WHAT IS STORMBRINGER?

I've been on the road a LOT, at least 50% of the past two-and-a-half years, to all the garden spots: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Pakistan, El Salvador (OK that wasn't so bad), Israel (THAT was a fun trip!), Bangladesh, South Africa, South Sudan, Kenya, Mali and East Timor. Work has interfered with writing, which is my main thing - or at least, I wish I could make it my main thing. Time for a realignment of the aiming stakes. If you're a new visitor to Blog STORMBRINGER, this is what it's all about. If you have seen it before, consider this refresher training. Cheers, and thank you for your support! -S.L.

STORMBRINGER is a military blog, primarily dedicated to honoring heroes of the great US / UK / ANZAC / CANADA / ISRAEL Alliance in this conflict forced upon us by the Evildoers of Islamic Fundamentalism. Themes include reports on international security, great battles and notable events of military history, the greatness of Ancient Greece and Rome (and how the civilization of Ancient Rome still exists and prevails), the story of United States Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) and of course from time to time bits of my personal philosophy; inspired by Aristotle, Cicero, Atilla the Hun, John Locke, Benjamin Franklin, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill, Ayn Rand and Rush Limbaugh, to name a few.

An essential ingredient of my personal philosophy - a.k.a. The Philosophy of STORMBRINGERISM - is what Ayn Rand refers to as laizee-faire capitalism. The phrase laissez-faire (pronounced: lah-zay-fair) is French and literally means "let do", but it broadly implies "let it be", or "leave it alone." In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies.

Also from Ayn Rand, I embrace the concept of Human Exceptionalism; the belief that human beings have special status in nature based on their unique capacities. This belief is the grounding for some naturalistic concepts of human rights. Taking it a step further, Rush Limbaugh describes the philosophy of American Exceptionalism: the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other nations. This stems from our emergence from a revolution, and the uniquely American ideology, based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire. This observation is traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writer to describe the United States as "exceptional."

STORMBRINGERISM is also about the Cult of the 1911 and the individuals right to self-defense - up to and including lethal force - is a justifiable defense in a court of law:

Pistol US M1911 .45ACP

But, you say, how does this include the Great Alliance; our worthy allies the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel?

Simple: the American experience would not have been if the foundations of Democracy had not been laid in Britain, and before that in Ancient Rome, and before that Ancient Greece. In that, the UK is the Mother Country - has been and always will be - and by default this makes Canada, Australia and New Zealand our brothers and sisters.

But . . . but . . . what about tiny (yet MIGHTY) Israel?

Israel is the oldest country, and at the same time the youngest. The ancient Egyptian Empire and civilization has come and gone . . .

Nobody speaks in hieroglyphics anymore.

. . . and the people who built the pyramids are not the same folks who live in Egypt today. Likewise Babylon . . .

Nobody speaks in cuneiform anymore.

. . . it is gone, ground into the dust, even less of it left than in Egypt. There is still a Syria, but the ancient Assyrian Empire is dead and gone and it's people flung far and wide across the globe in diaspora.

Of these ancient kingdoms and empires of the Old Testament, only Israel remains, the smallest - yet most powerful - of all the countries of the Middle East.

The oldest country in the Middle East is also the only modern democracy in the Middle East.

Modern Israel exists because of Britain and the United States - if it was up to the rest of Europe and the Middle East there wouldn't even be anybody left to occupy a State of Israel. The Islamists - al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Mullah-led theocracy of Iran - view Israel as a Western foothold in their territory, much like the Crusader Kingdoms a thousand years ago. They - the radicals who have hijacked Islam - consider it only a question of time until they drive the Israelis into the sea and get that land back.

As such, Israel is with us, or like the Israeli girls say:

"Don't worry America - ISRAEL IS BEHIND YOU ! ! !"

"VISIT ISRAEL BEFORE ISRAEL VISITS YOU."

Speaking of babes, when I first signed up, SOLDIER Magazine always had a bikini babe featured on the back cover. Along the way they started rationing the cheesecake until sometime toward the end of my first tour I picked up a copy of SOLDIER and flipped to the back page. Staring back at me was a sergeant; all cami'd up and in full battle rattle - talk about taking a hard dose of reality. Well every now and then some imagery may appear on STORMBRINGER that is a throwback to an earlier, simpler time when it was okay for a warrior to tape a pinup girl in his wall locker, or depict one on the nose of his mighty war machine:

People send me all kinds of stuff to post in STORMBRINGER and I appreciate all the support I get. Most of the material sent is political, Tea Party/Make America Great Again-themed stuff - which is great, although I usually tend to wave off politics because it's done elsewhere, and I don't have time enough to dedicate the energy & creative juices to do it right.


STORMBRINGER SENDS

Meditations on the Way of the Warrior

A reader asks: "Sean, what is the Warrior Ethos?"

I chuckle as I recall a scene from Conan the Barbarian - during Conan's gladiator phase - where the Cimmerian is asked: "Conan, what are the greatest things in Life?"

His reply: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the cries and lamentations of their women!"

Few moviegoers realize that this is an actual quote of one of the greatest warriors of all time; Genghis Khan.

There have already been some posts on STORMBRINGER regarding the Way of the Warrior:

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - (Part 1)

and

On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs (Continued)

I wore the War Suit for twenty-five years, and I continue to serve as a security professional. Perhaps it is time to further explore this theme . . .

DUTY - HONOR - COUNTRY

The Warrior walks the Way of Power, and with this power comes great responsibility. To the Warrior class, this responsibility is known as "Duty".

For the Warrior, every act of every waking moment is guided by Honor. Honor first . . . Honor last . . . Honor . . . always.

Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz Stigler epitomized Honor in his encounter with B-17 pilot Charlie Brown during World War II

The Warrior serves. In ancient times, this service was to the tribe, the band of hunter-gatherers. Later, this service was to the King, or the feudal overlord; the Baron. In the modern era, this service is ultimately to the nation-state.

The Warrior is Loyal. Warriors perform their duty honorably at every level of our modern society; at community level as police, firefighters or other first-level responders; within the various state & national-level law enforcement and para-military organizations, the branches of the military - or as a private professionals, business leaders and the captains of industry - ultimately, duty to the nation trumps all. The Warrior must never betray his Country.

Considered amongst the greatest, most insightful American military leaders, both Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee took up arms against the United States. It must be remembered, however, that in their time a man's state was considered his country, and although Stonewall and Lee were not adherents of the Confederate cause, neither could bear going against their native Virginia.


The Warrior keeps his passions in check, never acts upon the impulse of his passions, except in the moment of actively engagement against the Threat. The Warrior channels the energy of his passion into selfless acts of service, into the driving force of physical endurance, and into outward displays of loyalty and respect to the Nation and its symbols, to the Honorable Dead, and to those who served before.

Green Berets of 10th Special Forces Group honoring World War II veterans of the Canada-America 1st Special Services Brigade

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The Warrior speaks Truthfully: to his leadership, to the Citizenry, and even to the Enemy, when representing the national leadership. The Warrior is not constrained to the Truth, however, when engaging in deliberate acts of ruse or deception, or psychological operations.

Although shrewd in his business dealings, the Warrior is an Honest Broker and a Fair Trader. The Warrior Class as a whole suffers when a single Warrior conducts himself dishonorably in barter with the Citizenry. This sentiment notwithstanding, the world is full of snakes, and the Warrior practices the ethic of "Trust, but Verify."

The days of Sack & Pillage are over; there are rules of war, codified in the Law of Land Warfare. Given the incredible lethality of modern war machines, and the professionalism of the Warrior Class, we conduct ourselves within this modern Code in order to minimize unnecessary suffering.

We treat Enemy prisoners within the Law of Land Warfare out of human decency, and to ensure humanitarian treatment of our own being held by the Enemy . . .








. . . whether or not the Enemy reciprocates:

American Prisoners of War in Japan, 1945

SS Reichsführer Himmler inspecting prisoners on the Eastern Front, 1943


The Warrior kills only when necessary, in the execution of legitimate duties. To kill indiscriminately, or outside the scope of duty, is unsanctioned murder.

To stray beyond these parameters one departs the Warrior Class and becomes of the criminal classes.









In a clandestine photograph smuggled out via underground operatives during World War II, an Australian pilot is summarily executed by an officer of the Imperial Japanese Army.

The German Wehrmacht conducts a mass execution of partisans, somewhere in Europe 1940-1944


PLANNING

Planning is a continual process; the Warrior always has a Plan, and the Warrior is always planning. Knowing that no plan remains intact once executed, the Warrior has an alternate plan - a Plan B - and an emergency plan - a "Go-to-Hell Plan."

"Be professional, be polite, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet." - Marine General James Mattis in Iraq.


The Principles of Patrolling are a good set of rules to guide you in your planning in all endeavors, civilian or military. They are found painted on Infantry barracks walls and posted on bulletin boards throughout the United States Army:


PLANNING

RECONNAISSANCE

SURVEILLANCE

CONTROL

COMMON SENSE


We will explore these concepts in detail, at a later time.


BE PREPARED

Knowing that the world is an evil place full of people who only wish to do him harm, the Warrior is never unarmed. A member of the Citizenry looks out the window and says, "Oh, it is raining; I must bring an umbrella." Whereas the Warrior looks out the window and thinks, "I don't know what's out there, I must carry something: an umbrella, a walking stick, a rolled-up newspaper - anything - so that my hands are not empty, should I encounter a Threat."

When circumstances preclude carrying a firearm, I carry one of these. If the distance is closed with speed and aggression, a collapsible baton will disarm and subdue an armed opponent.



VERSATILITY

The Warrior is not constrained by convention. There is a friction to Conflict; the Warrior adapts to fit the space and shape of the battlefield environment.

Years ago - another lifetime ago it seems - when I was a young Green Beret in Asia, my mentor explained: "The weapons of the modern-day ninja are the computer and the submachinegun."

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Like most of my peers, I knew nothing of computers, and an instinctive fear of the unknown gripped me. In the course of my self-education, however, I encountered Sun Tzu, the great Philosopher of War.

The Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy in the world. First translated into French language by Jesuits in 1772, it very likely influenced Napoleon. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, and General Douglas MacArthur claimed inspiration from the work.

Sun Tzu writes, "There is no difference between two armies tens of thousands strong meeting across a great battlefield, or two swordsmen facing each other in a duel."

I understood this to mean that a computer by itself is not evil or sinister, no more so than any tool or machine; it is simply a device that can be used to project power, as much as a submachinegun but perhaps more indirectly. Having arrived in the era of cyber-crime and cyber-sabotage, it is easier to understand this concept. The greater point is that the environment and the weaponry itself may change, but the Principles of War are always the same.


RESPECT THE ENEMY

The greatest folly in Conflict is for the Warrior to underestimate his opponent; and Conflict pervades every aspect of our lives. Sun Tzu also wrote: "Know your enemies and know yourself and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. But if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

In our business negotiations we apply this in seeking to know the other guy's hidden agenda. If you know your opponent's bottom line, you can quickly outflank him in negotiations or office politics.

To respect the Enemy means never to underestimate him. In modern warfare, this translates: "There aren't too many Million Dollar Men, but there are plenty of 25 cent bullets."

That little guy out there, squatting in the bush and living off rice and beans; he hates you and everything you stand for. Given half a chance, he can . . . and will . . . very realistically . . . KILL you.

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Take what I have written here and contemplate it. You will be tested - of this I can assure you.


STORMBRINGER SENDS

© 2011 Sean Linnane

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A SUMMING UP

Sean Linnane is a pseudonym












My background is military, of course, and civil engineering. Born in Australia, raised in Southeast Asia; I am an immigrant to the United States. My family heritage is Anglo-Irish; I myself am three-quarters Irish. The name 'Sean Linnane' is taken from the Gaelic version of my mother's maiden name, and my middle name; related to the word linen, it means 'a cloak'. I have made pilgrimage to the Old Sod; my journeys have also taken me to Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, and a million other places in between.

I am very interested in Ancient Greece & Rome and their extensive influence on our modern culture: art, architecture, thought, philosophy & politics.

I speak English, French and Thai, and have a working knowledge of Spanish and Arabic. I have developed a personal philosophy of Life by studying the ancients - Aristotle, Cicero, Marcus Aurelius - the moderns - Nietzche, Orwell, Ayn Rand, William F. Buckley Jr. - and of course those in the middle - Voltaire, John Locke, John Stuart Mill - distilling this knowledge and wisdom through the crucible of punishing warrior training and military service on five continents.

I was taught that the meaning of life is hard work, that work is it's own reward, and the motto of the Benedictine monks: Laborare est Orare - to work is to pray. In my off-time I enjoy working my land, carving civilization out of the wasteland, woodworking and carpentry, small engine maintenance and repair, pumping iron, reading - I am inspired by Joyce, Conrad and Hemingway - and of course I write STORMBRINGER. I regularly practice military combat pistol marksmanship training; weapon of choice is Mr. Browning's most excellent design the M1911 Government Model - the only hand gun for the true American warrior.

I am an American soldier; retired from active duty, but still serving in other capacities.

Thank you, and may your God go with you.

- S. L.


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ONE INCH CLOSER

Hokay Team -

It looks like Kindle is the way to go with this self-publishing thing. I just downloaded the freeware - you can do it too; that way you can read the novel as I crank it out, chapter by chapter.

The entire project is starting to come together and I might actually post the first chapter this weekend - "God willing and the river don't rise."

A question I fired out to my cabal of writer friends & family (I come from a family of writers): "Should I write my novel in the 1st person or 3d person? Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness in the 1st person; MacLean wrote Where Eagles Dare in the 3d person- which is best for my work?"

During alpine training in 10th Group we used to always kid about: "When do we train for doing the ice-axe battle on top of the cable car?


More details to follow as I get my head around the techie side of this project.

Thanks all of you for all of your support -

S.L.


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FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH, and PANIC IN BLOGGER STREET

Y'all may or may not have noticed a serious glitch in the matrix yesterday - first I noticed was I couldn't log on to Blogger - the Google-based service that I use to do STORMBRINGER. Worse still, Wednesday's post about the last combat veteran of World War I was GONE - which disturbed me because Claude Choules and the generation he came to represent are worthy of much honor and respect. It's a rare moment you'll catch me waxing poetic, and I wondered if I'd ever be able to re-capture that haiku about the Ghost Fleet?


"The wind blows over a page in the open Book of History, and the final veteran of an ancient war passes . . .

A quiet drumbeat, a distant bugle call,

a final gun salute from the Ghost Fleet

to honor him."


When I thought about it a little later on, it occurred to me that I should have ended that haiku with the pronoun, third person plural not singular:


. . . to honor THEM."


. . . but that would be cheating and not in the spirit of haiku . . . a haiku must be like the downward sword thrust - executed once; a fleeting human thought, a moment of time, captured on paper verbatim - never edited.


WOW! I think I just wrote the world's first haiku about . . . HAIKU:


a fleeting human thought

a moment of time

captured on paper, verbatim

never edited.


Perhaps there's an English major out there who'd care to advise a lowly professional knuckle-dragging snakeater on whether it's allowable to alter that last, the Ghost Fleet number?


ANYHOW

It was time to hit the road, but before I did I checked the Twitter-verse and sure enough, Theo - my mentor in Blog-dom - was moaning about Blogger. So I added my two cents worth before climbing into the old Fahrfenugen TDI for another day of fighting Evil and keeping the world safe for Democracy.

I don't do any of the so-called 'social media' - Spacebook, My Face, FaceButt, WHATEVER - I say 'so-called' because I believe they are generally the antithesis of anything social; to the contrary they are destructive to our society, social intercourse and the art of conversation - however I do the Twitter thing because it's a useful communications tool; an abbreviated interface between the Internet, what's going on out there in the real world and the smartphone.

Twitter is a fascinating phenomenon; I posted about it during the Bangkok street battles. Twitter was instrumental during the recent uprising in Cairo, and now it seems the Taliban have infested Twitter to propagandize their cause - that's evil, of course, and I hope the people that own and operate the Twitter thingie get a handle on this - I don't normally do boycotts but this is beyond the pale; Twitter changes their act or I do.


AZIMUTH CHECK

Yesterday's break in blogdom was a refreshing refer and re-alignment of the aiming stakes. Beyond honoring those who serve, those who have served, and those who gave all; the original purpose of Blog STORMBRINGER has been to provide a little outlet for my creative juices. Somewhere along the line this thing has morphed into a life of its own, and creativity has suffered accordingly.

What's happening is the Blog is interfering with my time; family life, workout time (precious little of), the business of work itself, and more significantly my creative writing time. Bottom line is I'd rather do one or two well-written posts per week, and pick up where I left off posting on Theo's Last of the Few than cranking out half a dozen poorly drafted blurbs a week, just to make some kind of daily hit counter that quite honestly has paid less in two years than what I make in two days at my day job.

A couple of weeks back I floated the question of serializing a couple of novels I've crafted over the years, and I'm still keen on developing this.

Suggestions range from integrating my work into the blog and charging per chapter (which would be great if I could figure how to do it); self-publishing - which would be fine if my objective was simply to be published; or getting accepted onto one of the 'reader' devices - which is the way I want to go. Barnes and Noble have a reader thingie, and of course there's Kindle - either way would work for me.


ANECDOTE

I've gone on about the novel long enough - I guess it's time to share a little of what I write. My inspiration has always been the action/adventure novels of Scottish author Alistair MacLean, with perhaps a touch of Conrad thrown in for good measure.

Alistair MacLean wrote what became possibly the best war film of all time: 

Dirty Harry meets Agatha Christie.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad; inspiration for Coppola's Apocalypse Now, before its 1902 publication, it was serialized in three parts.

In 2000 I spent the better part of a year mostly by myself in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. I lived alone in a large house of cement, stone and marble, on the edge of the great Sahara. That lonely outpost was where I started the novel I am about to present.

A year rolled by. I'd been in and out of West Africa a couple of times and as fate would have it I was in Washington DC on official business; good friends David & Danielle had me over to their place for dinner. Recently Danielle reminded me of something I said over the dinner table that evening: "Something big is coming . . . we see it coming, there's all kinds of activity on the intell sources . . . I don't know what's going down, but something big is going to happen . . ."

The date of that dinner party was September 10th, 2001, and the next morning I had an appointment at the Pentagon.

This was as close as I got to keeping my appointment that fateful September morning.

The point of my anecdote is this: the novel I crafted featured the world's most wanted terrorist ol' Mister Fish Food himself. Well 9/11 changed the whole premise of THAT work of fiction, and I spent a VERY busy next couple of years chasing ghosts all over Eastern Europe and North Africa, and writing fell by the wayside.

I may or may not have to change the premise of my story; I'd hate to intersect fiction on top of what is promising to be a terrific tale of action and adventure all by itself. Most likely I'll re-write it, craft it in my own terms, and drive on with it.

Here's the teaser:

Prologue

The map the continent of Africa resembles a skull; the fossilized skull of some primitive sub-human ancestor from deep within the dust and debris of Uldabi Gorge. If one starts at the straits of Gibraltar, where Africa comes closest to Europe, and traces a finger southerly, the western coastline of North Africa curves around to the base of the skull. On a human this is the medulla oblongata, where the spinal column joins into the most primordial part of the brain, the part of our being that governs instinct and involuntary muscle movement. On the map this is West Africa, an irregular, variegated coastline. Its solid green represents the low altitudes, dense vegetation, mosquito infested jungle, primordial scum.

Abidjan, Ivory Coast - Cote d’Ivoire - is a modern city on the edge of the West African coastline. Built on islands in an inland system of hyacinth-covered, crocodile- and hippo-infested lagoons and surrounded by emerald forest-covered hills, her modern skyline rises like a fantastic set from some science fiction epic.

The press had been harping about the “riots in the streets of Abidjan” for weeks, but the few clashes I saw out there didn’t come anywhere near what I would classify as a fully-fledged riot. More like spirited demonstrations, almost staged events for what is was worth.

There is no discernable beginning or end to the souk in Abidjan. There is no parking lot, no clearly marked entrance. The roadside stands simply increase in number as one approaches the area of the souk; merchants selling clothing, fruit, shoes, handbags, magazines, masks and African animals of carved wood or semi-precious stone, everything and anything imaginable.

Every hundred meters or so one encounters a woman standing by a large enamel or plastic basin perched on a barrel or a drum, full of antibiotics and other miscellaneous pharmaceuticals acquired from black market sources or the careful gleaning of westerner’s rubbish. Customers sift through the medications, lift up containers of pills in bubble packaging or plastic pill bottles with typed prescription labels to carefully inspect the mysterious drugs until they find something they feel will remedy whatever it is that ails them. Along a street that sells wooden artifacts one may find stall after stall selling hundreds of small statuettes featuring white men dressed as doctors, policemen, soldiers. Hopeful patients can place such statuary in their home, burn candles and offer liqueur, tobacco to the image. This is gri-gri; juu-juu or voodoo. If the pills don’t work, a gri-gri doll will.

The center of the souk is in a crumbling shell of concrete that goes up at least three stories; I never determined how far the complex goes in laterally. The roof in some places is made of the same steel-reinforced cement as the walls, mostly however the merchants stretch swathes of cloth between the walls to provide shade from the sun. The floor beneath one’s feet is sand, the interior is maze-like. A narrow set of stairs goes up the side of the building; merchants are tucked into every nook and cranny, poking out to offer their wares as one passes by.

It is hot and humid, airless within the depths of the souk. The senses are assaulted by a barrage of sights, sounds and smells. Bolts of vividly colored printed cloth, stalls featuring thousands and thousands of colored glass beads, more wooden statues and carved animals; hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, rhinos, gazelle, elephants, lions, zebras. Animals made of the printed cloth. Suitcases and shipping trunks. Hand tools, made in Taiwan. Korean mink blankets featuring Oriental geometric patterns or the old favorite, the white Siberian snow tiger, stacked to the ceiling in their vinyl packaging. West African music, the ancient ancestor of rock and the blues, blares it’s hypnotic rhythms out of cheap boom boxes and ancient transistor radios; the air reeks of spices, fruits, perfumes, the smell of dusty wood, and always, everywhere, the smell of thousands of sweating bodies.

A niche in the wall features shelf after shelf of ivory; tusks, statues, bracelets, bangles, necklaces, earrings, rings. More ivory lays beneath glass display cases. The owner is an ancient black in purple robes. He wears a fez, his eyes have a wisdom that is a thousand years old. He puts his hand on mine, draws me close. His dark skin looks almost blue against my arm. “Monsieur,” he says quietly, displays a mouthful of stained and rotting teeth. “Today is not a good day for you in the streets of Africa.”

© 2011 by Sean Linnane

Well, there it is. If you like my work, go over to the right there and click on email STORMBRINGER - and let me know if you'd be willing to click on it for a dollar a chapter.

Cheers - S.L.



Yesterday's Bird HERE



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B-17G MOUNT 'N RIDE

MOUNT 'N RIDE was a B-17G-20-BO (42-31585) of the 91st Bomb Group. She landed at Dübendorf in Switzerland on 16 March 1944. The aircraft was piloted by 1/Lt Robert C. Mersereau.


USAAF ground crewmen and Swiss air mechanics posed with the bomber during the Summer of 1945 while she was being prepared to return to England.




Nose art painted on Mount'n Ride by the famous artist Tony Starcer.


The inspiration for the nose art was the February, 1944 Vargas Calendar Girl.




Monday Mystery Bird HERE



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END O' THE WEEK

FRIDAY FILLY HERE

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PERSPECTIVES

It's a type of angst . . . the problem is I just don't know where I'm going with this thing . . .


I asked one of my confidants, one of the Gurus of the BlogoSphere: "Am I getting enough site visits? I'm averaging over 2500 a day - is that a lot?"

I was told; "2500 is a fabulous number for a personal site: the typical blog numbers its readers in the hundreds. You don't become a business though until you pass the 100,000 mark however."


That explains why I don't have an entourage . . .

. . . like Gwen Stefani and her posse of demented female ninja . . .

I peaked over 4200 site visits one day last week.


People are reading my great thoughts.


When I was a kid, I wanted to be a great writer, like the great Hemingway:

The problem was, I didn't feel I had anything great to write about.

So I went out and had all these Hemingway-esque adventures. Now I don't want to write about them because I don't want to come off sounding like Hemingway; some kind of a chest-beating self-aggrandizer.


I felt I would become a philosopher.


Then this Irishman in a bar laughed at me; "A PHILOSOPHER? That's for the old men with the grey beards. You're a young whippersnapper, you should be out LIVING your life, not PHILOSOPHIZING about it!"


This pure Irish wisdom fell right in line with my Zen training, so I went out and lived in the Eternal Now.

The trouble with living in the Eternal Now is it leaves no room for philosophizing . . .

. . . these are some of the dilemmas I struggle with . . .

* * *

Earlier on I mentioned I've been getting these weird emails, and now they're starting to show up in comments. They all follow the same general line of dialogue, and they are all in broken English:


Hello friend

Your Site is very much interesting.

I am regular reader of your blog. I follow your blog. I am able to get all the informations from links in your blog as well as by following external links from your blog.

I like your way of posting. I Have added http://seanlinnane.blogspot.com/ in my blog http://_____________.blogspot.com/ . I am honored to add it to My Friend's Blogroll section.

So if you could provide me a link to my blog, it will be much more useful for users.

Hope you would add my blog in your blog. I would certainly appreciate a link from your blog.

My URL: http://__________.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting my blog as well! Please reply friend

Regards

Sheldon



WEIRD. Then this, from yesterday's comments (beneath the Monday Mystery Bird) . . .

"Hi there! Remember me?"

. . . some dude named Lawrence writes:


"Great Great Great Blog

Your blog is so excellent. I am your regular reader of your blog. I follow your blog. I like your way of posting. Hey i am interesting in adding your in my blog

http://nappilesbyan.blogspot.com/

I am honored to add it to my blog in right side bar links. Will you add my blog in your blog list

Thanks for visiting my blog as well!

Please reply dear"



"DEAR ? ! ? ! ?"



This one's from some bird called Kristen:


Dear Friend,

I am really proud to have your blog http://seanlinnane.blogspot.com/ in my blog sidebar.

I could see your website nice and with good information for the people, and this attracts me to add your blog in my blog named http://_________.blogspot.com/.

My best friendship quote “Yesterday brought the beginning, tomorrow brings the end, and somewhere in the middle we became the best of friends” Hope you would add my blog. Thanks a lot. Keep blogging . . . Love your blog and you are added :) Keep up the good work and thanks for the kinds words.

-- Kristen
Thanks for the opportunity. Thanks


I actually went to her blogsite - its dedicated to all things Outer Space; NASA, astronomy, the International Space Station, Project Apollo, the Space Shuttle, distant galaxies . . .

. . . did I mention Space?

The woman is OBSESSED with rocketry.

These messages are creepy because of their similarity, and the broken English is what really gets my radar going.

I tell you what: yYou weird furreigners want a link exchange? Here's the deal: this is Blog STORMBRINGER. Languages spoken here include French, Spanish, Thai, Hebrew, Arabic AND English . . .

. . . THE QUEEN's ENGLISH, that is.

We DON'T speak no BROKEN ENGLISH and we DON'T take the bait from scamsters who do. This is the Internet Era - what do you think we are, STOOPID???

* * *

Then there's the Birther Doc thing . . .





My post on Lt. Col. WingNut generated several comments that all sounded a similar theme. Here are a couple choice quotes:


"We hung men 70 years ago who just followed orders. For this man, that history means something."

and

"The Numerberg Trials settled the question of whether a soldier should follow illegal orders. If the prez is illegal then wouldn't his orders be illegal too?"


Lemme see here - the man was sworn in my Justice Roberts - who with eight of his co-workers knows more about legal and illegal than all of us put together - and if there was a case to be heard about the mysterious origins of Barack the Magic Negro, you'd think it'd be investigated at that level.


WHATEVER . . . hundreds of thousands of American G.I.'s who take their oaths seriously just got equated to Hitler's Nazi goons . . . by a pack of scoundrels wrapping themselves in Patriotism . . .


Scenario:
"Hey Private! Mop and buff that floor!"

"No way, sergeant, I don't have to!"

"HUH?"

"The President of the United States was born in Kenya - so that's an illegal order. I don't have to follow it."


WHAT KIND OF A WAY IS THIS TO RUN A MILITARY???


I want you Birther guys to back up and look at where your line of reasoning leads; this is the same line of reasoning the Code Pink / MoveOn dot Org crowd was throwing out there about Bush - HE wasn't legally elected EITHER . . . REMEMBER ? ? ?

So, what? - are we supposed to have half the military go into a state of mutiny every four to eight years just because they don't like the outcome of an election? There are countries where that is the norm, and I have served in several of them. They are called Banana Republics - and they are HELL ON EARTH.

Now stop and think . . . is that what you want the United States of America to look like? Because that is where this sort of mindset leads - Barack Obama is playing you like a cheap violin, and you are enabling him right along to his ultimate objective: to destroy the greatest country in the history of the world, cut us down to size and make us pay for being the "oppressor" nation to all the Third World little guys out there.

Always remember - the American Revolution is an eternal revolution - true - but it is also an INternal revolution.



We will prevail - we always do - but we won't prevail by advocating mutiny and the chaos and disruption that will bring. That is not what Blog STORMBRINGER is all about, and that is NOT what the Tea Party Movement is all about, either. There are some important elections coming up, and we are going to run the Obama crowd out of town on a rail . . .




"If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs . . ."

- SEAN LINNANE SENDS


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