more raving
I don't want this blog to turn into a "woe-is-me, my life is so horrible" goth-esqe diary, but I need to rant, and that's what it's here for. I prefer to think of it as kafka-esqe, that sounds so much more...intellectual. I'll get back to politics and making fun of people later, but for right now, it's time to bitch. I was worried that I'd lose readership, and then I realized I don't exactly have a readership so it dosen't really matter anyway.

Btw, thanx to the folks who commented on the post below. I would say thanks there, but the computer won't load up my blog. more on that later.

So. I spent last week shuttling back and forth from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh to try to take care of my mother and coordinate with my family, while trying to get in a few hours at work, deal with the people there, get at least some of my past-due homework done, take care of a sick girlfriend, keep my family informed, and deal with the daily garbage that life throws out there.

Then, at the end of the week on Sunday night, while trying to eliminate some of the garbage that has collected on my home computer and made web surfing virtually impossible, my computer went down. Rebooted, went as far as the windows chimes, and froze. Stayed there. Lather, rinse, repeat, it wasn't having anything from me at all.

I gave up on it Sunday night. Last night, I made a half-hearted effort to run system restore or boot from safe mode. Nothing doing. Tonight, I took it on. Got it to boot into safe mode with a command prompt, tried running system restore from there, not happening.

My girlfriend has a computer that sits about five feet from mine. Unfortunatly, it not only dosen't have any of the stuff I want or need on it, it is a total piece of garbage. She's had it for years and has made the mistake of letting several other people use it, which has caused it to be useless beyond repair. Everything from the mouse to the OS has issues, and is incredibly difficult to work with. It refuses to load up random webpages, including anything remotely associated with Google or my blog. Actually, it's pretty advanced, because it appears to dislike any page that I actually really care to see.

So, I figured it was time to break down and contact tech support. I exhausted my knowledge of computer repair and what was covered in my A+ books, so I started running Yahoo! searches (which I hate, but no google) for things like "microsoft tech support" or "windows telephone support".

I don't particularly like online support, it's too slow. I want to talk to a real live person that can deal with me in real time, not email back and forth. Besides, I tried one email tech support place, then realized that I can't access my email account (gmail, no google allowed).

It's amazing to me how difficult it is to find decent tech support for windows. Like I said, I want telephone support. However, I don't want to pay several hundred dollars or have to sign up for some subscription. I'm willing to pay for it if need be, but let's keep it reasonable. The fact that no one has started a 24 hr. $20-per-issue telephone support system for windows, possibly the only thing every single person in America has had issues with at one point in time, simply amazes me. If I knew more about computers or anything at all about bid'ness I'd be doing it tommorow.

So eventually I find somebody that is willing to help me, for the low-low price of three bucks per minute. At first I thought it was just a scam, their page was so cheesy, but it turns out that they actually provide some service for what they charge. I'll probably have a gazillion dollars I didn't spend charged to my card tommorow, but the guy I talked to was actually helpful. I don't know what he was doing, but he seemed to want me off the phone even faster than I did. I told him what my pooter was doing, he told me my registry was uckfeyed, and to type "307545" into support.microsoft.com to find the article that would fix me.

So I did that, fighting program crashes and disgustingly long page loads all the way, and right off the bat it says not to use this fix if you have an OEM computer. Well, I built my computer myself, does that count? Figuring I didn't have any other options I started doing what they told me anyway, only to be told by the command prompt when trying to copy files that I didn't have access. I gave the adminstrator password, but I still get that damned "Access is denied" message every time I type in the command. After a multitude of combinations, I gave up and tried to call tech support again. Unfortunatly, the page I had before that I had used to reach tech support had crashed, so no getting them again. I tried yahooing everything I could think of, but no such luck.

Eventually, I realized that since I had used my cell phone to call them earlier, I could find the number in there. Call 'em back, I actually got the same guy, and told him what was going on. Turns out that not only is my registry uckfeyed, but good ole' Microsoft, via automatic updates, had taken the liberty of screwing my SID's for all my data to hell and back. The only way to fix it is to install a second hard drive as my master, install windows, and then run MS updates and port all the data into the new HD. Great.

Btw, if you ever need tech support and don't mind paying $3/min with the first two minutes free, call: 1-877-823-4000. Ask for Shawn, who apparently lives in Colorado.

I don't have a whole lot of valuable material possesions. My two babies, as far as non-living things goes, are my car and my computer. My car is putting me in the poorhouse trying to pay for, and has had the tires slashed, the stereo stolen and every cd I own stolen out of it in the past few weeks. My computer, first becoming so bogged down with crap it was pissing me off, is now officially in massive failure.

Also on the list of things stressing me out, because I feel like listing it: girlfriend's grandmother operated on for cancer; girlfriend's great grandmother dying; girlfriend's dad getting cancer; housekey exploding in my pocket; going from a 4.0 in college to wondering if I'm going to get even one passing grade this semester; specifically failing massively on the test in my programming course; my boss: drama queen (may do a post on this eventually); people at work: why do they have to be such fucking assholes?; people in my life in general: why do they know what I'm putting up with and yet insist on being such fucking assholes?; the stereo thing; my landlord taking me to court and trying to evict me for shit that is entirely their fault; my ailing and possibly dead checking account; etcetera, etcetera. And of course, my mom's accident taking precedence in both importance and stress-factor.

For about the past month or so, I haven't caught a break once. All I'm asking is a year or two with no major breaks in either direction, good or bad. I'm not asking to hit the lottery, just some time without any major joys or traumas. Just some "normal" time for a bit. But apparently I can't go a friggin' week without something, and for some reason for about the past month and a half or so it's varied from kinda-bad to really-really-bad.

I'm not normally a depressed person. Usually, I take things as they come and am very much of a "Okay, what do we need to do, let's deal with it" sorta guy. But again, Holy fuck, can it please just end soon?

Once again, normal posting to resume soon. I'm not sure exactly where I'm taking this blog, probably a combination of this and the last post with my usual ranting; all I know is that I'm not going anywhere soon.  ¶ 1:54 AM

 
my life
is that...my mom? That's not her...that's just a breathing pile of meat that looks like her. Hell, she's not even breathing, a machine is doing it for her. The mom I know wouldn't stand for all this crap stuck into her. She's too stubborn. Let's be honest, she's a bitch. So whatever the hell that nonsense is...

She's opening her eyes...constricted pupils. She squeezed my hand. Is she really seeing any of this? Is she really in there? We all stand around and talk to her, about her as if she weren't there. Because mostly, she isn't there. The doctor insists on whispering for some reason. It's not like he's going to disturb anybody.

The car. What's the deal with the car? Aside from having a telephone pole where the shifting knob should be and having the roof cut off so they could get her out...somebody else is taking care of it? Good. Great. Never liked that fuckin car anyway, with her driving record she should have something sturdier. Obviously.

Boss is on the phone. You know what? Who gives a fuck about work. They've been pissing me off anyway, for their crap job.

Homework is piling up...I was suppossed to be catching up this week. Looks like that isn't happening. Wasn't doing too hot in school anyway.

Girlfriend is sick as all hell. I wish I could do something, I do what I can.

Today, two hundred miles away, my mom wrote "H2O" on a piece of paper. Does it sound stupid to say "Well, she's doing pretty well...she's breathing mostly on her own now, and sortof asked for some water, and the physical therapist got her to lift her hand". Because, see, the thing is, five days ago we weren't sure if she'd ever be able to do those things ever again. And three days ago we figured it might take weeks.

Have to drive back out there tommorow. Looks like most of my days off for the next several weeks (months?) are going to be spent driving back and forth.

I had a high school reunion tommorow. Five years. Never liked those people either.

I'm twenty three, and it turns out that I am listed as the primary power of attorney for my mom. So that means, before they can do anything, they have to call me. I make the Decisions. I'm the General on the field trying to coordinate everything. My family is doing great, but...my grandmother is looking at me for what to do. What a terribly aging experience.

My brother got home today. Pretty shitty reason to have to come home, but at least he's here. He wants to go visit his girlfriend on the way to see mom. I don't blame him, it's not like she's going anywhere. But I'm not driving out to Bumfuck, Pennsyltucky either. Looks like he has to find his own ride.

I couldn't stop shaking the other day. Just got back in town, and spent the morning driving like a madman trying to get to Latrobe and then to work on time. Felt tired, and sick, and couldn't stop shaking. Couldn't eat anything. I kept pausing in the middle of doing things and...stopping. Just staring into space. Lost time. Thank God I have a boring, routine, mindless but relaxing job. Most enjoyable thing I've done in days is go to my crap job.

I still don't know if I have today off work. Tough shit. If they want me to come in, they'll have to call me.

And hey, my mom's doing better. All her psycho friends are coming to visit, from the pro psychic to the the hawaiian Kahuna to the angry ex-steelworker. Great. At least the nurses are nice.

Went to breakfast today with my girlfriend, before she went to Thanksgiving with her family. When I got back, somehow the key to my building had shattered in my pocket. I have no idea how that happened, never seen anything like it. And hey, it's a Holiday, so the office is closed and the caretaker with an impossibly thick Russian accent is hours away. Another day of driving frantically to work...stopped to buy smokes on the way in, didnt' have time but what the hell. Got caught behind a girl who insisted on buying every piece of candy in the sunoco...one. piece. at. a. time. I could've killed her.

I had a brief Thanksgiving: the guy I worked with tonight brought in a second plate of bird and stuffing prepared by his girlfriend's mother that he gave to me. I found a teevee that would play the football game and ate dinner between rounds. By myself, it probably took about twenty minutes while I watched the end of the second quarter and the halftime show of the cryboys/bears game. Hey, that Beyonce chick or whatever her name is is fucking hot. who knew? And they had a bit of a military salute, and he high school kids rocked. And that woman, who put together a thanksgiving dinner for someone she has never met and about whom she knows absolutly nothing, that woman is my new favorite person on the whole planet.

Did a double shift today. I'm still short on hours, which means I'll have less money a few weeks from now. Money I don't have. Checked my bank statement...not pretty.

I have a hard time with some of my family. I have to stay out there, but...we're the white trash wing of the family. My lifestyle, everything from the way I talk to the amount I drink...dosen't really piss them off, they just find distasteful. They've been ridiculously nice to me, but they find me distateful. Too fuckin bad for them, but it sure does make things that much more difficult. more stress I don't need.

I hear my mom was actually almost aware today. I'll find out for myself later today, assuming I still have the day off work. A few weeks in the hospital, a few months of rehab, she'll be fine. It's not like she hasn't done this before.

But holy fuck.  ¶ 4:38 AM

 
just hit the blogroll
Family emergency, I'll be back soon.  ¶ 1:15 AM

 
here's a thought...
what if Kim Jong Il took down the paintings of himself because...he's crazy? Maybe he thought that the paintings were stealing his thoughts and beaming them to the mothership. Maybe he just realized how stupid his hair looks. Maybe next week there will be paintings of kitchen utensils up.

Crazy people do silly things for bizarre reasons all the time. That's what makes them crazy. Is it any weirder to suddenly order all the paintings of you taken down than it was to build up a crazy-obsessive personality cult in the first place? I would be as happy as the next guy if there was a silent coup in pyoenocnglgyayang, but every time I underestimate the crazies in the world I get screwed.  ¶ 7:51 PM

 
the week in a day
some stuff I had wanted to do posts on this week, if I wasn't so busy failing outta college:

At Unresolved References, one of the more bizarre post-election stories i've seen.

via Nerf-Coated World, a site I hadn't seen before but is becoming a regular for me and has had several good items up over the past week, an an odd bit of computer store competition.

Rodge is talking about some guy I've never heard of, but gives a perfect example of exactly what media bias is and why it's so sublimely irritating. Check out the before/after. See? they aren't lying, are they?

A few articles that stick in my mind on the dead terrorist in Fallujah that the MSM is trying to flaggelate into the next prison scandal:

Steve H: so this is supporting the troops?

A letter from a Marine at NRO that is a must read, via Ace, who has his own excellent commentary.

It isn't up on his webpage, but I hear Michael Savage, right-wing nutjob extrodiare, is considering putting together a defense fund to hire the best lawyers if the Marine goes to court, and if the UCMJ allows him to have civilian lawyers or consultants, which I think is an excellent idea.

Finally, at Beautiful Atrocities a letter, some links, and a petition to get something done about it.

I probably shouldn't link to Ace twice in one post, but I've had this rant lying around waiting to get done for days, so it's going here too: When a student in a High School, you do not have first amendment rights on school grounds. You have the right to sit down, shut the fuck up, and try to learn something from the government school that we pay for because your parents can't turn you into "adults" by themselves. That school is property of the state, and, much like you don't have a "right" to stage protests in my living room, you do not have a "right" to the space in that school beyond what the school says you can have. Deal with it and try to grow up a little bit. And parents, stop telling your snot-nosed pubescents that they can have whatever they want. Stupidity like this is expected from junior high students, but you're expected to inject a little reality into their lives. Assuming the parents themselves have any concept of "reality" themselves, which I am starting to doubt based on the nutjobs in that article.   ¶ 3:52 PM

 
do the words "quadruple bypass" mean anything to you at all?
Standing in front of my place of employment smoking a cigarette yesterday, thinking about exams and work and generally minding my own business, when the elevator-repair guy that was in that day walks up to me. He is unkempt, looks like he hasn't showered or washed his clothes in two weeks, smells of fast food, and was heavily overweight. His face was bright red from the strain of hypertension, even though he only looked to be about 35. This guy that hasn't moved over 2 mph in his life then proceeds to lecture me about my cigarette. See, his grandma or somesuch had cancer, and emphazema, and black lung or the bubonic plauge or something and only lived to eighty because she smoked three packs a day; and this fellow feels the need to go on. and on. and on. about the evils of cigarettes, all the while wheezing himself from the strain of repeatedly pushing out his man-boobs to expand his lungs. I explain to him that I used to work EMS, I've seen people dying from the cancer, I know smoking is bad for me and I don't plan to do it forever. I also point out that i've seen gangrene eating someone's foot becuase they're badly diabetic (due to poor eating), and picked up the corpses of forty year old heart attack victims, and all other various lifestyle-choice casualties. But that dosen't stop him, on and on he goes, rubbing his greasy hair with greasy fingers, not letting a word in edgewise, still talking at me when I turn my back and walk into the building.

My relatives do the same thing to me. Here's a thought: unless you think you can beat me in a race, don't lecture me on what smoking does to your body. And if you can beat me in a race, shut up about it, nobody wants to hear your goody goody opinions anyway. Go eat a salad or something.

I hate when people tell me smoking is the leading preventable cause of death. Newsflash: Death Is Not Preventable. You want to die for 99 cent cheeseburgers, knock yourself out. I'm not going to go up to you in Wendy's and show you pictures of blocked arteries and start wailing about premature quadruple-bypasses. I am assuming that, unless you are a total 'tard, you know that the biggie size fries are not particularly good for you. You don't need me to tell you that over and over and over, and I don't need you to tell me my coffin nails are bad for me, either.

Reminded of this little tirade by Michelle.  ¶ 3:12 PM

 
you're all morans
Lots of fun in the blogosphere abusing the "We're so sorry we didn't convince the entire country to capitulate to terrorists and the French" (here's the latest example I've seen, via C&S SFW)

So some genius decided to put up a website of ferigners accepting the apology. And what do you get? This.

And this:


And of course, this:


I'm not even sure which side that guy is on, I just wish he would learn to use the dictionary before insulting someone's intelligence.

Much of that via Ace. If you're bored, go page around over there, it's good for some laughs.  ¶ 7:39 PM

 
video game war
via protien wisdom, a video of what's going on in fallujah. Not for the weak of heart, not gory but not particularly easy either.  ¶ 3:18 AM

 
jumping on the llama-wagon
The Llamabutchers find all the best sites (after all, they're the ones what used to send a bunch of traffic over here before anybody else heard of me, that obviously speaks to their taste. Wait...nobody else has still heard of me. nevermind)

Anyway, via the Llamas, Risawn is getting ready for an all-expenses-paid trip to Kosovo, curtosey of Uncle Sam, so go wish her luck. And check out her take on the "We're sorry and we hate Amerikkka too" losers while you're at it. Classic stuff.  ¶ 7:28 PM

 
What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?
Didn't Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child? *
  ¶ 5:39 PM

 
One Year

Sgt. Nick Tomko

Before long, Tomko was Mr. Popular. He could walk into a crowd of a hundred and have an inside joke with everybody in the room, said Spc. Erik Hamza, 24, of Greensburg.

Gathered in Jack Tomko's apartment Tuesday in Evans City, members of Nick Tomko's platoon from Iraq described him as a consummate professional with a wicked sense of humor.

Nick Tomko was the guy everyone knew was in the military for life.

"He was really proud to be in the service 100 percent of the time," said Spc. Javier Orona, 23, of Murrysville.

Col. Christine Stark said Tomko had all the elements that make a fine soldier: intuition, leadership, loyalty, dedication and smarts.

"He took care of us," said Spc. Luigi DiSilvestro, 22, of Republic, Fayette County.

Tomko would step in on behalf of others when their rank forced them to remain quiet, he said.

Tomko and his fellow soldiers befriended Iraqi children. One young boy, whom they called "Petey," earned a special reward from the sergeant -- a private dance lesson. Tomko was known around the platoon for his very bad -- but amusingly persistent -- dancing.

His sense of humor kept the platoon's mood light in Iraq.

"There couldn't be tension when Nick was around," Orona recalled.

Tomko earned a reputation as a prankster who would start a massive shaving-cream fight or tack a soldier's beloved stuffed animal to the wall.

"He was always the instigator," Hamza said.

In October 2003, Nick Tomko sent his dad a black flag with "You're in Steelers Country" painted on it in Arabic for his birthday.



From my personal journal, 09 Nov 2003. This may be a bit personal for some, too self-involved, too melodramatic, and will probably get pulled later, but I want to include it, so here it is.

The saying goes that there is no Athiests in foxholes, but that saying is wrong. In a firefight, all that exists is you, the people around you, the gun, and the bullets. Nothing is real beyond a 50 ft. radius, much less some celestial god.
And when a soldier dies, the suppossed god is not caring, nor cruel, nor watching. The reality of a neverending death comes crashing down, all other concerns and possibilities outside of friends and enemies are blown away.
Sgt. Nick Tomko died from rifle fire tonight, 1905, doing the night sweeps I described as "routine" last night.
Tomko and I were frinds, not super close but we lifted together and played video games and such...he sleeps 10 ft. away. At first I didn't like him, I thought he was just another meathead, but under the gym finished physique was acutually a fairly clever sense of humor, and we actually started getting along together very well.
Nick was younger than Eric, and left no wife, but he did have a small son. I remember the first time I met him was sitting in a corner with him & Peters playing with his son. I don't know what the mother's up to, but I hope she takes good care of him.
He had alot of friends here, and one particularly close girlfriend. They've been together since the beginning and she is a true wreck tonight...Jen's trying to help her, but...shit. what to say.

What follows is I guess even more personal, and then moves on through the next several days, some of the worst that my usually lucky company had to put up with. The now-classic "Veteran's Day Firefight", the day my tl finally snapped out, and so much more, only a short while before coming home.

As usual, I wish I had some eloquent way to close this, but hey. what is there to say. This veteran's day, while veterans appreciate being recognized, if you know someone that has lost a friend or relative overseas in any war, thank them. They sacrifice more than anyone.  ¶ 10:01 PM

 
phantom fury, in one place
Winds of Change is doing an excellent job keeping a roundup of the battle in Fallujah, I haven't gotten to read through everything yet but it's remarkably comprehensive.   ¶ 9:58 PM

 
fer chrissakes people
Everyone seems to be getting a bit hyper about the potential religious implications of the last election. Here's a clue, people: the day that we have anything vaugely resembling a theocracy in this country is the day I get in line beside all the left wing nutters to fight the government. Hell, ending theocracies is a big part of the reason I voted for Bush. I know Bush is a religious person. Guess what? Every President we've ever had at least pretended to be a good Christian, even if they were banging interns in the back room they were still in church on Sunday. I know some of Bush's people have some wacky ideas, but no one is going to ban birth control. No one cares who or what you have sex with. Nobody cares what God, if any, you choose to pray to.

Got that? NOBODY CARES. Nobody is taking anything away from you. Do what you like and shut up about how repressed you are allready.

Now, to my friends on the religious right, I have pretty much the same sentiment. I think your religion is great, now leave everybody else alone about it. I am constantly arguing with my lib friends that the hardline fundamentalist religious folks are but a vocal minority in my party. Don't make a liar out of me. Yay, Bush won, and big. Use the word "mandate" if you like, but don't assume it's because we all think he's God's gift to mankind. Don't try to push this anti-gay thing too hard, and for the love of all that's holy don't email self-proclaimed Athiests trying to convert them. You know those anti-war hippie goofballs we were all laughing at a few months ago? The ones trying to force their weirdo ideologies down everybody else's throat? Do you know what you sound like now? Pot. Kettle. Etcetera.

I voted for Bush for two things: lower taxes and dead terrorists. Polls about "Moral values" are stupid; I think many, probably a majority of red-staters voted for him for the same reason. So please, could we just let the hyperventilating stop allready? This is not the United States of Jesus, it is not going to be, even if a few people want it to be and even more people want to pretend it is so that they can bitch about it.

UPDATE: Thanks to Ilyka and Twisted Spinster for the links, my traffic has practically doubled in the past two days. I'm glad somebody finds this rant amusing. Oh, and I'll be waiting on the phone call from the Jackass Design t-shirt store.  ¶ 8:22 PM

 
learn to tie your shoes
Robert the Llamabutcher has reminded me of a story. One of his pet peeves is "Casual dress" codes, where employees can presumably come to work naked if they feeeeeeel that it would help them be more productive. (Remember, it's all about the feeeeelings.)

Now luckily for me, I am one of those wage-slaves that gets to wear whatever hideous uniform the sadistic powers that be choose for me to wear. I don't really have to worry about being over- or under-dressed, because if I am then it's my boss's fault.

However, there was a time when I did not wear this uniform: the job interview. Knowing that I was heading for a blue-collar sortof job, I didn't bother to go purchase a tie. But I did put on my Sunday best besides that: polish the ole boots, black Dockers (that I bought for the occasion) and a black button-down shirt, I even bought a belt that didn't have any metal studs or anything.

Two other people were applying at the same time as me. One was a black guy, whose clothes were clean, but unfortunately were about fifteen sizes larger than they should have been; I don't remember exactly what he was wearing other than everything had the FUBU logo emblazoned on it. Very ghetto-fabulous, probably pretty expensive and would have looked great at the bar. However, combine this with way too much cologne, a bright red bandanna, and every piece of street-slang one can imagine and, black or white, you don't exactly convey the image of a model employee.

The second contestant was a white guy that might be politely termed "heavyset", wearing a pair of high-water jeans that either came from the Salvation Army or Wal-Mart five years ago, a black Nascar t-shirt (complete with pit stains, mustard stains, and holes where it stretched across his prodigious bay-window), and a Bud hat that looked like it had just been pulled from a mud puddle.

Tell me, is it that difficult to hike your happy ass down to the local K-Mart and buy a $15 pair of slacks and a $10 golf shirt? I hate to sound like I'm being a tight ass here, and I know you don't like shirts with collars and don't want to give in to what "The Man" wants, but guess what: if you want The Man to give you a job, you might have to bend a little bit. I hate polo shirts, I am much more comfortable in a pair of plaid bondage pants and black t-shirt. But I don't walk into a potential employer's office in plaid pants and expect to get a job. And because I took the trouble of putting on a shirt with buttons, I got a pretty decent gig and you're still working at 7-11. Congratulations. I'll see you later, like when I'm buying a pack of smokes ten years from now and you still can't understand why nobody wants to hire you.
  ¶ 7:36 PM

 
phantom fury
I'm doing the best I can to follow the developing story in Falluja, but it's hard to get solid details on what exactly is going on. I think I have a pretty good idea what they're doing (having been involved in things like this once upon a time myself), but specifics are scarce. This post will simply be news articles and opinions as I find them.

Here and here for starters.

Strategypage.com has a brief bit about urban warfare. Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) is one of the dangerous fields for an army on the offensive. It's something we're good at, however, and something that we have been focusing on since WWII, and really improved on in the past few years since Somalia. The Bloomberg article linked above has the most complete analysis I've seen so far, and points out that a few years ago the anticipated casualty rate for this type of assault was 30%. It is now down to 2%.

That's all so far, but there's sure to be more coming up. Everything below this is seperate updates, i'm just too lazy to timestamp all of them.

The Belmont Club has some thoughts and articles up, and is doing a much better job of this than I (of course). Jeff also has his take on things: think Old Spice and cowboy boots.

The Commisar is also keeping up with the attack. He also points me to this map of Fallujah.

A larger sat-photo map with key is here. The hospital that was captured earlier is apparently somewhere on the west end of town.

Somehow, I forgot to mention the Command Post's Iraq page. As usual, CP is on top of it.

A bit of 8th hand news: A friend told me he saw on the tee vee that the strategy so far has been, after the city was sealed, to simply fly predators around the city, and call artillery on any building showing gunfire. Sounds good to me. They also have the anti-mine bulldozer and those crazy ied-whipchain machines the engineers use running around. My guess is that the next step will be sectioning off the city and going door-to-door, or at least block-to-block, kicking in doors and dragging out anybody who dosen't look like they belong there.

CENTCOM's Operations Update has been released, via CP:

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces and the I Marine Expeditionary Force continue to degrade and disrupt anti-Iraqi forces in the Fallujah-Ramadi area. I Marine Expeditionary Force employed U.S. Marine Corps aviation assets to deliver precision munitions to destroy preplanned targets in Fallujah.

In the last 24 hours, I Marine Expeditionary Force conducted coordinated offensive operations in and around the Fallujah-Ramadi area. I MEF destroyed several weapons caches.

  ¶ 5:30 PM

 
punkd.


GO STILLERS! One for the Thumb? Could it be? I'm not getting my hopes up yet.

Oh, and McNabb is a TOOL.   ¶ 5:26 PM

 
from the department of "nobody cares what you think"

Batman got into Buckingham Palace and Bush got into the White House - it's an absolute tragedy. [CLAPPING] So we've got to find a way of dealing with it.

"Grand Old Man of the British Left", Tony Benn

Someone in the building where I work has this quote posted on his cubicle window. Apparently, he seems to think anybody here cares what a "Grand old man of the British Left" thinks.

I'm taking suggestions as to what to spray paint on his door.

The funny part is, I don't think think that the person on whose cube that quote appears is an American himself. His first name is "Nils", and I'm fairly certain that there are no real-life Americans with that name.

So that makes his hanging that stupid quote doubly pointless.

For further Euro-bashing fun, Misha has a great roundup. via the Jawa Rept.
  ¶ 7:57 PM

 
an unnoticed anniversary
25 years ago today, radical Islamists took 66 Americans hostage in Iran.

Professor Chaos and Dr. Shackleford would like to remind everyone that radical Islam's war on America, a war many still refuse exists, did not start in March of '03, nor did it start in the early part of '02, not even 9/11 or '98 or '93. The hostages in Tehran represent the the first overt act of agression in what has become the defining element of the modern political climate, and the defining element of the legacy we will leave.

It is also important to note that, from Carter to Reagan to Clinton, over the past 25 years the United States has taught the Islamists that if they push hard enough, we will back down. That is why this war has escalated to the level that it has, and why we cannot allow it to escalate any further.

Much more professional analysis at the links, this is just a bit of a rant.

UPDATE: *.  ¶ 1:24 AM

 
still idiots


Don't want to be an American idiot.
Kerry still can win, says the old media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
Moonbat heads explode across America.

Kerry lost, Bush stole another election.
How I hate this idiot nation.
Everything would have been okay.
Find the lies, he must have cheated.
If we jump off this cliff, the rest will soon follow.
True or no, we will still argue.

Well maybe I'm the loser America.
But don't give up on Michael Moore's agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
Terrorist threats are just paranoia.

Kerry lost, Bush stole another election.
How I hate this idiot nation.
Everything would have been okay.
Find the lies, he must have cheated.
If we jump off this cliff, the rest will soon follow.
Lies or no, we will still argue.

Don't want to be an American Idiot.
No war for oil, get Ashcroft out of my bedroom,
...And Bush is HITLER!!!!!
Screaming nonsense is patriotic, not hysteria.
It's going out to D.U. America.

Kerry lost, Bush stole another election.
How I hate this idiot nation.
Everything would have been okay.
Find the lies, the fascists must have cheated.
If we jump off this cliff, the rest will soon follow.
Sane or no, we will still argue.

Greenday: American Idiots.

Image by Allahpundit, guest blogging at protien wisdom.
  ¶ 8:02 PM

 

  ¶ 1:37 AM

 
Voting problems in Ohio
Via Glenn Beck, TV is reporting voting problems in Ohio. Ohio is leaning toward Bush at the moment, but apparently people have been standing in line for over 12 hours. Expectation is that Ohio will be the state that causes problems this time, as Florida did last time.

I’m working on more solid info, and will post it here as soon as I have it. Cross-posted at CP.

UPDATE: Fox just called OHIO for Bush  ¶ 1:29 AM

 
feelin' the groove
This is it, folks. I've been doing homework instead of blogging, but I've been listening to the Glenn Beck insider broadcast, which is a blast, and have the alphabet channels muted on the rabbit ears.

And I'm feelin' it. I hate to jinx it, but I'm feelin' it. Bush has a respectable lead in Ohio, and he has Fla right now, and I'm figuring on him picking up Colorado, New Mexico, and (of course) Alaska. Which is a win.

Really, whoever wins Ohio wins. And I'm really confident in a Bush win there. Pray God it's a sizeable win, so we don't have a repeat of Florida 2000.

Make my crappy day bright here. I wish I had something more substantive here, and I wish I could put something up on CP, but it's just not happening, too much other crap fel on me at the worst time today, unfortunatly. But I'm enjoying the contest, and I hope you are too. Check on Ace and the LLamas for more regular updates.

Woo, Colorado was just called for Bush. Yee Ha.  ¶ 1:14 AM

 
nightmare possibility
it is presently 9:23 pm, and I just did some math: Bush is looking good for Fla., so give him that. Give Kerry PA and OH, and put the rest of the swings in the columns they were trending toward before the election, which is how they've been breaking down anyway so far. And what do you get?

269-269 tie.

Shoot me now.  ¶ 9:22 PM

 
good days and bad
For some reason, all my teachers decided that Haloween/election week is the best time to pass out homework. I'm so swamped it's ridiculous, I have no idea how I'm going to get it all done. I probably won't.

But I did get out to cast my vote for Bush for President today. I even held my nose and voted for Specter. But in most of the state-level elections, I voted Libertarian if there was one, especially for the guy that actually had a volunteer in front of the polling place passing out flyers for the Libertarian candidate, I have to respect that sort of motivation. Although I think the guy was sortof surprised when the kid with dyed hair and Doc Martens told him he was all about lower taxes.

But other than that, sucky day. Too busy, didn't sleep last night, and to top it all off, when I went down to get in my car today the fucking stereo had been ripped out, and over a hundred cd's went with it.

So, I'm going to try to keep up with the election, and if I have anything to say it'll be up on the Command Post's election page. I'll be using the CP to help keep track of how the election goes, and if you want what promises to be the fastest and most complete updates then that's the place to be.  ¶ 11:20 AM