Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Letter sent to Irish Examiner Wed. 28 April 2010

This was a tongue-in-cheek letter sent as a response
to an article stating that Ireland was going to crack
down on people who let their dogs crap in public.

It's about time ('Time to cry foul on dog owners with ‘sting’ operation' April 28, 2010). Let me offer a few suggestions.

Most people successfully train their dogs not to crap in their homes by rubbing their dogs nose in the feces. I believe that this method works just as well on any adult who lets his dog deficate in public. Okay, it make take a few times than it would a dog, but it's sure to work more effectively than a fine. And, the person will learn just like their mutt...it smells and tastes horrible;-)

Finally, this should be done to all politicians, bankers, developers et al responsible for the economic MESS that they have created!
Yours,
Paul Meuse
Haarlem,
Netherlands

Thursday, April 15, 2010

A Joke Making the Rounds in Iceland Today...15 April 2010

I saw this whilst scanning Icelandic newspapers today for coverage
of the volcano:-)



http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=29314&ew_0_a_id=360838

15/04/2010 | 14:48

A Joke Making the Rounds in Iceland Today

Britain: Iceland are you crazy?!?
Why did you send us volcanic ash ?
Our airspace has shut down.

Iceland: What ? That's what you asked for isn't it ?

Britain:NO! We said cash! Cash you dyslexic idiot. CASH!

Iceland: Woooops... \

To the British and Dutch Governments: There is no C in
the Icelandic alphabet, so when you ask for Cash, all
you get is ...

Monday, April 12, 2010



Taken from 'Collateral Murder'

"Political language is designed to make lies sound
truthful and murder respectable, and to give the
appearance of solidity to pure wind."
George Orwell


The radio director said that there are
seven(?) or several people down there
and one has a rifle.

Me: One rifle among several men doesn't
sound like an armed combat unit!

The first look I saw about a dozen people
in the street and to is side...a normal day.
At about 03:11 the director says that he
estimates that there are about 20 of them.

There was several men around a man on a
motor bike/scooter.

At 03:20 both crews idendified a weapon on
one man. "That's a weapon."

It was a the camera of Namir.

At 03:40 the D said that a second man had a
weapon.

At 03:45 D called into command and said that
there were five-six individuals with AK 47s.

03:48 Request permission to engage.
03:56 'Free to engage.'

04:09 A man (camera man) was low-bent?
on the ground and something was protruding
around the corner: his head and something that
they called an RPG.

04:43 "You're clear.
All right, firing."

04:49 "Light 'em all up. Come on, fire."

04:50 Come on, fire."
04:54 first burst stopped.
04:54-04:57 second burst.
04:58: "Keep shooting." (the man was down)
05:00 stopped burst.
05:00-05:03 keep shooting. pause.
05:10 All right, we just engaged all eight individuals."
ps...what happened to the 20 that they saw?
05:20 God damn it Kyle. All right, hahaha, I hit e'm..."


05:28-clear..just trying to find targets again.
05:39 "Got a bunch of bodies layin' there."
05:45 "Yeah, we got one guy crawling around
down there."

05:51 "We're shooting some more."

06:06 Roger. Currently engaging approximately
eight individuals, uh KIA, uh RPGs, and AK-47s.

06:29 Hotel Two-six; Crazyhorse One-Eight.
Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards.

06:33 Nice.
06:42 Nice.
06:43 Good shoot'n
Thank You.

07:14 Hey, good on the uh...
Five-four-five-eight eight-six-one-seven. Over

07:30 There's one guy moving down there but
he's uh wounded.

09:07 Yeah Bushmaster, we have a van that's approaching
and picking up the bodies.

09:19 Bushmaster, Crazyhorse. We have individuals going to the
scene, looks like possibly uh picking up bodies and weapons.
(ME:this is an assumption)

09:23 Let me engage.
09:28 Can I shoot?
Roger. Break.

09:31 Uh Crazyhorse One-Eight request permission to uh engage.
09:34 Picking up the wounded?
09:36 Yeah, we're trying to get permission to engage.
09:38 Come on, let us shoot!
09:41 Bushmaster; Crazyhorse One-Eight.
09:46 They're taking him. (two men lifting a dead/wounded man).
09:50 Bushmaster; Crazyhorse One-Eight.
09:53 This is Bushmaster Seven, go ahead.
09:56 Roger. We have a black SUV-uh Bongo truck...
09:59 picking up the bodies. Request permission to engage.
Fuck.
10:01 Request permission to engage.

10:05 This is Bushmaster Seven, roger.
This is Bushmaster Seven, roger. Engage.

10:09 One-Eight, engage.
Clear.
10:11 Come on! (Firing begins)
10:14 Clear.
10:16 Clear.
We're engaging.
10:17 Clear. we're engaging.
10:23 Coming around. Clear.
Roger. Trying to uh...
10:29 Clear
10:32 I hear 'em co..I lost 'em in the dust.
I got 'em.
10:38 I'm firing.
This is Bushmaster Forty got any BDA on that truck? Over.

10:42 You're clear.
This is ah Crazyhorse. Stand by.

10:45 I can't shoot for some reason.
10:47 I think the van's disabled.
Go ahead and shoot it.

10:51 I got an azimuth limit for some reason.
10:54 (Shooting begins again-mine)
10:56 Go left.

11:00 Clear left.
11:13 All right, Bushmaster; Crazyhorse One-Eight.
11:17 A vehicle appears to be disabled.
11:20 There were approximately four to five individuals
in vehicle moving bodies.

11:31 No more shooting.
12:07 Oh yeah, look at that. Right through the windshield!
(the copter had just returned and came close to the van-mine)

12:11 Ha ha!

12:29 Eight minutes after the attack, ground troops
arrive on the scene.

"We pulled up and stopped and I could hear
them over the intercom say they couldn't drive
the Bradley's [tanks] in because there were too
many bodies and didn't want to drive over them."
--Captain James Hall, Army chaplain.
Washington Post

12:53 I think they just drove over a body.
12:54 Really(laughing).
12:55 Yeah!


The soldiers find two wounded children in the minivan.

The treating soldier eventually decides to evacuate the
children to the medical center at the nearby U. S. base
of Rustamiyah. However, higher command orders that the
children are instead to be handed to Iraqi Police and be
taken to an Iraqi hospital.

This could mean poorer standards of medical treatment
and additional delay.

13:40 Hey, uh I need to get the Brads to drop rads
I got a wounded girl we need to take to Rustamiyah.
13:45 Bushmaster Seven; Hotel Two-Six.
Do you want us to move to your location over?

14:11 see troops running with child #1

14:15 Bushmaster Six; Hotel Two-Six over.
14:19 Hotel Two-Six; This is Bushmaster Seven.
Roger, come to our location.
14:27 Okay, roger, we're coming up north on Gadins
and then we will push east to your location.

14:41 (Soldier running with wounded child #2 --mine).

15:06 Roger, that's a negative on the evac of the two, ah civilian,
ah, kids to, ah rusty they're going to have the IPs link up.
15:14 They can put us over here. Break.
IPs will take them up to a local hospital over.
15:19 Copy over.
15:22 Roger that. One six oh.
15:28 W'll it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle.
That's right.

"No innocent civilians were killed on our part deliberately.
We took great pains to prevent that. I know that two children
were hurt, and we did everything we could to help them. I
don't know how the children were hurt."

--Major Brent Cummings, executive officer 2-16, US Army

(Washington Post)



When we reached the spot where Namir was
killed, the people told us that two journalists
had been killed in an air attack an hour earlier,'
said Ahmad Sahib, the Agence France-Presse
photographer, who had been traveling in a car
several blocks behind Mr. Noor-Eldeen but was
delayed by the chaos in the area. He said he
was in touch with Mr. Noor-Eldeen by cellphone
until his colleague was killed...

"They had arrived, got out of the car and started
taking pictures, and people gathered,'
Mr. Sahib said. "It looked like the American
helicopters were firing against any gathering in the
area, because when I got out of my car and started
taking pictures, people gathered and an American
helicopter fired a few rounds, but they hit houses nearby
and we ran fro cover."

-Ahmad Sahib, AFP war photographer.
(New York Times)