Dogs Are Cool!

Spies

After the release of the CIA report yesterday I was tempted to write a long missive reflecting just how pissed off I was about it.  But as I gain in age I also like to think I'm able to temper my thoughts a bit.  That is especially true if I give it a bit of time.  So now that a day has passed, I'll try to provide some thoughts without getting too worked up.  But it'll be tough.

First, remember this...

And this...

On September 11, 2001 we were attacked.  Over 3000 innocent people lost their lives.  Families were shattered.  The country was reeling.  For those of you with amnesia, the number one thing that the government had to think about was preventing another attack.  It was obviously a very chaotic time.  After the dust settled, after the horrific mess was cleaned up, after the bodies (that could be found) were buried, the military and the CIA went to work.  Remember that they had not encountered anything remotely similar in the past.  If you've been watching the news and if you watched the CIA Director today, you know that they did some tough things.  But I say again, it was a time of national emergency.  And all the things they did were given approval by both the National Command Authority and the Justice Department.  The Director said today that it was unknowable if the information gained by the enhanced interrogation techniques would have been gained in other ways.  I think that's BS.  For some of these lunatics, they have to be broken.  And to break them EITs were needed. 

Let me digress a minute on EITs.  Some are calling them torture.  Once again, BS.  I've been waterboarded in survival school.  Some say that's not the same thing.  Well, I'd venture that those morons have never been there.  Trust me that after several days of enduring all the things that are thrown at you in SERE School, your mind starts to play tricks on you.  You start to question reality.  And waterboarding isn't the worst of it.  But it's not torture.  These techniques are designed to break people.  And everyone breaks.  Everyone.  And when you're trying to make it stop, you're not about to tell lies.  I'm supremely confident that any info obtained from these terrorist assholes was usable and real.  

So tough things were done.  They were done to prevent another attack and find those responsible for 9/11.  They were done with the full agreement and knowledge of National Command Authorities and key Congressional leaders and the authorization of the Justice Department.  And they worked.  No more attacks.  Bin Ladin is dead.  If we would have stayed the course in Iraq and Afghanistan, we'd be seeing very different outcomes than we see today.  But we got out.  Some would say cut and run.  Whatever, the CINC said leave so we did.  We are now reaping what we sowed.

So now Senator Feinstein is going to be in the minority in a few weeks so she decides to release a report on the CIA that is damning.  Now it's only damning if you believe EITs are torture, but there are so many ignorant people in our media, that they can't possibly tell a fair story.  I think many believe what they see in James Bond movies.  So the average person believes this BS.  She did this for purely and solely partisan political purposes.  I have to say I'm really appalled and ashamed that she is my Senator.  What a spineless weasel.  Sorry, there I go again.

I really thought the lowest that our government could go was Benghazi.  I thought the deliberate abandonment of an Ambassador and our guys in that despicable situation was the ultimate betrayal.  And to cover it up with some BS story about a film was both insulting and unforgivable.  But no one was ever held accountable and no one ever admitted to wrongdoing.   Hell, that moron Susan Rice was even promoted to National Security Director.  Now that is something I'm still trying to wrap my mind around!  But throwing the entire CIA under the bus.  Well...that's just breathtaking in it's betrayal.

We also know that this report was prepared solely by Democratic staffers.  We also know that they conducted no interviews with people on the ground or involved in ops in the CIA.  So they have no context.   Without context, it is very difficult to determine anything but what's written.  No historical perspective, no sense of urgency, no understanding of the circumstances.  Without context Lincoln's suspension of habeous corpus was unforgivable.  Without context, Roosevelt's rounding up of Japanese in WWII was unconscionable.  Without context, Truman using the atomic bomb was unthinkable.  Without context, Jefferson the slaveowner was a lowlife.  It is really beyond belief that anyone would give this piece of trash credit.  But by now everyone knows our media are like a pack of circling sharks.  If they sense blood in the water...and especially Bush blood...they'll go in for the kill.

And why is it that Obama is being so non-committal.  Perhaps it's because he's worried that at some point in the future, there will be an examination of his preferred method of waging war.  Because you see, it's all about killing people anonymously with drones.  Find the bad guys, verify the bad guys, kill the bad guys.  Do all this from a Predator equipped with a Hellfire missile directed from a room in Nevada.  The President's sycophants will say the attacks are surgical.  Oh yeah?  Then how come they always kill a bunch of innocents?   I can't fathom how this is a good way to accomplish our goals.  The war on terror is over (because Obama says so).  But how is that we justify launching random attacks around the world?  We are not at war and we are launching missiles around the world.  Think about that for a minute.  And think about what the people in the affected regions and countries must think of us.  And how long it will take to repair the damage.  Not the physical damage, the damage to stability and relationships.  It's just mind-boggling.  And it confirms for me that the people running our National Security strategy are amateurs at best, and incompetent cynics at worst.  But to return to the beginning of the this thought, someday (probably soon) our actions will be judged.  And we will have to pay a big bill.

Now all the useful idiots are coming out the woodwork to demand justice.  The ACLU wants indictments as does the UN.  Many of the most repressive regimes around the world are decrying the U.S. using "torture".  What a joke.  I suppose this will blow over as the media moves on to the next sensational story.  But for a US Senator to facilitate the demeaning of the patriots in the CIA is unforgivable.  What they did was lawful.  It was done to prevent another attack and to find the perpetrators of 9/11.  It was justified.  And it was not torture.  And it was patriotic.  They deserve our ultimate thanks.  Instead they get this.  Shameful.

Friday Funnies

Police Brutality

Police brutality (especially against black men) is all the rage in the news these days.  You've had to have been living under a rock not to have seen all the stories about the Ferguson and New York incidents.  I've posted about it and I thought the comments I linked to were pretty good.  I'm especially confident that all that are protesting the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson are ignorant opportunists.  Too much contradicting evidence.  Too many liars.  Too much outrage from the likes of Sharpton.  Too much logic that challenging a police officer by trying to grab his gun, hitting him, and then charging him will result in mortal wounds.  In New York, it seems different.  The video evidence really points to some sort of overreach by the police.  I'm not an expert so I'm not sure how it would be defined, but it seems to me the cops really overreacted.  That a death resulted in tragic.  And someone needs to be held accountable.  That the Grand Jury didn't bring any charges seems sort of lame.  I hope that the DA or the Feds do something.

But as is typical, the media didn't tell the story very well.  They like demonstrations.  They like drama.  They do all they can to instigate the protests.  So they have some news to report about.  And of course Obama is no help.  The divider in chief is consistent in trying to divide Americans against each other.  So not very much is told about the other side.  What the police have to put up with.  If you think they have a cush job, you're wrong.  They put their life on the line everyday to keep the piece.  Are they all perfect?  No.  Are mistakes never made?  Of course not.  But my experience is they are doing the best they can in a very dangerous situation.  This video is pretty good at laying out what they are up against.  This issue will evolve and there will be a lot more discussion.  I just wish (hope?) that both sides could be equally heard.

Great Read

For some time now and like many people n the country I've been watching America's foreign policy strategy unravel.  There are so many issues that we are floundering on and so many difficulties that we are retreating from, I have found it difficult to even know where to start when thinking of what the future might hold.  But I've just read a new book that I highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in these subjects.  It's by Bret Stephens, the Wall Street Journal's Foreign Affairs columnist and is titled America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming World Disorder.  Check it out on Amazon here.  The book is short, straight-forward and provides a sobering look at our position in the world.  Or if you don't want to read the whole thing at least check out an interview with Mr. Stephens in the Weekly Standard.  He provides a good overview of the book and some intriguing insights into what are our major difficulties in overcoming the hole that Obama has put us in.  It's fascinating and scary.

Motivation Monday

We've come a long way, baby!

Friday Funnies

Ouch!

How Is This Better?

The Keystone pipeline has been in the news for the last several years.  You've probably heard all the arguments.  It essentially comes down to the fear over damage done to the environment due to an oil pipeline that traverses the country versus the economic and strategic benefits (jobs, access to reasonably priced oil, collaboration with an important ally, reduce dependence on oil from the Middle East, etc).  Of course, Obama has been no help.  He's the ultimate bureaucrat and has waffled, delayed, and let the whole thing languish with the expectation that he can avoid making a decision.  With the recent election in which the Republicans trounced the Democrats, it is generally thought that the Keystone pipeline may actually have a chance of succeeding.   This would be a great step!

But one interesting unintended consequence of not allowing the pipeline is emerging.  One thing is for certain is that oil will continue to be produced.  And that oil has to go somewhere.  Companies are not in the business of charity.  So they are moving the oil.  There is a great article on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal called "Shale Oil's Secret Routes to Market".  I would provide a link but the article is locked on the WSJ website.  But I encourage you to pick up a paper and read the article. The bottom line is that the oil, and I mean a lot of oil, is being moved by a virtual pipeline.  And that would be by rail.  There are now trains over a mile long all over the country moving massive amounts of oil.  These trains are extremely vulnerable to mishap or, worse yet, attack.  And since there is little federal regulation, there are not remotely the procedures and responses in place that there would be for a pipeline.  So there you have it.  Unintended consequences.  And...how is this better?

Motivation Monday

Like many (most?) people my thinking on this has evolved.  I was in the US Navy for 25 years and for all of those years being gay was a crime.  It was outside the culture and grounds for immediate dismissal.  During the last few years of my career Don't Ask, Don't Tell came to be the rule.  But it always seemed like sort of a bullshit rule to most people I knew.  I mean, either ban it or not.   But don't keep people in limbo.  And then after leaving the Navy,  I didn't think too much about it until Proposition 8 came along. I sort of mindlessly agreed that marriage should be defined as being between a man and a woman.  So what that meant was that marriage would be defined by the majority of the people.  But then one day it dawned on me that I had voted to take a right away from someone just because of their sexuality.  And that didn't seem right.  Ultimately Proposition 8 was overturned.  And the tidal wave of courts striking down laws banning gay marriage which resulted in many, many States allowing it has been perhaps the most rapid and sweeping social change in my lifetime.  And the sun still comes up in the East in the morning.  I think we're finally approaching the better alternative to Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  That would be...Don't Care.

Friday Funnies

Ferguson

I guess, because it's been in continually in the news, that sooner or later there would be a post about Ferguson.  But as an old, white, baby boomer who is a registered Republican and has never been in a tussle with the police, it's a difficult stretch to say something that would sound anything other than trite.  Oh I could trot out all the stuff about personal responsibility, parenting disfunction, flouting authority, the arrogance and stupidity of challenging the police, etc, etc, etc.  But why?  Who would listen?  Like I said, my credibility on this issue is not very high.  But I read something today that seemed to me to hit the nail on the head.  It's a post from an NFL player, Benjamin Watson, regarding the whole Ferguson situation on his Facebook page  It is short, direct, authored by someone highly credible, and from my perspective, is spot on.  So I think I'll let him do the talking...you can read it here.

Bubba!!

Some things never change!

Cool Pic

Don't know these people but this is pretty cool!

Choices

This is an oldie but goodie and one my favorite stories.  Don't know if I've posted it previously but here it is.

Bob Norris is a former Naval aviator who also did a 3 year exchange tour flying the Air Force F-15 Eagle.  He is now an accomplished author of entertaining books about US Naval Aviation including "Check Six" and "Fly-Off".  In response to a letter from an aspiring fighter pilot on which military academy to attend, Bob replied with the following:

Young Man,

Congratulations on your selection to both the Naval and Air Force Academies.  Your goal of becoming a fighter pilot is impressive and a fine way to serve your country.  As you requested, I'd be happy to share some insight into which service would be the best choice.  Each service has a distinctly different culture.  You need to ask yourself "Which one am I more likely to thrive in?"

USAF Snapshot:  The USAF is exceptionally well organized and well run.  Their training programs are terrific.  All pilots are groomed to meet high standards for knowledge and professionalism.  Their aircraft are top-notch and extremely well maintained.  Their facilities are excellent.  Their enlisted personnel are the brightest and the best trained. The USAF is homogenous and macro.  No matter where you go, you'll know what to expect, what is expected of you, and you'll be given the training & tools you need to meet those expectations.  You will never be put in a situation over your head.  Over a 20-year career, you will be home for most important family events.  Your Mom would want you to be an Air Force pilot...so would your wife.  Your Dad would want your sister to marry one.

Navy Snapshot:  Aviators are part of the Navy, but so are Black shoes (surface warfare) and bubble heads (submariners).  Furthermore, the Navy is split into two distinctly different Fleets (West and East Coast).  The Navy is heterogeneous and micro.  Your squadron is your home; it may be great, average, or awful.  A squadron can go from one extreme to the other before you know it.  You will spend months preparing for cruise and months on cruise.  The quality of the aircraft varies directly with the availability of parts.  Senior Navy enlisted are salt of the earth; you'll be proud if you earn their respect.  Junior enlisted vary from terrific to the troubled kid the judge made join the service.  You will be given the opportunity to lead these people during your career; you will be humbled and get your hands dirty.  The quality of your training will vary and sometimes you will be over your head.  You will miss many important family events. There will be long stretches of tedious duty aboard ship.  You will fly in very bad weather and/or at night and you will be scared many times.  You will fly with legends in the Navy and they will kick your ass until you become a lethal force.  And some days - when the scheduling Gods have smiled upon you - your jet will catapult into a glorious morning over a far-away sea and you will be drop-jawed that someone would pay you to do it.  The hottest girl in the bar wants to meet the Naval Aviator. That bar is in Singapore. 

Bottom line, son, if you gotta ask...pack warm and good luck in Colorado.

Motivation Monday

Immigration

i inadvertently deleted this post.  Damn!  Thought it was pretty good.  I don't have the time nor the inclination to reconstruct it here.  So here is the gyst...Obama is a liar, an opportunist, and a terrible President.  He does noting but divide us.  And everything is political.  His action regarding illegal immigrants is cynical and only taken to try and get a leg up on the Republicans.  It's disgusting.  But...Republican's should let it go.  There is plenty of blame to go around for not working on an immigration bill over the years.  So just accept that he is an arrogant jackass, formulate a bill and send it up, and concentrate on blocking whatever disastrous proposal he will next try to implement.

Friday Funnies II

Couldn't resist.  This is what frequently happens in my house...

Friday Funnies

Motivation Monday

Our new Priest used this quote in his sermon today.  Powerful!

Friday Funnies