War, Politics, and Life by Bruce Maulden
Doc: I don’t give a shit if he’s from Johannesburg. I don’t want to hear dune koon or sand nigger from him or anybody. Vig: Captain uses those terms. Troy: The point is, Conrad, ‘towel head’ and ‘camel jockey’ are perfectly good substitutes. — Three Kings US Army Sgt. Bob Bales is to be charged…
Pornographic war creates sweet dreams: “I laughed as I heard a story,” said Ryan Endicott. “One of the platoons had strapped dead bodies from a gunfight on the hoods of their Humvees and then drove around the city for hours. . . . One (day) they brought in a car that had just been shot…
Beyond war crimes: Peter Falstead of Jane’s Defence Weekly says the tail fins look, “very much like the tail fins from SM-240,†also known as the “Tulip Tree†developed by the Soviets in the 1970s. Today it is the largest mortar system used by any military in the world, and the Syrian army is believed…
Down through history, dictators and other such types have always launched slaughter sprees when needed to maintain hold on power, no big deal — in Syria nowadays, however, the horror virally gobsmacks the face of the world. And it’s bad. This morning, two journalists — one French, the other an American working for the UK’s…
A small instance of a humongous and worsening situation: The decline in the chipmunk’s genetic diversity occurred in the relatively short span of 90 years, demonstrating the rapid threat changing climate can represent for a species, a UC Berkeley release said Sunday. The shift of the living due to a warming environment poses a danger…
Some of the righteous posturing: “…utterly deplorable…” — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “…wholly inconsistent with the high standards of conduct and warrior ethos that we have demonstrated throughout our history…” — Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos “…deplorable, reprehensible and unacceptable…” — White House spokesman Jay Carney “…absolutely inconsistent with American values…” — Secretary…
(Illustration found here). In reality, a picture is indeed worth a shitload of words. One haunting face, that 4-year-old Iraqi kid — the above photo has been on Google Images for years, and has always caused me to hurt whenever I spotted it (used it a couple of times on blog posts to epitomize, or…
Opened with a big bang — ‘shock and awe’ — and closed with a deceitful shudder. The US ended its military misadventure on Iraq yesterday awash in bullshit. Leon Panetta has got to be one of the most disingenuous and hypocritical assholes this side of Newt Gingrich, claiming the Iraqi debacle was worth the price…
Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis. This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not “lose.†— Donald H. Rumsfeld memorandum, Nov. 6, 2006 (Illustration found here). In the annuals of world history there’s…
In the middle of some horrific and nasty events this past week comes a piece of news that really, really sucks — the US has been working quietly behind the scenes to water down the international ban on cluster bombs. And it’s the 1 percent greed factor — from The Hill this week: Two prominent…