DAY SEVEN: A CHALLENGE

They're hooked us up on Internet noon, today. Fear not, STORMBRINGERs - I WILL feature a Monday Mystery Bird for tomorrow. Oh yes, I will . . .

In the meantime here is a post I've been working on all day, in between unloading PODs and running around on errands:

Steve from Wisconsin commented on yesterday's post IT ISN'T TIME TO PANIC YET . . . He made a good point: "canaries in the coal mine" are a dime a dozen, but what can a person actually DO to affect change?

This is a good opportunity to point out that Blog Stormbringer is not a political blog; I only ever got political concerning matters of National Security. That changed of course when I learned of THIS guy:

http://seanlinnane.blogspot.com/2010/03/meet-kevin-jennings_14.html

Furthermore, despite the intended compliment associating me with Glenn Beck; I am not a canary in a coal mine - I am a sheepdog.

This Blog is a hobby and a side issue (if it was a commercial enterprise it would be a lot more successful, I can assure you). I described this when I interviewed myself, way back when Blog Stormbringer started, about a year after I retired from active duty:

http://stormysix.blogspot.com/2009/05/reader-asks.html

Nowadays I work in the security field and what I do is directly related to national security. That's what I do, that's my bit for God and Country; I don't go the political route - never been involved in politics and don't intend to.

Back to the reader's comments:

"We have too much of a Carter style malaise amongst the conservatives . . . may be its due to us working our tushies off and we are too tired to fight the good fight.

"What I would like to see or hear is a list of "steps to follow to protect MY hinny". Every thing that I read from conservative blogs revolves around the nation and how to save the nation. I agree with all of those thoughts and fundamental ideals. And we need that practical discourse to educate folks on how this great country should run.

"But I'm already a convert, a tea partier, a burgeoning conservative, a quickly becoming vocal supporter of true American ideals (much to my wifes chagrin).

"So I would like to see somebody giving us a top ten list of things that we can do to affect our personal bubbles of influence.

"I realize sounding the alarm is a heck of a lot more fun than the down and dirty task of changing our society. But I think we are at a phase in our conservative "hope and change" odyssey; where we have to identify the next step.

"And I think this idea goes beyond the survivalist dogma of "bug out bags".

"Actually, we need a couple of lists: the first one should be personal, ie: getting out of debt, refinancing your home, learning how to live within your means. And the second list could be about the things you could do locally in your municipal governments and/or your schools.

"I for one, will be checking into hooking up with our states election board. I hope to be instrumental in researching the validity of voters addresses. This may turn out to be like a fart in the wind; but at least "I'm doing something".

"Lets continue to alert folks about the foolishness that occurs in Washington. But lets also, begin the conversation about how to deal with AO (After Obama)!"

- Steve

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STORMBRINGER UNPLUGGED - DAY SIX

Now they're saying the Internet & cable will be up & running tomorrow sometime.

Quite honestly I haven't missed it, except I can't post the Babes of Stormbringer on the backside link there - that's something I'll have to work on when the Good Ship Stormbringer finally pulls out of dry dock.

In the meantime hang in there - we had our best day ever this past Wednesday - almost 7000 site visits - still trying to figure out what the h*ll went wrong there . . .

Peace, Out

S. L.

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IT ISN'T TIME TO PANIC YET . . .

. . . I'll tell you when it's time to panic.

Things are bad out there but we haven't hit the stage of total breakdown of society . . . YET

When that time arrives, I'll say, "You, you, you, and you; panic. The rest of you, these are your instructions . . ."

In the meantime, here is an introspective read:

London was gripped by massive demonstrations over cuts to university funding earlier this week. Both police and protesters were injured. Prince Charles' car was assaulted. The riots were sparked by the government's decision to raise maximum university tuition rates, although the top rate still works out to only about $15,000 in American dollars per year. A disgusted cabbie told Time it was "the sort of thing they do in France."

He's right about that. France was paralyzed by massive strikes and demonstrations in October, brought on by the government's decision to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

After London, we saw a somewhat more restrained set of riots in Rome . . . once again prompted, in part, by cuts to university funding.

Things got much worse in Greece on Wednesday, as a massive general strike degenerated into violence.  Rioters trashed cars and threw firebombs to protest "austerity measures." A post office was set on fire. Back in May, rioters in Athens killed three people when they burned down a bank.

We're a little behind the European curve, but then, we haven't started implementing "austerity measures" yet.  Far from it – the Democrats just dropped a trillion-dollar omnibus bill in our laps, which doesn't cut a dime from the outrageous spending that got them pounded in the midterm elections. The sole form of "fiscal restraint" understood by their party is tax increases.

Well, 90 percent of our deficit is due to spending. There is no possible way to tax ourselves out of that hole, any more than England, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain, or Portugal could.

Margaret Thatcher once observed that "the trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." 

That moment has arrived, both in Europe and the United States.

— John Hayward

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=40624

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IDIOT BIRTHER DOC TALKED THE TALK . . .

. . . now he's gotta walk The Walk:

FORT MEADE, Md. – An Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questioned President Barack Obama's eligibility to be commander in chief was sentenced by a jury Thursday to six months in a military prison and will be dismissed from the Army.

Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin was convicted of disobeying orders — he had pleaded guilty to that count — and missing a flight that would have gotten him to his eventual deployment. An army commander, Maj. Gen. Karl Horst, still has to approve the sentence returned by the jury and has the option to reduce it. Lakin could then appeal.

In online videos posted on YouTube, Lakin aligned himself with the so-called "birther" movement that questions whether Obama is a natural-born citizen, as the Constitution requires for presidents, and said he was inviting his own court martial.

But Lakin said Wednesday that despite his questions about Obama's eligibility for office, he was wrong not to follow Army orders. He acknowledged that the Army was the wrong place to raise his concerns about Obama, asked to keep his job and said he was now willing to deploy.

"I don't want it to end this way," Lakin told the jury Wednesday under questioning from his lawyer. "I want to continue to serve."

Military prosecutors disagreed. On Thursday morning, a military prosecutor asked the jury to sentence Lakin to at least two years in a military prison and to dismiss him from the service. It was a sentence he "invited and he earned," military prosecutor Capt. Philip J. O'Beirne told the jury.

The prosecutor said Lakin had other options such as resigning or asking not to be deployed if he had issues with his orders. Instead, he used his deployment earlier this year as a political ploy, O'Beirne said, going to great lengths to create a "spectacle" by informing people of what he was doing.

"He knew exactly what he was doing and he did it anyway," O'Beirne told the jury, asking members to send a message with their sentence and telling them they could "write the headline" that appears in papers about Lakin.

But Lakin's defense attorney, Neal Puckett, asked the jury to be lenient, calling Lakin's case unique. He described the 17-year veteran as giving, compassionate and patriotic but also naive in trusting the poor advice of a previous civilian lawyer. He called Lakin the "victim of an obsession," referring to questions about Obama's eligibility, and said he made "one bad decision on one day of his career."

Puckett asked the jury to consider Lakin's wife and three children at Christmas and said he should be allowed to stay in the Army because of his value as a doctor.

"Make him work off his debt to the Army," Puckett said, suggesting Lakin could be sent on multiple deployments.

COMMENT: "Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid." -John Wayne

This guy was so cocksure, full of himself and set in his convictions until reality set in and now he's crying like a stuck pig. To hell with letting him work off his sentence - this guy is unreliable; I wouldn't want him anywhere near me in a combat zone. He should have thought about the welfare of his wife & kids BEFORE taking a stand. It's called choosing your battles.
- SEAN LINNANE SENDS
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DAY FIVE - EXCELSIOR

Still in the middle of the final phase of the Move From Hell: camping out in a three-story hooch full of cardboard boxes and disassembled furniture - still no cable or Internet - this is really cramping my style - the neighbors must think we're Jewish or maybe Jehovah's Witnesses or something; no Christmas decorations up yet, its looking like its going to be one of those Christmases to Remember.

Still, we're warm & safe; we have shelter from the first storm of the year.

There's a team of STORMBRINGERS out there sending me stuff - this ones from Tom (formerly of Boomers and BS). Normally I'd delve into this, derive a post - given the current circumstances, I'm posting this in its entirety:


Joe wrote a pretty nice one on some of modern culture. Agree with him or not,  he writes well, and I reckon you'd probably agree more than not.

Not military though, more the "youth culture" and slackers.

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/12/america-y-ur-peeps-b-so-dum.html#more

Remember, I don't agree with him on a lot of things, but it's a hell of a RANT.

I shall be a capitalist till I die, and have been ever since I bought my first tools to make money with.

But the lack of thought by the populace is a bit of a problem, and he misses on the fact that the people on his side of the fence have a habit of looking the other way when Soros is being a pr*ck instead of a member of the republican party or libertarians like myself.

Excelsior,
Tom
Semi-Formerly (couldn't resist the pun) of Boomers and BS

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WHY ATHLETES DON'T HAVE REAL JOBS

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If you have ever pondered that question, here are some examples / reasons:

1.    Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson on being a role model: "I  wan' all dem kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I wan' all the kids to copulate me."

2.    New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season: "I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."

3.    And, upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the 'Skin's say: "I'd run  over my own  mother to win the Super Bowl," Matt Millen of the Raiders said: "To win, I'd run over Joe's Mom, too."

4.    Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John  Jenkins: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings.."

5.    Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann: "Nobody  in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."

6.    Senior basketball player at West Virginia University : "I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes." (Now that is just beautiful!)

7.    Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach: "You guys line up alphabetically by height.." And, "You guys pair up in groups of  three,and then line up in a circle."

8.    Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson going to prison: "Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton. "

9.    Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker: "That's so when I forget  how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes."

10.    Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training  regime of heavyweight Andrew Golota: "He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning, regardless of what time it is."

11.    Chuck Nevitt , North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt." (I wonder if his IQ ever hit room temperature in January!)

12.    Frank Layden , Utah Jazz president, on a former player: "I  told him, Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said,  'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.'"

13.    Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D: "Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject."

14.    In the words of NC State great Charles Shackelford: "I can go to my left or right, I am amphibious."

15.    Amarillo High School and Oiler coach Bum Phillips when asked  by Bob Costas why he takes his wife on all the road trips, Phillips responded: "Because she is too damn ugly to kiss good-bye."

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QUESTION: DELTA FORCE LIFE EXPECTANCY

A READER WRITES: "Hi, I just came across your blog yesterday and I find it very entertaining. Recently I've been reading a lot about the Army, specifically Rangers and Delta Force. Now, word on the web is that for Delta, life expectancy of an operator drops to about 49% in the span of 6 years, that one can only be in Delta for around 6 years due to becoming mentally drained, and, if you're one of the lucky half to survive all 6 years, your physical health rapidly deteriorates in the process.

"I can't say that I believe or disbelieve these statements because they do appear to hold some degree of sense, however, as I'm sure you know, the Internet is very unreliable in general, let alone about something as secretive as Delta.
So I come to you, since it would seem to have a knowledge on this sort of stuff but also have connections to people who may possess some degree of awareness on the subject.
 
"In other words, do you by any chance know whether or not any of that is true?"
 
"Thank you for your time, -J.A."

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Dear J:
I don't know where you're getting this six-year statistic from; the sergeant-major in my last operational unit was in CAG from mid-eighties until late nineties - more than ten years. I've known several guys like that.

Now I can't say much about Delta because I wasn't in the CAG but I can assure you The Unit is VERY physically challenging but not necessarily more than any other combat arms MOS - just in different ways. They don't have the mind-numbing, daily grind of back-breaking, soul-killing tasks. Hell, they have support choagees to tote & carry their bags; they don't even clean their own weapons.

Soldiering is hard work no matter what outfit you're in - at least as hard as professional football, lumberjacking or rodeo cowboying. Unless you take a bad wound, our long-term injuries tend to be knees, lower back (working & marching with 80+ lbs worth of kit starts to wear on you after ten or twenty years in the harness).

I knew a guy who retired as Command Sergeant Major, 82d Airborne Division. Charlie Thorpe went from private to First Sergeant in A Co/1st 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, with only a two year break to do drill sergeant duty. The man was harder than woodpecker lips. I guarantee you a tour as a grunt in Division is as hard if ot harder on the body than a tour in Special Operations.

Me? I was still on a Special Forces Operational Detachment at age 45 - still loading ammo cans up onto the GunVee, still jumping out of planes & helicopters, still running around with 80 lbs worth of lightweight gear strapped to my body. Nowadays my back & my knees are talking to me, let me tell you. My ears are blown out, I've got this weird skin rash I picked up in Bosnia, have more dead friends than living and I have to deal with the demons inside my skull.

Other than that I'm ready willing and able to drive on for the next 20 years - going into my third year of contracting and let me tell you I'll take a hard-charging paratrooper or Marine lance corporal on my team any day over a whining, spoiled rotten prima donna Spec Ops guy who's got better things to do than bust ass on a job that more often than not includes mundane tasks like pulling maintenance on the vehicles or maybe doing the obligatory goat-grab with your indig' counterparts.

Answer your question?

Thank You For Your Support,
-Sean L.

Answer your question?

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