAWN - JOINT CHIEFS BRIEF

As of 24 March:

The rest of it is HERE



Thanks to Theo and DJ Elliott

ROCKIN' OUT . . .

Friday night and a bottle of red wine . . . listening to "Angie" . . . Rolling Stones . . . that song is so sentimental for me . . .


"Angie, Angie, when will those clouds all disappear?

With no loving in our souls and no money in our coats . . .
You can't say we're satisfied But Angie, Angie, you can't say we never tried . . .

Angie, you're beautiful, but ain't it time we said good-bye?
Angie, I still love you, remember all those nights we cried?

Image courtesy Creative Commons


Okay STORMBRINGERS here's the deal:


Angie was my best mate's girlfriend . . .


. . . but she was so beautiful, everybody loved her . . .


. . . you know the deal . . .





. . . every time I hear that song I cry inside . . .

. . . S.L.



"Angie, I still love you, baby . . . Ev'rywhere I look I see your eyes . . .

. . . There ain't a woman that comes close to you . . ."





Saturday's Bird HERE

NOW IT GETS REALLY INTERESTING

LIBYAN REBELS ARREST MAN SUSPECTED UK POLICE CONSTABLE MURDER 27 YEARS AGO.

PC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in April 1984 and died shortly after. Photograph: PA


The man suspected of murdering PC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 has been arrested by rebel forces in the country and is in custody in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher lies dying in officer's arms.


Fletcher was helping to control a small demonstration outside the embassy in St. James's Square on 17 April 1984 when shots were fired from the first floor of the building at the protestors. She was shot in the stomach and died in hospital.

Campaigners welcomed the arrest and expressed the hope that Omar Ahmed Sodani would face trial in Britain.

Entire story HERE


.

LIBYA NO LONGER HAS NUKES - WHOM DO WE THANK?

ORNL's Jon Kreykes briefs President Bush on Libya's nuclear weapons production equipment sent to Oak Ridge.

On July 12, 2004, President George W. Bush came to Oak Ridge for a first-hand look at gas centrifuge components and uranium processing equipment that were at the heart of Libya's secret nuclear weapons program.

The president received a briefing on these mechanical parts from Jon Kreykes, deputy director of the National Security Advanced Technology (NSAT) Division of ORNL's National Security Directorate. In a speech later that day to an ORNL audience, the president announced that Libya was "dismantling its weapons of mass destruction and long-range missile programs" as a result of "quiet diplomacy among America, Britain, and the Libyan government."

The evacuation of nuclear materials from Libya is one of the recent high-priority activities of NSAT, says division director Jim Sumner, who regards the event as an important milestone in the Laboratory's history. "We had one of our people on the ground in Libya and a cadre of people here doing the coordination and logistics support," he explains. In early 2004 the nuclear materials and equipment were flown under top security 5,000 miles from Tripoli to McGhee-Tyson Airport near Knoxville and transported by truck to Oak Ridge.

Read it HERE

Friend of STORMBRINGER Jim Wrenn has put together this brilliant analysis:

If critics the Dubya had heeded by letting Saddam remain seated in power, Saddam would now have The Bomb with likewise Qadhafi proceeding. And chances are zip, zero, none Iran would stop nuke-work begun to counter Saddam's acquiring The Bomb - Indeed, they'd blame us for his Bomb. And Gore would by now have hurled claims at Dubya which would be the same as thoseº² that Gore pushed against "Daddy" Bush for NOT having toppled Hussein. You doubt Gore would stoop to such shame? Search "WrennCom" plus "GoreOnHussein" plus "PersianGulfWar" for rantings of Gore at Bush 41 re Hussein. 'Twas after the Persian Gulf War that Candidate, Albert A. Gore, trashed Bush 41 for what left undone? Deposing Hussein in that war. Thus, Gore and the Left would now claim: "If Dubya had toppled Hussein, the folks in Iran would not want The Bomb," for which they on Bush would heap blame.

Read the rest of it HERE to include a link to his video "Victory by Any Other Name," which Jim concedes is long; if you want to view the part dealing with Libya's now-dismantled nuclear-weapons program, fast-forward 7:03 minutes into the video and then watch the rest. The page linked above also includes the entire text of the video.



Thanks, Jim. Today's Bird HERE



.

GI GETS SILVER STAR FOR STOPPING ATTACKER

Master Sergeant Ian Dunbar shakes the hand of Silver Star recipient SFC Steven V. Kimsey on Thursday at The Carolina Hotel Grand Ballroom in Pinehurst.


Fayetteville Observer March 18, 2011

PINEHURST, NC - Sergeant First Class Steve Kimsey received the Silver Star Thursday for his actions last year during an attack in an operations center in Afghanistan that left two Fort Bragg Soldiers dead and threatened at least six other people.

On Jan. 29, 2010, an Afghan interpreter, who had just been fired, attacked the center with an AK-47 and four full magazines at Camp Nunez in Wardak Province.

Kimsey, who was wearing a Beretta M9 pistol, was the only other person in the room who was armed. He stepped in front of the unarmed people and shot the interpreter to death.

"It all happened really quick -- shots the first time, shots the second time," Kimsey said. "I keyed in it's not right. I was a little bit prepared, hair on the back of the neck standing up."




Kimsey saved at least six people. Read the rest of it HERE



LESSON TO BE LEARNED: COMBAT WILL SEEK YOU OUT WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT

• Never go unarmed in a combat zone.

• Never go unarmed, period.

• Never, EVER give a pissed-off Muslim with a sense of betrayal a chance to get the drop on you.

- S.L.

BEAUTY BEYOND COMPARE, ELIZABETH TAYLOR

By Alan Caruba

I can recall, even in 1944, sitting in the cavernous theatre in my hometown, watching “National Velvet” and thinking that Elizabeth Taylor was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. As I grew older I continued to think of her in terms of her stunning beauty, only gradually realizing that she was also an excellent actress.

She was rather fearless, taking on roles whose characters had all the human flaws of character, but who were never boring. She could be forgiven everything for being so beautiful.


Her seven marriages, twice to Richard Burton, had a tragic quality as she seemed to be on an endless search for true love. Being larger than life seemed to be a curse.


Along the way we tended to forget she had four children, ten grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. How could a goddess be a mother and grandmother? But she was and a good friend to many fellow performers.

In Hollywood where beautiful women were its stock-in-trade, Taylor endured and triumphed.

For those of her generation like myself, her death comes as a reminder of our own mortality, but her film career ensures she will live on beyond mere life.

Few actresses of her era will be recalled in a similar fashion, despite their own body of work. There were those as talented, as prolific, but none as memorable for nothing less than a face that every camera loved.

One thinks of the iconic Marilyn Monroe, but her quality was one of pure sensuality that obscured her talent whereas Taylor brought not just heat, but a seriousness to her roles that demanded that you pay attention to Maggie in “A Cat On a Hot Tin Roof”, “Night of the Iguana”, roles created by Tennessee Williams, playwright and poet.

I think my generation was fortunate to have shared its life with Elizabeth Taylor and with films of real substance such as “A Place in the Sun”, “Butterfield 8”, and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

The characters she brought to life on the screen were not cartoons, but flesh and blood women. They will live on as we pay tribute to the real flesh and blood Elizabeth Taylor.

Originally posted at Al's worthy blog WARNING SIGNS © Alan Caruba



Personally, I liked her best in Cleopatra

- S.L.

Anthony and Cleopatra Act 2 Scene 2

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
Never; he will not:
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed: but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies; for vilest things
Become themselves in her: that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish

BREAKING NEWS

Today's Bird HERE


.

RECOVERY TEAMS OVERWHELMED

From one historic disaster scene in their own homeland, to travel forward to another disaster of epic proportions in a far away foreign land, Kiwi rescue teams are simply overcome by events. The following report tells a brief yet compelling story. Spread the word; the devastation from the tsunamis in Japan eclipses that of any war damage. - S.L.


JAPAN TSUNAMI: NOTHING KIWI SEARCHERS COULD DO IN DEVASTATED TOWN

by JONATHON HOWE at

Thoughts of home and a warm bed crept into Palmerston North firefighter Graeme Mills' mind as he lay inside a tent at a Japanese baseball field with the temperature at minus 17 degrees.

It was so cold the water in his drinking bottle froze, but the freezing conditions were nothing compared to the devastation outside.

Mr Mills was part of a 42-member urban search and rescue team sent to Japan after the earthquake and tsunami.

After co-ordinating search and rescue efforts in Christchurch for nearly three weeks because of the big Canterbury earthquake last month, Mr Mills flew out to Japan on March 14.

The USAR team were not concerned about contamination as they were 160 kilometres away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, and were constantly updated about the radiation situation.

The more pressing issue was the lack of food, water and power.

Fuel was also hard to come by, but the team managed to get enough by swapping water and clothes with a local garage owner.

Mr Mills was taken aback by the level of destruction in Shizugawa.

"A four-storey school, which was sort of in the middle of the bay, was the only building left standing and that had a mussel farm wrapped right round the top of [it]."

Even areas of higher ground, some nearly 5km from the coast, were not spared the waves' wrath.

"The tsunami had gone up the main valley. You drove round a load of houses and you came around a corner and `boof', there it was right in front you, just debris for miles."

"Everything had gone. I reckon [the waves] would have been a good 50 to 60 metres high – unbelievable."

Though the town's population was small, there were still about 1200 people reported missing. But only a handful of bodies were recovered while the USAR team was there.

"We found one body, a young kiddie, probably eight years old, and she was up a tree. It was pretty plain to see that, where we were, there was not going to be any survivors.

"There could have been a lot more bodies under huge piles of debris and you needed heavy machinery so you could get through it, and there was none of that there.

"On the second to last day they said that if we find any victims... just mark them and leave them because I think they were overloaded and probably didn't have space in the morgues."

The team were pulled from Japan after they came to the realisation there was little more they could do.

A "knackered" Mr Mills arrived home on Sunday, along with four other Manawatu USAR members.

Mr Mills is now on a compulsory leave for eight days, where he is catching up on some much-needed rest.

"I'm pretty wrung out from the whole thing and it's going to take a few days to get back into it."


Read the entire story HERE