Mondays Missives

my cubicle in the Al Anbar office. Click to enlarge

• My house sets only about 12 miles from the weather station for my area so reports are generally dead on- as in when the weather says a cold front will move through at around noon- you could set your watch by that.








• I've scared a couple of people with stories of the horrors I was associated with in Iraq and this is part of the reason some of my closest friends haven't heard the worst.








• We called being there being Downrange.








• I don't understand how an author/historian could ever attempt to alter history to bend to their views. For instance, just this morning on the histroy channel site there was a sentence that read to the effect regarding the Battle Of The Bulge: "Nazi atrocities abounded during this period including the murder of 72 American prisoners of war at Malmedy." I don't know where to start with this statement but, the Malmedy Massacre as it has become known as far as I know is now regarded by every historian on both sides as a horrible, unfortuante event that started with the shooting of a few escaping prisoners which devolved into a mass escape attempt by the Americans who believed they were being executed without cause. The shooting of an escaping POW was both legal and engaged in by all parties 100% of the time. Early in the war though the Germans were known for their magnanimity in dealing with
  American casualties and prisoners which surprised and often had a deep impact on US GIs because of the German reputation for fierceness in battle. The German forces would often be the first to broker battlefield deals to allow casualty collection and body removal- even when they had the upper hand. Medics would report their surprise they could move through a hail of fire as if they were invisible- they were simply not being targeted by the German soldiers. One incident which did work toward changing the way Germans acted on the battlefield though was the murder of two German medics who had commandeered an American jeep and were rushing a wounded German and American soldier back to their field hospital. The American soldiers shot both of the medics and dumped the wounded German in a ditch to die. The term "Nazi soldiers" is also perjorative and a bit misleading- it was a political party that until late in the war most soldiers were prohibited from belonging.





• Contiue to be curious about the controversy surrounding President Obamas color. He is half white and was not exactly raised in the ghetto.





• I think it would be easy to perceive that he will be able to do nothing right because so much is expected of him and he has so many problems to deal with but, I think the truth will be unless he really steps on something he will be viewed as if he could do no wrong.





• When I first got out on my own I think it was generally accepted it was cheaper to eat well and healthy than not- I believe the opposite is true today.

Wednesdays Digressions

AP photo from MSNBC

• Nancy Pelosi looks at least 15 years older since debate over the bailout started. I don't know for sure if I'm right on that assessment or what it may mean if I am but, it seems true in multiple pictures I've seen. I've got a sneaking suspicion though I'm correct and this thing is keeping her up at night.


• A guy I know in Decatur has a blog called Liberally Lean at http://skattershooting.blogspot.com/ recently he said something to the effect,"Obama stopped smiling about 6 weeks ago." Man, he's right and again I don't know what it may mean but, it's true and it's obviously so.


• The school shooting in Finland was followed by the predictable headline within 24 hours Gun ban mulled in Finland in wake of school shooting. Bad situations make for bad laws is an old, applicable truism. Finland is second in the world behind the US in private gun ownership.


• I applied for a part time job the other day to get me out of the house and prevent starvation and homelessness. I got the job-flexible schedule, good pay, they gave me a set of high quality scrubs when conversationally I mentioned I would need to get some and in the breakroom was a 4 ft. stack of cases of energy drinks, bottled water and sodas. I can handle this.


• The baby spent his first day in day care and has been sick as a dog with flu symptoms, I haven't slept more than a couple of hours in the past 2 nights. I think it was too quick for incubation time- probably a coincidence.


• Cool mornings get me charged up and I feel like I can accomplish anything. Soon enough we'll be whining about how cold it is daydreaming aloud about next summer- going to the lake, getting out on the boat etc. Then we'll be whining about the heat wondering aloud what it feels like in the more northern states," Have you ever been snow skiing?" we'll say then winter will roll around...
• My spell checker has lost its mind, it just started missing obviously misspelled words and hi lighting random words and in one case turning the letters yellow instead of hi lighting the word.