Support The Troops

Others may say "Have a Happy Memorial Day." I take issue with that. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for soldiers that have died fighting for our freedoms. Whether we agree with this current occupation or not, we all must stand together and remember those that fought for us.

So everyone, have a solemn and mournful Memorial Day.

~ Deep Blue

P.S. No, I haven't gone all conservative on you. I for one will spend this day thinking of all the soldiers that needlessly died during this occupation. Soldiers that had families back home, worrying from one day to the next. I mourn for the troops today, wishing with all my might that they will be home soon. I support the troops -- by not wanting them in Iraq.

The Truth About the SURGE!

I've avoided this topic long enough, mostly because it's been beaten to death on the Bill Manders show (hell, they're re-running his Friday show on this topic today), but I couldn't resist once I saw his headline.

RGJ: Cheney Lashes Out at Harry Reid

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada on Tuesday of pursuing a defeatest strategy in Iraq to win votes in the next election -- a charge Reid said did not warrant a response.

The two sparred hours after President Bush said he will veto the latest war spending bill taking shape in Congress, which includes a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq.

Cheney, after attending the weekly Republican policy lunch on Capitol Hill, lashed out at Reid.

"Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics," Cheney said. "Sen. Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election.

"It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage," Cheney said.

Reid, D-Nev., dismissed Cheney's remarks later to reporters, but not before getting in his own dig at the vice president.

"I'm not going to get into a name calling match with the administration's chief attack dog," Reid said.

That last line killed me. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican, but you have to admit that calling someone a name whilst saying that you don't want to enter a name-calling match is funny, even if Cheney is the administration's attack dog. If I were Harry Reid, I would've put a sarcastic spin on a term of esteem, such as "I'm not going to get into a name calling match with the always dignified, never unintelligent Vice President."

Cheney's assessment of the War on Iraq giving the Democrats seats in the next election is actually quite accurate, but also quite obvious. The Democrats don't really have to do anything to gain seats in the next election. But is political gain the main reason why Sen. Reid even uttered the words "the war is lost" in succession?

No. He said them because it's the truth, and as I always say, the truth has a liberal bias.

The truth is that Iraq has gotten really deadly, not just for Iraqis, but our soldiers as well. Larry Johnson, who "worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism" (so he knows a thing or two about terrorism and war), wrote on his blog last Wednesday that 364 Iraqis were killed between April 15th and April 18th (source). Yesterday he wrote that 9 American soldiers were killed and 20 more were injured "in a suicide car bombing against a patrol base northeast of the capital in Diyala province" (source, quoting an AP article). Read those articles and tell me that the SURGE! is going well.

Some people (including Manders) say that we liberals want the SURGE! to fail. We already know that it will fail, because this isn't the first SURGE!. Oh no, there've been other SURGE!s over the past 3 years. Does "Operation Together Forward" ring a bell? It should, because that was when we SURGE!d into Iraq between July and October 2006 (source). You know how Bush says that he listens to "the generals on the ground?" Well, he didn't listen to Major General William Caldwell, who said that Operation Together Forward "[did not meet] our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in the levels of violence" (source). So even the generals on the ground didn't think that that SURGE! worked.

Further SURGE!s can be documented in the Brookings Institute's Iraq Index (PDF link). The table in question is on page 23, titled "Coalition Troop Strength in Iraq since May 2003," and that table was taken from tens of articles and statistical compilations. This table shows numerous other SURGE!s, such as the SURGE! that happened between September and November 2005 (22,000 additional troops with no long-term benefits), or the between November 2004 and February 2005 (12,000 additional troops with no long-term benefits), or even the SURGE! between January and May 2004 that happened during troop rotations (7,000 troops reduction followed by a 20,000 troop addition with no long-term benefits).

So the right-wingers won't tell you that there have actually been nearly as many troop SURGE!s as there have been Rocky movies. The only reason why this is news is because the Democrats are now in power, and President Bush isn't used to not getting his way. This story has spread throughout the Right Wing Talking Points Network, hitting just about every major conservative talk show in the country. I'm surprised that a petition hasn't been created to try and recall Reid. There sure has been enough talk of it on right-wing websites. That's just like the typical conservative: all talk and no walk.

It is in this vein that I urge you to call Senator Reid and tell him that you support his views. It's great Americans like him that will help get our troops out of a civil war in Iraq and actually working to capture the real bad guy from 9/11. Does anyone remember a guy named Osama bin Laden?

Reno Office: (775) 686-5750
Carson City Office: (775) 882-7343
Las Vegas Office: (702) 388-5020
Congressional Office: 1-866-SEN-REID (736-7343) (Nevadans only); (202) 224-3542

~ Deep Blue

Update (11:22 PM PDT): JWH over at The Blog Formerly Known as "No Gibbons" has the Reid quote listed above as "I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating" in his latest post. This quoting comes from the New York Times. I am going to keep my quote as-is because the RGJ article still states it as above, although this alternate quote (additional quote?) is just as funny.

Ruminations on a Villain

I wish that I didn't have to do this, but thanks to the incessant media coverage Seung-Hui Cho is getting, I feel like it is my duty to say something to the media:

STOP FOCUSING ON THE GODDAMN SHOOTER!!

I know it may sound crazy, but we as Americans should not give this guy anymore posthumous airtime. Focus on the victims and their heroic acts and innocence. Don't focus on the guy who would've been in a mental hospital if it weren't for Ronald Reagan's mental health budget cuts.

I have to say this, though...stay with me. I have to admit that he was brilliant, in a very sickening sort of way. This mentally sick individual knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it. He planned this "media manifesto" 6 days in advance, typing an 1800 word nonsensical rant, taking endless photos with himself posing with his weaponry, recording rambling video (some of which occurred between shootings). He then sent it to the people who he knew would give him exposure: a national news network.

He wanted to be a star. He wanted to be glorified like the Columbine shooters after he killed himself. And NBC fell for it hook, line, and sinker. It was a brilliant point to make about the celebrity-obsessed, "if it bleeds it leads" media, but it was the complete wrong way to make it. Thirty-three people needn't have died to make your point. No one needn't have died at all. There are better ways to get your message across. Then again, I'm trying to rationalize an irrational person's thoughts.

Some people say NBC "did the right thing" by turning it over to the FBI after they received it. Bollocks. They made copies of the material so that they would have the exclusive, thinking of their profit margins only, then they sent it to the Feds. Someone on Wednesday night on MSNBC (I forget who it is) even said that they had the right to copy all the material because it was their property. I don't deny that they had the "right" to do so, but they shouldn't have done so. It makes me sick. The manifesto should have become an urban legend, vanishing into some FBI bunker in Quantico. Shame on the media for reveling in this killer's exploitation of that very media. He played all of you for fools.

The problem lies in the media's desire to make money off of everything, especially tragedies such as this. There were even Google ads that were sponsored for people searching "Virginia Tech shootings." A screenshot of when I searched is posted below:


I compare the handling of the manifesto to the Rutgers women's basketball/Imus controversy. These victims died heroically, some defending their classmates, and this villain ruins their moment. Just like Imus ruined the moment of the Rutgers women's basketball season. This time, however, we will never hear an apology from the Imus figure. Not that he would've apologized; in his own head, he was justified.

Because of the excessive airtime that this guy has been receiving, numerous copycats are already showing themselves all across this country. There was even one here in Reno, where an Iraqi war veteran and former University of Nevada student said in an e-mail to a relative that "the Korean was a hero" and that he would be "on a mission" in a few days (source). He was fortunately arrested last night, but not before the UNR campus was closed down. I won't even mention his name because that would give saliency to the argument that Cho made when he sent that damn media manifesto to NBC.

I for one am glad that there will be no victims at UNR. Not from that guy, anyway. But I can't help but wonder if the horrors of the Iraq war made the Reno guy think that way, that maybe his mental condition is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. If that's the case, it would pretty much destroy the idea that this war is a good thing.

Anyway, just some thoughts. No one in their right mind would've done such a thing. I don't think it's a gun thing more than it's a mental health thing, although if Virginia had more stringent gun laws, such as provisions preventing mentally unhealthy people from obtaining guns, this guy would've at least been thwarted on that avenue.

~ Deep Blue

Update (1:12 PM PDT): Speaking of nuts with guns, some breaking news out of the Gun State (or Texas, as you may call it): Gunman Opened Fire at NASA Building, Police Say (CNN), NASA Evacuates Houston Building Amid Alert (MSNBC), Reports: Possible Shooting at Johnson Space Center in Houston (Fox News).

I think it's telling that all these gun crimes happen in places where gun laws are already lax. It really debunks that whole "more guns = less crime" argument. So when a gun crime happens in a place where guns are easy to get, the solution is to make guns easier to get?

Everything you know is wrong, I guess.

Update (4-23 9:46 AM PDT): Minor fix: I transposed "Seung-Hui" and "Cho" so that they are now westernized. I didn't know that Cho was his family (last) name until I read a story about his parents.

CNN: Anti-Kremlin Protesters Clash in St. Petersburg

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Hundreds of anti-Kremlin protesters crowded the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, Sunday and clashed with riot police a day after similar demonstrations in Moscow.

The protesters chanted slogans against President Vladimir Putin, whom they blame for rolling back democratic reforms in Russia and persecuting his political opponents.

Dozens were arrested at the unauthorized St. Petersburg rally, including Eduard Limonov, an opposition leader and member of "The Other Russia" -- a coalition of opposition groups that organized the rally. (full article)

It appears to me that Russia is slowly starting to creep back into Soviet Union territory as of late. The rollback of personal freedoms in that country is troubling but not surprising. Russia has been a corrupt country throughout the Cold War and afterwards, with many oligarchs controlling the industry. In fact, in the 2007 Freedom in the World survey (link), Russia has a rating of 6 for political rights and a 5 for civil liberties (on a scale of 1 to 7 where 1 is the most free), giving it a ranking of "not free."

If our goal is to spread freedom around the world, why is Russia not free? Why aren't we invading the former Communist country in a pre-emptive strike to help this repressed people? I mean, they have valuable natural gas, oil, and timber, and they have tired huddled masses yearning to be free.

Oh, I guess it's because they're white. That's why we don't do it. That and the fact that they have 2500 nukes that could be directed at our coastline.

We need to use what little credibility we have in the world to promote freedom through diplomatic means everywhere, not just in Arab countries that just happen to have oil.

~ Дип Блу

Do You Enjoy Being Shot At?

If you do, then International Executive Services, LLC, has the job opportunity of a lifetime!

You too can join other contracted employees in the Middle East fighting terrorists who plot against the United States! Dodge IEDs in the desert while making $134k - $200k per year with an 80 percent tax exemption! Do the job our military isn't getting paid nearly enough to do with equipment and weapons the 109th Congress wasn't ballsy enough to provide! The best part: Training only takes a grand total of eight weeks!

Sound like the job for you?

Not really.

The sad part is, it's all true. We have private contractors doing the military's job.

This International Executive Services LLC, website found at internationalexecutives.net, is now recruiting bodyguards to help be "part of the Security to help protect against anti terrorist that attempt to plot destruction against the United States." While they are clear to say that "[t]his site isn't a part of the U.S. Border Patrol or Homeland Security," this is clearly the job that these recruits are planning to do. It makes sense; we have corporations providing food to our troops, doing kitchen patrol, acting as mercenaries, torturing terror suspects, even taking over Walter Reed. Corporate armies are the next logical step, and it makes me sick.

They're advertising their jobs all across the country. I first learned about this on the Randi Rhodes Show on Air America, when a caller mentioned that this company was advertizing in the penny ads of a Brooklyn paper. I did a little digging (with some difficulty, because apparently International Executive Services is a business term and an unrelated non-profit organization in addition to this horrible company) and found that they also advertized for this position in Vegas (source), which means they could show up in Reno. On the company website detailing the position (source), the job requirements require the applicant to have 2 years experience in the military, 2 years experience as a police officer, or a 2-year degree in criminal justice. My guess is not too many applicants will have a degree.

By performing a WHOIS search of the domain (source), I found that the company that owns the domain name is TSV Group of White Plains, NY. According to their website (source), TSV Group is "a technology driven search and new media company that focuses on search marketing, local search and online comparison shopping," and apparently counter-terrorism contracts. They "[own] a network of local search and online shopping Web sites with millions of visitors each month, including more than 5,000 local-based Web properties." I checked their list of websites that they own, and International Executive Services is suspiciously absent from the list. Hmm...is it that they want to portray an image that doesn't involve crappy graphics of rotating handguns?

By the way, check out their photo gallery (source). Among pictures of these mercenaries in action include the stereotypical bald eagle superimposed on an American flag and a happy corporate woman on a laptop. That picture looks like it was stolen from a pay photo website...it even has a swirl watermark over it!

The point is: we don't need yet another contractor messing up a volatile Middle East situation. There's a reason why it takes a long time to train our soldiers. These mercenaries are luring our citizens into a dangerous situation where they are accountable to no-one and no government. We have enough to worry about from government mess-ups...we don't need World War III brought to you by TSV Group.

If you want to contact them and tell them that their job is a disservice to our armed forces, they can be reached at:

International Executive Services, LLC
c/o TSV Group
1 North Lexington Avenue, 5th Floor
White Plains, NY 10601
Phone 1: 1-914-328-5510
Phone 2: 1-914-428-8206
Toll-Free: 1-800-601-6603
Fax: 1-914-428-8251
update@webimage.com (an e-mail address associated with the domain registration)

LEGAL MUMBO-JUMBO: Since this information can be dug up using the links above, I am not legally responsible for any correspondences that come from this website.

~ Deep Blue

Friday News Roundup

Here are the stories that got buried yesterday and that are being talked about today:

• Bush Campaigner's Conviction in New Hampshire Phone Jamming Case Overturned
  
  Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals First Circuit overturned the conviction of James Tobin, the Bush campaign chair for New England druing the 2004 election. He was convicted of jamming Democratic voting drive phone lines during the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election. Tobin, sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, 2 years probation, and a $10,000 fine, claimed throughout the trial that he had no clue about 800 hang-up phone calls placed to the get-out-the-Democratic-vote numbers. According to the first circuit, no intent to harass was alleged, proved, or disputed by the parties.
  
  Now I know why Laura Ingraham didn't get caught when she advocated people from her show jamming "1-800-DUMB-VOTE."
  
  That being said, others involved, including Allen Raymond, the former president of Republic consulting group GOP Marketplace, and Chuck McGee, the former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, were convicted to the scheme. McGee actually admitted that he "paid a Virginia telemarketing company more than $15,000 in a scheme to jam Democratic Party phone lines with computer-generated calls."
  
  
• George P. Bush Signs Up for Naval Reserve
  
  President Bush's nephew has decided to join the Naval Reserve as an intelligence officer, being commissioned for an eight-year service. He said he was moved into joining the service when he attended the commissioning of the USS George H.W. Bush. "My grandfather's my hero, and what really sold me on the ultimate decision was having the chance to see the CVN-77 be commissioned under his name," he said. "That was pretty moving, and I had a chance to meet some Navy admirals, as well. I had a chance to talk to them briefly about the opportunity, and I was won over." At the bottom of the article, Bush said that he wouldn't talk about his own political plans, but "friends say they believe the family may soon be in store for another gubernatorial campaign."
  
  This is just what this country needs right now: Yet another offspring of the Bush dynasty in politics. Gag me.
  
  On a side note, it's the first time "Bush" and "intelligence" has been in the same sentence since H.W. was in the CIA. And I'm still holding out for the twins joining the Army infantry.
  
  
• UK Soldiers Captured at Gunpoint by Iranians
  
  Fifteen British Navy sailors have been captured close to the Iraq-Iran border aboard the HMS Cornwall. The sailors, on routine patrol, are so far unharmed, and that the 15 people were "understood to be safe and had reacted in an 'extremely professional way, in line with the rules of engagement.' "
  
  The reason for the Iranians capturing the sailors could be due to the dispute between Iraq and Iran over the waterway the ship was patrolling. This waterway, according to CBS Radio News, was in dispute between Iran and Iraq ever since Iraq was created. The British fleet claims that they were in Iraqi waters, the Iranians claim they were in Iranian waters, and everybody hopes it was just a mistake over territorial waters claim.
  
  I for one hope that the soldiers are okay and that they are returned safe and expediently. I also hope that this is not the major Tonkin-esque event that draws the Coalition of the Willing into open conflict with Tehran. Iran is a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation: The Iranians themselves want freedom, and we should give it to them, but China and Russia have oil interests in Iran and will defend their investment disproportionate to the attack from the West. My worry: We send a few missiles into Iranian airspace and the Eastern Seaboard gets nuked by Beijing and Moscow, putting the Sino-Soviet split to bed and starting World War III. That conflict will be worse than any conflict the right-wingers have seen (mostly because they all got deferments from Vietnam).
  
  Here's an overview of the area, courtesy BBC:
  

I'm waiting for comments from the GOPeanut Gallery on the Iran story. Should be interesting.

~ Deep Blue

Is Tony Snow Dr. Evil?

Off-camera before a press conference today, Tony Snow lambasted the Democrats for supporting a so-called "Recipe for Defeat" for Iraq in the House today. Undaunted, CNN's Ed Henry decided to ask what the White House's corresponding "Recipe for Success" was. Snow, snotty and indignant, proceeded to ask Henry what his recipe for success was. Henry objected to the question, as it is not up to a reporter to define governmental policy, and repeated the question, where at that time Snow told Henry to "zip it" (source with video clip). Apparently, Snow revealed his true age to be five.

Snow eventually apologized and laid out the plan, which consisted of turning things over to the Iraqis at some point (without elaboration) but admitting "[y]ou don't know how things will play out" (same source).

Henry stated that it's the same thing that's been said for four years and one day now. I really wish that I had podcasting set up because at this point I'd play Sinatra's "Same Old Song and Dance" à la Bill Manders whenever he talks smack about the Democrats as of late. Put it on the to-do list, I suppose.

Which brings me to the question of the day: Is Tony Snow really Dr. Evil? I think I'm gonna start calling him "Zippy Longstocking" from now on. That's a great nickname.

~ Deep Blue

RN&R - Catering to Californians?

So I was out and about today, and I decided to pick up the latest issue of the Reno News & Review. It had a cover story that listed all soldiers who have died so far in the War in Iraq. It is very striking to me that over 3,000 have died fighting in a country where not one of the 9/11 hijackers was from.

However, today is not the day where I give an anti-war rant. The cover is the focus of this blog entry. It has a darkened American flag overlaid by a partial list of the names inside and a pair of unworn Army boots. A small image of the cover is provided at the left, courtesy of the Reno News & Review website.

What caught my eye is that on the partial list, only the names of Californians are bolded. This would not be such a big deal normally, considering that California is only 10 miles away as the crow flies. However, not a single Nevada soldier was highlighted. Take a look at this scan from the front page below; Sgt. Evan Asa Ashcraft of California has his name bolded, but Capt. Joshua Todd Byers of Nevada is not.

I investigated a little bit on the RN&R website and found that the Sacramento News & Review and the Chico News & Review both have the same cover. So the RN&R has been the victim of a recycled cover, as if somebody did not want to do the extra work of making a separate cover that included Nevada's dead soldiers...only California's.

Now, I'm not saying that Nevada's fallen soldiers are more important than California's or vice versa...every one is important. However, for a Nevada audience, Nevada's soldiers should get the respect on the front cover that they deserve. It's as simple as that.

I should note that on the inside, this mistake was not duplicated. I hope in the future that the News & Review team honors our state's fallen soldiers by highlighting their names on the cover as a testament to how the war affects all of us.

~ Deep Blue

Edit: I guess this might take me out of the running for RN&R's "Best Local Blogger" award.