A couple of days ago I wrote about the safe stenciled "Permanent Records'

Several years ago I used to have a drink now and then wit a certain Marine Gunny. He was a real chick magnet but most of them were real airheads.

Once when he got up to pee one of the women asked me what I did for a living. I told her my job was to drive from one end of the PA turnpike to the other to make sure that there was one shoe in the breakdown lane in either direction.

"You know how you start looking for the other shoe?" I asked.

"Yes. I kind of do that," she replied.

"Right. so do 87% of the rest of the people. It keeps people alert and prevents accidents," I explained.

She believed it.

My all time favorite was the time another woman asked me what I did and I told her I worked for the Department of Permanent Records.

She asked what that was and I returned the question by asking her if she remembers teachers in school telling you that something would go on your permanent record. She had heard this from teachers as a kid.

"About ten years ago the Feds started a Department of Permanent Records and I work for them," I explained. "The idea came from the Teacher's Union."

"I wonder what's on mine?"she asked.

"I could tell you in an instant," I said. "Jimmy's got the duty desk tonight." I reached for my cell phone.

"Would you?" she asked.

"Sure." So I called Jimmy. Jimmy is a friend of mine that is pretty quick on the uptake. He knows  I am mischievous and plays along without a hitch.

"Jimmy. Piccolo here. Hey, you're on the duty desk. I want you to look someone up."

Jimmy asked if this was some kind of BS and I simply said "Yes."

Anyway, I asked the woman her name and social security number and forwarded it to Jimmy and waited a brief period. Jimmy sat there doing nothing, actually.

Then I spoke into the phone.

"What? You don't have one on her? I guess you better start one."

Of course, she went into a panic and started saying "No! No! Don't start a record on me!"

"Can't help you," I replied.

She looked really crestfallen. I looked at her.

"Almost 90% of our files are started by people that want to see their permanent records," I said.

Of course, she wandered off.

When the Gunny came back from the men's room he asked where she had gone and I told him. He laughed.

"Thanks," he said. "She was an airhead anyway."










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I was writing another ham a few minutes ago and

the subject of on the air mischief came up.

There is a serious difference between mischief and poor conduct although sometimes people do not realize the difference. To a lot of is it is a thick, black line and personally I refuse to cross it. 

Anyway, I was on the air one afternoon sitting in the outside part of a Starbucks with the PRC 320 with a wire draped over a pole of some sort. I wasn't spinning the knob. I was actually laying for a certain station. I wanted one of the WW2 memorial ships in my logbook.

I had my clunky old GoBook III laptop with me, a veritable old workhorse and hooked up to the WiFi and checked the clusters. Sure enough, I found my ship.

Needless to say there was a pileup as it was the memorial weekend and the ship was close to fully manned with old Navy vets. The pileup was pretty heavy. 

I picked up the handset. "Fire mission!" I shouted and gave my call in the old WW2 phonetics. "I say again! Fire mission!"

I was treated to an "Everyone else stand by, please. Go ahead, fire mission."

"Able company, 307th request naval gunfire," I said. Then threw out my call again in the WW2 phonetics.

"Stand by, Able company. I am patching you through to FDC!"

The next thing I hard was another voice. "Chief Willis, FDC. What ya got for me?"

"Able company, 307th. Dog Green sector Easy beach. We're pinned down! We got a Slobovian bunker up on the beach. Knock a big hole in it! AP rounds, fuse delay. Fire on adjust. Send the first one a little high so you don't drop it on our laps. Grid EN 483952. One round and gimme a heads up so I can get the boys tucked in!"

I carefully identified the enemy as the Slobovians so as not to stir up any bad feelings. The war ended 70 years ago and while we should learn from history, no good comes out of dragging it up to embarrass anyone.

"Stand by," said the 'Chief'.

A few seconds later he came back with "Get your heads down!" followed in a couple seconds with "Shot, over!"

"Shot, out!" I replied. 

"Splash, over" said the Chief.

"Splash, out," I replied. "Correction, correction. Right 50, down 250!"

The chief repeated my correction to me and a few seconds later said, "Shot, over!"

"Shot, out!" I replied and when the imaginary round splashed I corrected him with a 25 down. 

About that time someone in the pileup that had figured what was going on keyed in and shouted "Get some!"

When the Chief fired the next imaginary round I replied with, "Ya put a big hole in it, guys! We got it from here! Thanks, Navy! Hey, don't forget to check out the gams on the tomato in this month's Stars and Stripes!"

"I got Betty's picture hangin' in my locker," replied the Chief. "Anytime!"

Betty was a reference to Betty Grable, the most popular pinup in WW2.

The microphone went back to the radio shack and the pileup resumed but seemed split into two factions. They were either amused or confused.

I later got about 6 emails over this. The overwhelming majority were amused, one was from an old frump with no sense of humor.

The handful of people sitting near me outside the Starbucks were totally confused. Here was a guy well past military age talking about some kind of 'naval gunfire' on some kind of military radio.

A man about 30 years old came by and whispered, "Your WW2 phonetics tipped your hand. I'm serving Navy. Are you talking to some kind of old WW2 ship or something?"

I quietly nodded and he grinned broadly.

Just then some pompous jerk came over and demanded to know what was going on. "You don't have a need to know." I shot back.

The Navy guy turned to him. "It's classified," he said. "I'm a lieutenant, USN and I don't have a need to know so it's a slam dunk you don't. Who knows? Maybe if you find out he might have to kill you or something."

He returned to his seat confused, baffled and embarrassed.

Some people were amused, some looked very uncomfortable. Some just didn't seem to care. 

Anyway, the guys from this ship were not off the hook yet. I wanted to play some more with my QSL card.

I got home and scouted the web. I found an old Naval code machine on line and encrypted my request for QSL. It looked something like this: TR7OL ID8WS 8W4JP 3WB7X UGR7Y.

I did put the 'key' in the upper corner, though. 

I guess that someone from the memorial weekend in the commo section must have known what he was doing because I got a card back a couple of weeks later with a separate note thanking me for helping me make the weekend a fun time.

Of course, the note was written in the same naval code and it took me a while to decrypt it.

Aftermath.

A couple of weeks later I met the lieutenant again. We shared a good laugh.

He was getting ready to return to duty and had been on some kind of medical leave. He was due to catch a ship in Norfolk.










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And the hits just keep on coming...

It's Tuesday and I have some legal work to take care of. My wife and I are finishing up on our wills.

The other day a buckle on my airline carry-on let go and I decided to repair it. 

The kind of buckle I want is called a Conway buckle and they are hot that hard to find if you are near an Amish harness maker.  I am not so I tried a couple of horse tack places to no avail.

The other thing I went looking for is a simple strap of a watchband and that was a 5 or 6 stop errand and I never did find a simple band I wanted. Instead I bought the pin tool and found an old NATO watchband I had tucked away.

Both of these led me to eBay as I just ordered several Conway buckles and watchbands for the future.

While searching through my stuff I realized it is time for one of my every few years go to the Army/Navy store and stock up on hard to get items.

I generally grab a half dozen web belts, a couple buckles, some dogtag chains and cheap GI watch bands. 

I go through web belts and buckles kind of fast. The dogtag chains wind up on the basement lights as pull chains and the watchbands I use when the original band on the old Timex Expedition gives up the ghost.

Oh, yeah. I also snag a couple of dozen P-38s which I give out to people from time to time. When someone makes a big thing out of nothing I generally award them with a P-38 and tell them to keep things simple.

888888888888888888888

In other news I emailed a guy in Swaziland yesterday asking him if my QSL card had arrived. 

Ten minutes after I hit 'send' the mailman arrived and his return card was in my box. That's par golf around here. The fastest way to make something arrive is to ask where it is.

Swaziland brings me up to about 204 DX entities so after another one or two arrive it is off to the QSL card checker to get them entered into my permanent record. 

What? Permanent record? 

Ah, yes. The old permanent record line of crap. We have heard this line for years. Most of us grin when we hear the term.

Actually I'll have the QSLs entered on my ARRL record and get a printout from them as proof which will be nice to have. That way I can shut a certain someone up.

Speaking of permanent records, 

There is an old school building north of here that was converted into an antique store co-op of some kind. The rooms are all little shops and each little section is 'owned' by a different person.

One room has a huge walk-in vault in it and I told the owner of the shop that they ought to stencil 'Permanent Records' on the vault. 

They did and it is pretty funny because people comment on it and even people in their 40s and up look at it agog and say,

"I didn't know there was really a permanent record kept on people!"

Maybe tomorrow or sometime soon I'll tell you the tale of the chick I scared the hell out of when she asked me what I did for a living and I told her I worked for the Federal Department of Permanent Records.







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I think I mentioned somewhere along the line

that I took my old look back.

It started about 1970 because I saw an old picture of my father taken right after WW2 when he was on a fishing trip.

Khakis, flight jacket, Ray Ban aviators and a fedora.

I swapped the khakis for Levi 501s and it was my uniform until the first of the Indiana Jones movies came out. When that happened I had to ditch part of it because I got tired ot listening to a cartload of pimple brains telling me I was dressing like Indy. Truth is he was dressing like me.

Actually it was a classic late 30s through 50s look and I tend to be Old School. I like funky stuff like that. I always have.

Anyway a while ago I took back my look. My A-2 jacket like my G-1 has a couple of seaplane related patches along with a Pratt and Whitney high winged eagle on it as to differentiate from the Saturday afternoon serial idol. 

I also snagged a trio of fedoras. One is brown really nice and of top quality. The other two somewhat of  inexpensive hats I bought for poor weather so as not to ruin my nice one. Of the second two, one is a darker brown and the other is grey.

One of the problems with buying off of Amazon is you don't get to check stuff out and try it on. The grey fedora arrived with a three inch brim and was 'crush-able' which means it was pretty floppy.  The brim was also about a 1/2 inch too wide.

Quick fix with a razor knife. It's now a 2 1/2 inch brim like the others and is also the brim is now pretty still thanks to an old trick.

I shaped the brim first and then hosed it down with an entire can of Rave hair spray. This is a pretty good product for things other than hair. Of course, it was designed for hair years ago. A thin misting on a woman's beehive hair-do and she was good for about a 35 or 40 knot wind and not a hair out of place. A heavier coat of the stuff and she could probably walk under Niagara Falls and come out the other end looking wet, bedraggled but by God, she'd have great looking hair!

Anyway, this is a trick I learned from a Colorado cowboy while I was in the army. I watched him prepare a new hat his got torn up while riding a bull. The bull put a hoof through it.

He took a teakettle and steamed the brim to soften it and make it pliable and shaped it the way he wanted. Then he put it on top of a lamp with a 60 watt bulb in it and let it dry out.

When it was dry he hosed down the entire brim with hair spray, soaking the brim through and through. Then he parked it on the lamp again and when it dried he was good to go.

Right now between the razor knife and a can of Rave hair spray my grey fedora is good to go.

It is pretty cool pulling a thirty-five year old trick out of the bag. When I saw that trick I thought I would never have to use it but paid attention anyway. I'm glad I did.





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If anyone out there has read James Jones,

he wrote about the evolution of a soldier.

The final stage is anonymity. It is a part of the reason I am going to be buried at sea when my time comes.

I had a Christmas chat with a relative and he plans on being planted at the family grave site out in the western part of the county and get his name on the family head stone.

I think he wants a spot somewhere with something carved in stone so people will know he existed.

I told him I preferred the anonymity of being buried at sea.

When the sea swallows my casket it will be in a state that it never has been in before and never will be again. The sea is fluid and dynamic. It moves constantly. It will swallow me up and I will disappear.

Unless some clown decides to put a marker up somewhere I will have attained the final stage in what Jones calls the evolution of a soldier. I will have achieved anonymity.

There will be no physical evidence that I ever existed.

My relative looked at me curiously.

"You ain't no lifer," he said.

"Most career military never truly evolve into soldiers," I replied, simply.

He looked off and thought about it for a while.

"You're probably right," he said.

"On earth all life evolves from the sea," I said. "When I am buried there I will have come full circle."







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Today is Boxing Day in the UK;

Someone once told me it got that name because people would beat the living daylights out of each other when they discovered who was sleeping with who after the drunkenness of Christmas Day.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I wonder what is going to happen next.



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Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Yeah, Merry Christmas. 

Today is Christmas Day and that's the way it is. Don't like it? Too damned bad. Take it to a taxidermist and stuff it. Take your politically correct crap elsewhere.

A couple of days ago I wished the Hindu that runs a local convenience store a Merry Christmas and his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," he replied. "And thank you for sharing your holiday with me."

This guy gets it.

Merry Christmas to all of you.


Incidentally, hams all over the world wish each other a Merry Christmas. I have been wished a Merry Christmas by Israelis, Kuwaitis, Africans, and who knows what else. 

None of these are Christians and none of these people celebrate it. They are nothing more or less than people with good manners. 

It's an interesting state of affairs when I have to go on the air to Muslim, Jewish and Hindu countries to be wished a Merry Christmas.

I wonder if we will go back to wishing each other a Merry Christmas if Donald Trump is elected. Maybe he'll try and slay politically correct.








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Home from the sea to 5 ATNOs!

When it rains, it pours.

I got home last night to ten QSL cards, nine of which were from overseas. Of the nine, four were duplicates of some sort. The remaining five were ATNOs, meaning All Time New Ones.

That brought my total of DX entities up to 203 which is great as my goal was to get 200 DX entities confirmed.

I'll still chip away at getting an occasional new one here and there but since I have met and exceeded my goal I won't be chasing all over hell for them like I did for the last twenty-five or so.

With three over my desired total I think I can safely go to the local QSL card checker and if one or two get rejected for whatever reason I'll still have 200 in my file for record.

I guess the clown that said I would never really do well unless I put up a tower was wrong, huh?

In other gnus, I came home to a pile of stuff including a pair of anti- mole windmills. These need to be put together. I snagged them on eBay because Harbor Freight took them off the shelves for some reason or another.

The windmills are a pretty good deal as they put something in them that is off center and creates a vibration that sends moles off to find another place to tear up. They work well and use no energy save the wind which is free.

I'll put them together and set them up this afternoon.

Anyway I have some things to do today so I better get busy.




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Right now on the web I am reading that an awful lot of people are going to find a firearm under the tree come Christmas Day.

Black Friday set a record day for firearm sales. I posted about that a day or two after Black Friday.

This tells me that an awful lot of people are fast losing faith in the ability of the government to provide protection. I actually never had any faith in governmental ability to protect me to begin with, though.

I chatted with a guy that lived through the mess in Bosnia a while back and he told me that the most important thing he owned was an AK-47. It was the one thing that kept him from being pounced on and robbed when there was no law and order.

It allowed him to keep what little he had.

While I am not a dyed in the wool SHTF prepper, I do see the man's point.

My guess (only a guess, I'll have to look into this) is that the sales are mainly AR-15s, their spin offs and handguns comprise the majority of sales. I figure this because I have heard that concealed carry permit applications are skyrocketing.

It strikes me that a lot of Americans are going back to their 'do it yourself' roots. They figure if government can't provide protection then they will have to supply their own.

Incidentally I had a Joe Citizen once ask me if I'd bail him out as a gun owner. I told him in no uncertain terms I would not. I told him that if he was too lazy and stupid to take care of himself he was on his own.

I am not risking my life or freedom for some jerk that expects someone else to pull his weight. The laws in many cases can crucify a good Samaritan. It isn't right but that's the way it is.

Anyway it looks like liberal policies are coming back to bite people in the ass again. 

Right now I read where the majority of Americans do NOT want an assault weapon ban. Many of these people have made it clear with their wallets by purchasing one.

Support for the Second Amendment seems to be growing these days simply because liberal immigration policies are perceived as being dangerous to the public. We're had a number of Islamic terroristic attacks in the country including mass shootings.

People are simply deciding that the best way to survive one is to shoot back instead of the duck and cover tactics liberals seem to think will work.

Actually it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the best way to get an active shooter to stop is with a well-placed round. Not too many people want to continue the fight after taking a round squarely in the center of the chest or the middle of the forehead. People are realizing this now.

Looks to me like the Obama administration has become the biggest gun sales crew in the history of the United States. I'll leave it at that.





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I just read where Trump has said that if gets elected that he is going to appoint Trey Gowdy as Attorney General.

Interesting. If Gowdy gets the job there's a pretty good chance he'll go after Hillary Clinton and prosecute her for a few things.

Let's see there... Benghazi and violation of email security protocols come to mind off the top of my head.

I am beginning to like Trump more and more each day because I think he's going to do a little long awaited house cleaning.

Besides a lot of corruption going on in business it would be a joy to see Gowdy go after the DNC and the RNC and clean house which he very well may if Trump suggests it.

From what I can see Trump is likely to run a scorched earth policy if he get elected and that would be a joy to watch.

Trump is getting more and more interesting every day.

I would imagine that anyone that had anything to do with Benghazi is starting to get worried.




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An old man has passed.

I only met this guy a couple of times a few years back but I am glad I did. 

He was an interesting character. He was a mischevious imp at times.

Of Japanese ancestry he was born here, a Nisei. At the beginning of WW2 his family was herded into an internment camp where they spent the war.

Like many of the young men, he wanted to enlist and was allowed to and served in the famed 442nd RCT in Europe.

What made this guy special besides his service in Europe was his later sense of humor. He was a VFW member and in his later years he delighted in keeping a straight face when asked what outfit he had served in.

He would tell new members he had served in the Japanese air force and had been responsible for maintaining and issuing crash helmets to Kamikaze pilots.

I never saw him do this but I can't help wishing I could see the look on the face of the person he did this to. It must have been priceless.

Maybe it is a good thing I didn't see him do this because although I can almost always keep a straight face, I doubt I could in his case.





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One of

 the things that helps get things done is that when the thing that needs getting done makes sense.

Of course, the biggest thing that makes people drag their feet is when they are handed a senseless make work project.

Of course, often it is hard to know the difference.




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I just read where of all the candidates on both slates that Jeb Bush has raised the most money of all of them.

I am not surprised. Not one bit.

I do believe that the RNC wanted to palm Jeb off on us simply because they have him in their pocket. I'd bet that the fix was in until Trump came along and made the pot boil over. The RNC was going to hand us Jeb.

Of course when that whiny little dweeb Jeb just got pounded down again in the recent debates he blubbered that if the Donald made it to the General he was going to support Hillary. I would imagine that if Trump does make it to the General the entire RNC is going to support Hillary.

Looks like the RNC won't be able to get away with handing it to Jeb since the Donald came along and stormed into the lead.

As time goes on I see that there are a lot of Democrats that will support the Donald if he makes it to the General Election.

People forget that there are a lot of blue collar Democrats out there that are a lot more conservative than the Big Time liberals that get all of the press.

Blue collar people tend to be a lot more conservative than people think. For one thing they work for a living and pay taxes. Every single one of them looks at his paycheck stub and isn't really too happy.

A common thread among blue collars people of any party is they vote to keep their jobs, their kid's college fund/401K and their gun rights.

They also worry about national security, terrorism, immigration and none of the candidates except Trump seem the have the moxie to fact these issues head on.

In fact, an awful lot of these conservative Democrats are members of the Democratic party simply because the Dems were slick enough to get into bed with the unions. Of course, the unions direct their memberships toward Democratic candidates. That's a no brain er.

Trump seems the be willing to face the issues of terrorism, security, economics and other working class issues.
Right now it looks to me like the Donald is starting to get support from blue collar Democrats.

You have to remember that the numbers Trump has showing are pretty much Republican numbers. What we are seeing here is a phenomenon. We have a Republican candidate that is already starting to see support from blue collar Democrats.

What these blue collar Democrats also know is that the Donald doesn't owe anyone any political favors. On top of that he has something to go back to if he wins or loses. He really doesn't have a whole lot to lose and therefore will likely give it an honest try to do the right thing.

I do believe that the National Committees of BOTH parties are quaking because they are terrified with the popularity Trump has garnered in such a short time.

I also believe at this time that if Trump does make it into the Oval Office that a lot of people in both parties are going to go to jail. I would be surprised if there are no attempts made on Trump's life by some of these 'party officials'.

The fact that Jeb Bush has stated that he will support Hillary tells me that there is a pretty good chance that the little dweeb has something to hide. He's may very well be terrified he's going to have to take the fall if the apple cart in RNC headquarters tips over.

Trump really isn't anything more or less than a guy that is in the right place at the right time. People have no faith in the Obama government and look at the choice the DNC is offering. It looks like either Hillary or Bernie. 

Hillary isn't all that popular when you think about it and Bernie is an out and out socialist. Neither of these appeals to blue collar types.

I don't know right now if the Donald is going to make it into the Oval Office but one thing is for sure and that the rank and file of the Republican party are in an outright mutiny with the RNC. Personally I think that's a good thing for all of us.

Hopefully if the Donald is successful then the national committees of BOTH parties get cleaned up. That would do ALL of us a lot of good.

Maybe I'm wrong but it would be a thing of beauty to behold.





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This is from an email I got a couple of days ago.

I do not know who to attribute it to. If apologies are in order, please accept them and/or let me know and I will delete it.

I posted it here because it is an interesting read. I am posting it without comment.



The single most prominent characteristic of contemporary America is that common sense has been abandoned to political correctness and "feelings".

As President George W. Bush's top speech writer, Marc Thiessen was provided unique access to the CIA program used in interrogating top Al Qaeda terrorists, including the mastermind of the 9/11 attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM).

Now, his riveting new book, "Courting Disaster", How the CIA Kept America Safe (Regnery), has been published. Here is an excerpt from "Courting Disaster":

"Just before dawn on March 1, 2003, two dozen heavily armed Pakistani tactical assault forces move in and surround a safe house in Rawalpindi. A few hours earlier they had received a text message from an informant inside the house. It read: "I am with KSM."

Bursting in, they find the disheveled mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in his bedroom. He is taken into custody. In the safe house, they find a treasure trove of computers, documents, cell phones and other valuable "pocket litter."

Once in custody, KSM is defiant. He refuses to answer questions,informing his captors that he will tell them everything when he gets to America and sees his lawyer. But KSM is not taken to America to see a lawyer Instead he is taken to a secret CIA "black site" in an undisclosed location.

Upon arrival, KSM finds himself in the complete control of Americans. He does not know where he is, how long he will be there, or what his fate will be. Despite his circumstances, KSM still refuses to talk. He spews contempt at his interrogators, telling them Americans are weak, lack resilience, and are unable to do what is necessary to prevent the terrorists from succeeding in their goals. He has trained to resist interrogation.

When he is asked for information about future attacks, he tells his questioners scornfully: "Soon, you will know."

It becomes clear he will not reveal the information using traditional interrogation techniques. So he undergoes a series of "enhanced interrogation techniques" approved for use only on the most high-value detainees. The techniques include water-boarding.

He begins telling his CIA debriefers about active al Qaeda plots to launch attacks against the United States and other Western targets. He holds classes for CIA officials, using a chalkboard to draw a picture of al Qaeda's operating structure, financing, communications, and logistics. He identifies al Qaeda travel routes and safe havens, and helps intelligence officers make sense of documents and computer records seized in terrorist raids.

He identifies voices in intercepted telephone calls, and helps officials understand the meaning of coded terrorist communications. He provides information that helps our intelligence community capture other high-ranking terrorists.

KSM's questioning, and that of other captured terrorists, produces more than 6,000 intelligence reports, which are shared across the intelligence community, as well as with our allies across the world.

In one of these reports, KSM describes in detail the revisions he made to his failed 1994-1995 plan known as the "Bojinka plot" to blow up a dozen airplanes carrying some 4,000 passengers over the Pacific Ocean.

Years later, an observant CIA officer notices the activities of a cell being followed by British authorities appear to match KSM's description of his plans for a Bojinka-style attack.

In an operation that involves unprecedented intelligence cooperation between our countries, British officials proceed to unravel the plot.

On the night of Aug. 9, 2006 they launch a series of raids in a northeast London suburb that lead to the arrest of two dozen al Qaeda terrorist suspects. They find a USB thumb-drive in the pocket of one of the men with security details for Heathrow airport, and information on seven Trans -Atlantic flights that were scheduled to take off within hours of each other:
United Airlines Flight 931 to San Francisco departing at 2:15 PM
Air Canada Flight 849 to Toronto departing at 3:00 PM
Air Canada Flight 865 to Montreal departing at 3:15 PM
United Airlines Flight 959 to Chicago departing at 3:40 PM
United Airlines Flight 925 to Washington departing at 4:20 PM
American Airlines Flight 131 to New York departing at 4:35 PM
American Airlines Flight 91 to Chicago departing at 4:50 PM
They seize bomb-making equipment and hydrogen peroxide to make liquid explosives. And they find the chilling martyrdom videos the suicide bombers had prepared.

Today, if you asked an average person on the street what they know about the 2006 airlines plot, most would not be able to tell you much. Few Americans are aware of the fact al Qaeda had planned to mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11 with an attack of similar scope and magnitude. And still fewer realize the terrorists' true intentions in this plot were uncovered thanks to critical information obtained through the interrogation of the man who conceived it: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

This is only one of the many attacks stopped with the help of the CIA interrogation program established by the Bush Administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In addition to helping break up these specific terrorist cells and plots, CIA questioning provided our intelligence community with an unparalleled body of information about al Qaeda Until the program was temporarily suspended in 2006, intelligence officials say, well over half of the information our government had about al Qaeda; how it operates, how it moves money, how it communicates, how it recruits operatives, how it picks targets, how it plans and carries out attacks-came from the interrogation of terrorists in CIA custody.

Former CIA Director George Tenet has declared: "I know this program has saved lives. I know we've disrupted plots. I know this program alone is worth more than what the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency put together have been able to tell us."

Former CIA Director Mike Hayden has said: "The facts of the case are that the use of these techniques against these terrorists made us safer. It really did work."
Even Barack Obama's Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, has acknowledged: "High-value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qaeda organization that was attacking this country."
Leon Panetta, Obama's CIA Director, has said: "Important information was gathered from these detainees. It provided information that was acted upon."

John Brennan, Obama's Homeland Security Advisor, when asked in an interview if enhanced-interrogation techniques were necessary to keep America safe, replied: "Would the U. S. be handicapped if the CIA was not, in fact, able to carry out these types of detention and debriefing activities, I would say yes."

On Jan. 22, 2009, President Obama issued Executive Order 13491, closing the CIA program and directing that, henceforth, all interrogations by U. S. personnel must follow the techniques contained in the Army Field Manual.

The morning of the announcement, Mike Hayden was still in his post as CIA Director, He called White House Counsel Greg Craig and told him bluntly: "You didn't ask, but this is the CIA officially non-concurring". The president went ahead anyway, over ruling the objections of the agency.

A few months later, on April 16, 2009, President Obama ordered the release of four Justice Department memos that described in detail the techniques used to interrogate KSM and other high-value terrorists. This time, not just Hayden (who was now retired) but five CIA directors-including Obama's own director, Leon Panetta objected. George Tenet called to urge against the memos' release. So did Porter Goss.

So did John Deutch. Hayden says: "You had CIA directors in a continuous unbroken stream to 1995 calling saying,'Don't do this.'"

In addition to objections from the men who led the agency for a collective 14 years, the President also heard objections from the agency's covert field operatives. A few weeks earlier, Panetta had arranged for the eight top officials of the Clandestine Service to meet with the President.

It was highly unusual for these clandestine officers to visit the Oval Office, and they used the opportunity to warn the President that releasing the memos would put agency operatives at risk.

The President reportedly listened respectfully-and then ignored their advice.

With these actions, Barack Obama arguably did more damage to America's national security in his first 100 days of office than any President in American history.

But how many people know this? ... Only the few that read this email from beginning to end!

How dumb are we?  Obama should have been impeached this early in his administration!




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Why Donald Trump is so popular

This is a pretty good video by someone from across the pond.

He hits the nail on the head.

https://youtu.be/iHLcrfhwPtc

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Someone asked me why I didn't post

 anything here on what I do for a living. I replied that it was for the same reason I don't post anything career related on Facebook other than the fact that I'm a sailor. The reason is because I am not stupid.

A lot of people read things like this and I know that friends and coworkers read this every so often. It's no secret that anythng you post on this blog or social media is open to just about anyone that knows how to log into the internet.

One day I was driving along and saw a cop changing a tire which may sound odd in the city but I would imagine is fairly common in rural areas. Like I always do, I stopped to give him a hand. 

As I was rolling the flat to the trunk I looked at the cop and grinned. Miming reaching into my pocket for my cell phone, I said, "Here, officer! Take my cell phone and get a picture of this. I can say I'm stealing a tire off of a police car and post it on Facebook!"

He laughed and commented how many people do post illegal activities and how many get caught because they do. I was already aware of this.

There are a couple of things I do not post on this blog. One is my immediate family the other is my employer. I will never publicly badmouth anyone in my family. I also won't badmouth who I work for so long as I am taking their money. It's as simple as that.

I will go so far as to say I am in a sailor and leave it at that.

Some wag that read this blog suggested I write a book and expose the entire marine transportation industry. How about 'No'? Not so long as I am either in it or taking money from it or any employer related pension. It's just a tacky thing to do.



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I do believe it is time to temporarily close the borders

and take a break on allowing immigration for a while until we can sort a few things out.

During this period we ought to strictly limit immigration to only people with skills we have a serious shortage of. I'm not talking about things like sheer rockers and landscapers, either.

Once we settle things down and figure things out then we could start taking in limited numbers of people. We would start limiting immigration to those that are both useful to our national needs coupled with the likelihood of the immigrant to succeed and assimilate.

Right now the administration is trying to permit large numbers of Syrians into the country and I don't think that's a very good idea. Their culture and religion does not seem compatable with a western lifestyle and government.

I am leery to base keeping someone out simply based on religion. However, Islam has a pretty poor track record world wide of getting along in a free society. As their numbers grow they start trying to turn things into a theocracy.

It has happened in other places and right now there are parts of the Phillipines that are not that safe for western visitors even though the majority of Filipinos are Roman Catholic. The Muslim parts of the Phillipines are growing and there is trouble there.

France has managed to bring trouble onto themselves by permitting large numbers of North Africans into France.

While I won't say that the average Muslim is trouble, there is a percentage of Muslims that are radical. It doesn't take a NASA mathematician to figure out that as the number of Muslims rise the number of radicalized Muslims does, too.

We have already had four mass shootings in this country that are the results of radicalized Muslims. The most recent was where the killers turned on the very people that threw one of them a baby shower. That's pretty cold.

There are a number of damned good Americans serving in the military of the Muslim faith. A recently retired NCO mentioned that the Muslim in his platoon was a pretty good soldier. He did his job.

Donald Trump has just said that he would like to close the doors to the Syrians that President Obama wants to allow in. He got a surprise supported. Trump probably is basing this on religion.

An Iman thinks that it is a pretty good idea to seal the borders. Actually his caveat is that the borders ought to be closed to them no matter what religion they are. The Iman said this is for security reasons.

Sealing the borders is nothing that we have not done before. Letting every Tom, Dick and Harry in is a fairly recent thing. Truth is there was a strict quota system in place based on the ability of the immigrants to assimilate.

It's just time to start paying attention as to who we let into the country.




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We're getting overdue for an incident of domestic terrorism.

Hopefully they get caught before they unleash something serious but I kind of doubt it if the perpetrator is a lone wolf similar to Timothy McVeigh.

The liklihood of such an event grows with the passing of time and the part that gets me is most of the American public will react with shock, outrage, indignation and surprise.

I'll just shake my head sadly and be one of the few that isn't surprised at all. I can see it coming.

It's too bad the American public isn't even a bit observant of the way things are looking.



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I have mentioned

 that a lot of Japanese hams seem to set up mini DXPeditions on the Pacific islands their grandfathers fought over. Actually to s lesser extent so do Americans.

One of the things that interests me is that I'd bet there are a lot of parts of those islands that are simply unsafe for people to go wandering through.

I've read a few things about the areas that were fought over during WW1, a century ago. Farmers there are still constantly digging unexploded ordinance (UXO) on a very regular basis. The stuff is still dangerous.

Belgium and French farmers have gotten so used to it that they pile the stuff up along the side of the road so the EOD teams can haul it away and destroy it.

In Russia I have read where they are constantly digging up stuff from WW2. A lot of the German stuff is supposedly fused with picric acid which grows very unstable with time. I believe the Japanese used picric acid, too. I would imagine the stuff was inexpensive at the time.

I read that there are places in France that are still off limits to people because the pollution level from decaying explosives is still astronomical.

It's not just overseas, either. There is a certain amount of this sort of thing stateside. In Hawaii at what was once Camp Tarawa there people are advised to keep their eyes open for old UXO. I have heard that the place was cleaned up. Cleaning up an area only goes so far, really as it's unlikely that they got everything.

When the last shot is fired the troops generally simply leave and go home. There is no 'police call' to remove all the litter of war. It is generally simply left there for someone else to deal with. Generally someone's kid or grandchild.

I wonder how much real estate is now still unsafe. Likely an awful lot.

I don't have a solution for this but it gives the human race just one more reason not to go to war to begin with.

Then again the Piccolo back yard is not free of WW2 UXO according to a sign hanging on a tree there. I snagged a sign somewhere along the line that says that WW2 UXO may be present and put it out back to keep the kids away from my ham antennas.

This time I didn't get me a visit from the bomb squad. It did get me a brief visit from a local cop. He grinned when I told him to pay a visit to the complainer and tell them to keep their kid out of my yard and away from my antennas.




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I see all of these

so-called reality shows where there are guys building and rebuilding cars and selling them for outrageous money.

I really don't understand why someone wants a '63 Chevy Bel Air for tens of thousands. But then again, I suppose if I had one I would sell it to buy something a little more reliable.

I also see cars at auctions selling for enough money for a guy like me to retire on and wonder why. Then again, enter people like Jay Leno who likes machinery and collects cars. I suppose if that's your passion, then follow it.

Still, I ask myself what I would do with some kind of $80,000 hot rod. I couldn't really drive it to work and it would be a nuisance for me to keep in the garage.

I suppose I really don't have a whole lot of room to wonder, though because I do have a Miata I bought for $1200 sitting in the garage. I did put a few small things into it but no real money. I take it out in the summertime sometimes.

I guess stuff like that is about comfort zones. I sure would not want an expensive hot rod in the garage, but I'm comfortable with the Miata.

Then again, I wonder what I would have if I was really rich and I generally think it would be the same Miata except maybe I'd have it fixed up a little nicer.

I'd still drive a Tacoma, though. I like them and really would not care for a behemoth of a vehicle. A fairly small pickup is good enough for me.

Then maybe I really am rich because I seem to have just about everything I want.



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For

decades I never judged people by their appearance but it seems that over the past ten years I have started to. Especially among the young.

It alays seems to me that when I see some kid in a leftover from his father type hippie garb that he really isn't going to have a grasp on reality. Of course, he is going to act like he has his act completely togther and everyone else is just some kind of capitalist dog of some sort.

These clowns are generally as socialist as all hell politically. Most but by no means all of these people generally are unemployed.

On the other hand when I see a kid dressed neatly I generally find he is most likely going places. He looks like he's headed down the road toward success.

Of course, with engineering students and other egghead or nerdy types all bets are off. You never know how they are going to dress because they are generally too busy with ideas to care about what they look like.

Matt Taylor of the Rosetta project is one of these.  He got beaten up pretty good by the Social Justice Warriors a while back because he wore a colorful Hawaiian shirt with sexy women printed on it.

Most likely he didn't realize what he was wearing when he ws interviewed as he was too busy or distracted by the enormity of the project he was working on.

Then again, people like that can wear anything they want and the SJWs can use the mistletoe I keep clipped to my shirt tail.



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You might just read this article.

If comes from Harvard University, a liberal university and reveals a lot of truth about the Second Amendment.

I am surprised that Harvard actually permitted this to be published.

http://www.beliefnet.com/News/Articles/Harvard-University-Study-Reveals-Astonishing-Link.aspx?p=2


http://www.beliefnet.com/News/Articles/Harvard-University-Study-Reveals-Astonishing-Link.aspx?p=2



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Safe speech zones in colleges are a joke.

I can't for the life of me figure out why collges creates these zones. Colleges used to be hotspots of ideas, and some of them were pretty offensive. Colleges were often the first time a young person would be exposed to different people with different ways, customs and ideas.

Of course, Little Joe and Connie College seem to be willing to willing to accept the ideas and policies of their schools without question. Why I do not know.

The schools seem to feel the need to shelter the young and impressionable from something that might upset them. It used to be that colleges were to prepare a young person for the working world but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

There are no safe zones in the working world and it looks to me like the students ae going to be in for a pretty rude awakening.

Of course, many of them are spending a fortune on a worthless degree and will have a lot of money in loans to pay back on whatever they pay at Starbucks and McDonalds. It's all their liberal arts prepares them for.

I seriously think that we're going to see a change in hiring practices of a lot of companies. They are very likely to start looking at the military.

Right now a lot of Fortune 500 companies are activly seeking recently discharged officers. They arrive on the job pretty well trained. A former company commander doesn't have to learn personnel, logistics, report writing and a lot of other things because he has already done all of these.

With the way colleges seem to be producing worthless degrees and sheltred people it looks to me like a lot of companies are apt to look toward hiring from the enlisted ranks, too.

Recently retired NCOs know how to get things done and come with 20 plus years of real world work experience.  

Junior NCOs with a single four year hitch probably have an awful lot more real world experience than some kid that just graduated from some college and spent his time hanging in the safety zones. For one thing, the GI has had more experience dealing with people and knows well enough not to let himself get upset over a different idea.

I always like the way sharp NCOs handle people with racial predjudices. They take someone like a Black Panther and a Klansman (or whatever) and make them bunkmates. Quick fix.

Of course, both of them are equally offended at first but generally get over it or get thrown out of the service. Either way it's a win.

Nowadays it's a case of "I want my own room". It wasn't always that way. The fact that college kids were assigned their room mates used to teach them how to live and work with other people. This is something every GI lerns before he even gets out of basic training.

Thre are very few 'safe speech zones' in the service. Generally if someone complains about something offensive a good NCO is likely to deal with the whiner rather quickly.

He will tell him or her to cry him a river, call the combat engineers to build a floating bridge across said river, and to get off of their dead ass and onto their dying feet and GET OVER IT.

They know that there's no time for that kind of whining. There are more important issues to deal with.

I don't know why colleges are falling for this stupid crap but I do know that the people on the college staff that even suggested this sort of thing ought to be thrown off campus. They are doing their students a great disservice.

Then again, I suppose the colleges really don't give a damn about giving their students a real education, anyway.

They are more interested in taking their students money even if it leaves them in horrendous debt for decades.

Colleges appear to have stopped worrying about setting people up for the real world for some time now. They seem to want to cater to the feel-good desires of the student body rather then train them for the real world.

I think that what is going to happen in the future is that unless a person graduates with a specific degree, generally speaking, a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathamatics) that employers are doing to start looking elsewhere for employees.

Take a motivated young person with four or five years in the military and a good service record.  Put him alongside a recent non-STEM graduate and compare the two.

It's pretty likely that you'll get more out of the person that was a junior NCO then his college idiot counterpart.

If for no other reason then the former GI has been offended at one time or another. Or maybe he hasn't been offended because the service gave him thicker skin



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Hey, Mr. President.

How about you leavig the Second Amendment alone so we can protect ourselves from those Syrian refugees of military age you want to flood us with?

You babble on about 'Common sense gun control' yet where is your policy on 'common sense immigration control'?

I thought so. There isn't one.

Mr. Obama wants to let about 100,000 people who are unlikely to assimilate and have a history of violence into the country. 

A lot of us are not fooled on what is becoming an epidemic of Islamic terrorism on you watch. Boston, Chattanooga, Texas and now California.

Oh, yeah. I forgot. You've sluffed some of these off as worplace violence but we're not fooled.

The truth of the matter is that some elected officials more than likely WANT terrorism in this country as an excuse to disarm the public.

It seems to me that the public thinks otherwise because firearm sales are going through the roof. Black Friday set a new record for single day firearm sales.

It should be carefully noted that President Obama asked the American public to discuss gun control over Thanksgiving dinner. It looks like they did and did something about it the following day. They went out and bought guns in record numbers.

It has gotten to the point where a university president has told his student body to arm themselves and get carry permits.

The Obama presidency seems to have changed America's attitude on firearms. They are buying them in record numbers and an awfu lot of these people are first time buyers.

People that a few years ago were saying that they wouldn't allow a gun in their house have done a complete 180 degree turn. Instead of thinking a gun in the home makes things unsafe, they are beginning to believe it makes a home safer.

We have had four mass shootings as a result of Islamic terrorism in this country. That's what we know of. Who knows what has been hidden by White House spin doctors. 

Of course, the present administration has tried to cover it up but Americans are not easily fooled. They know the difference between workplace violence and terrorism. The Fort Hood shooting was not workplace violence. It was terrorism.

People see that and look at Obama wanting to let in thousands of Syrian males of military age into the country and are not fooled for a New York minute. Trouble is brewing and Americans are now looking at things a whole lot differently. They are arming themselves.

It is interesting to note that the harder the Obama administration tries to tug away at the Second Amendment the harder the people flock to it. I have heard President Obama called 'the best gun salesman of the century'.

I know NRA memberships are climbing. The other day I saw a deal on lifetime memberships on sale for a limited number of applications and it filled up almost immediately.

People are rapidly losing faith in the governments ability to provide us with basic protection and are responding. I Can't say as I blame them.

Americans are now starting to say that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. Do it yourself is part of the American way. It's nothing new.

Actually people are realizing that even the police are really a reactive thing. They never show up until after the crime has been committed. They are starting to understand that a proactive approach to their safety will likely insure it a whole lot better than waiting for a government supplied police officer.

It seem that a lot of people are starting to look inward and accept responsibility. They are just picking up another tool for their  tool box in case they need it. 

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There is a term the Pentagon

 supposedly doesn't like to hear used but I use it often.

The term is GI, as in the American GI.

It's somewhat of a flexible term. However, it is most commonly used to denote service people in general but the term is most often used to denote soldiers.

An Airman is an Airman. A Marine is a Marine. A Sailor is a Sailor, but a soldier can be either a soldier or a GI.

On the other hand if you have a group of mixed service people I might refer to all of them as being a group of GIs.

I don't know why the Pentagon types want to do away with the term. At one time I was a GI and proud to be one.

Years ago it was very common to address a First Sergeant as 'Top' but it seems to have fallen out of disfavor. Now First Sergeants are simple addressed as 'First Sergeant'.

Back in the day First Sergeants were proud of the title 'Top'. It meant 'top soldier' or 'top Marine', meaning he was at the top of the pile. These men took pride in the title.

It is interesting to note that almost to a man even now a First Sergeant will grin when and older guy like myself addresses one as 'Top'.

While it isn't the current practice the newer breed of First Sergeants seem to know where they came from. They proudly answer to the Old School title from an old soldier even though a young serviceman would get brought up short for addressing one that way.

Still, the term GI is still in pretty common use and I imagine it isn't going to go away too quickly.

Another term that seems to stick around is the term 'mess hall' or 'chow hall'. Back when I served they were trying to get us to call the place the dining facility. I suppose they still are.

We did what GIs have done since Valley Forge. When we were talking to officers we called it the dining facility. Among us enlisted guys it was and likely still is the mess hall.

What was funny was overhearing the officers talk among themselves and refer to the place as the mess hall.

What was real intersting is hearing a general officer call it the mess hall to the Battalion Commander one time. 

I suppose even a major general knew that the Pentagon's attempt to change something as firmly entrenched as that was a joke.

I remember one time telling the First Sergeant, "Top, you can eat at a dining facility if you want, but I'm a f***in' soldier and I eat at a f***in' MESS HALL!"

He didn't even bother hiding his smirk. He looked at me and quietly said, "I feel the same way."

Why the Penatgon would waste time and effort on something like that is beyond me. Maybe they ought to have them mop and wax their own floors because it sounds like they have too much time on their hands.

They could do this while the real soldiers are eating chow at the mess hall.





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With the Syrian refugee mess

 going on right now it made me think that we ought to take a few year hiatus from allowing immigration, period.

Slow things down to a serious next to nothing. If you don't have a skill of some sort we can use and is in shortage in this country you jut ain't gettin' in...and I'm not talking about skills like sheetrocking, either. We got plenty of those including your's truly.

These immigrants should also be barred from taking any governmental services until such time as they become citizens. It's one thing to allow someone in that can take care of themselves and another thing to let someone in that is going to be yet another drain on our already stretched too far social programs.

In short, new arrivals should not cost the taxpayer any money. We're taxed high enough as it is.

During the haitus we can rethink our immigration policy. It's time.

Right now the Syrian refugees President Obama has threatened to force down our throats are likely not a very good idea. Especially single males of military age.

Germany has started snooping around with facial recognition software and has found a number of young males in standing back in the old country armed and in some cases in combat against western interests.

Look at what has happened in Europe to countries that have have taken in large numbers of Middle Easterners. They have proven to be nothing but trouble because they seem to take all their baggage with them.

Letting large numbers of military aged males into this country without a serious individual background check is outright stupidity. It is just asking for trouble and one has to be pretty stupid not to see that. Mr. President, if the shoe fits...

Of course, enter the liberals that seem to think that everything President Obama wants to do is just fine by them. They never seem to learn until it is them, or one of their family that take the hit. After one of their kids gets a leg torn off by a pressure cooker bomb or some other IED they will look outraged and wonder what happened.

Someone once said a liberal anti Second Amendment person is just a mugging or a rape away from becoming a pistol packer. There is something to be said there.

Monday their kid gets torn up by an IED. Tuesday they scream blue bloody murder about how these people should not have been allowed into the country in the first place. Funny how that works.

Right now we have too damned many illegal immigrants in the country. These people for the most part really do not contribute, but are a drain. It's time to throw them out and send them somewhere else.

Illegal immigration is a crime. That is why it is called illegal immigration. If they immigrated legally they are called legal immigrants. Legally immigrating is not a crime.

Therefore, illegal immmigrants are criminals and we don't need them. Boot them out. They are by definition criminals.

I had someone saying he was going to use the Statue of Liberty as his symbol because he wants us to take in the Syrians just as they are as well as permit the illegals to stay and skip the background checks.

I, of course, am from the school where one simply shoots the hostage as a field expedient so as to leaving the hostage taker with nothing. I told him they ought to scrap the old broad. Copper is up to three bucks a pound now. We have to do something or it's Game Over.

The truth is that we can't keep taking in people that can't support themselves any more. The system is stretched well past the limit and it isn't worth the security risk in many cases.



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I had to listen to a bunch of revisionist anti-American

 crap the other day from some hippie type. I think I made his head explode.

They were going on and on and on about the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the deaths it cost the Japanese.

I asked him if he could count and he looked confused.

When I pointed out that the total deaths of both cities ran about 129,000 and that the Allies estimated that about five to ten million Japanese would die had they invaded. I also mentioned that the Japanese military had estimated twice that, figuring between ten and twenty million Japanese deaths would be the result of a ground invasion.

Never mind that the firebombing of Tokyo in March 1945 in one single night cost 100,000 Japanese their lives in the resulting firestorm.

I looked up at the whiney little student and said, "That doesn't include the life of one single US GI. Now how many Japanese  lives were saved because of the bombing? Do the math."

He stood there agape and didn't know what to say.

"You DO know that Harry Truman DID consider how many Japanese would be saved as well as how many GI, don't you?"

"Truman wanted the war to end as quickly as possible with the least amount of blood letting on either side," I finished.

He looked stunned.

Just another sample of what our colleges are producing these days.




To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY