At One Time There Were Statesmen

No comment necessary:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we
are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and
servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Theodore Roosevelt
The Kansas City Star - May 7, 1918

This Is Sure To Win Hearts And Minds

Once again, the ass clowns in our current abortion of an administration and the pentagon prove they don't pay any attention to history:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military's code name for a crackdown on resistance in Iraq was also used by the Nazis for an aborted operation to damage the Soviet power grid during World War II.

"Operation Iron Hammer" this week launched the 1st Armored Division's 3rd Brigade into the roughest parts of Baghdad to ferret out the attackers who have killed scores of U.S. troops since Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was ousted in April.

A Pentagon official said the name was chosen because of the "Old Ironsides" nickname of the 1st Armored Division. He was unaware of any connection to any Nazi operation.

"Eisenhammer," the German for "iron hammer," was a Luftwaffe code name for a plan to destroy Soviet generating plants in the Moscow and Gorky areas in 1943, according to Universal Lexikon on the www.infobitte.de Web site.

A researcher at Britain's Imperial War Museum confirmed the existence of Eisenhammer.

The Nazi's long-range bombing operation was repeatedly postponed and was finally scrapped after an allied air assault destroyed many of the German planes on the ground in 1945, shortly before the defeat of Germany.

After it declared war on terrorism, U.S. officials changed the code name for its impending attack on Afghanistan to Operation Enduring Freedom.

The original name, Operation Infinite Justice, was jettisoned amid fears that the Muslim world, already leery of U.S. intentions, would object on the basis of Koranic teachings that only God can provide infinite justice.

Disclaimer Mania

Many corporate email systems are now attaching a disclaimer to each note - at least the ones going outside the company firewall - about intended recipient, redistribution, confidentiality, etc. Very few are short and sweet; most are pedantic and overly long. After all, they are written by lawyers. Every now and then some lawyer geek goes way over the top. This little gem is often longer than the actual content of the note:

This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system.
E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message that arise as a result of e-mail transmission.
This message is provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities or related financial instruments.
All e-mails at --------- ------ are, in accordance with Firm policy, to be used for --------- ------ business purposes only. E-mails sent from or to the Firm are subject to being reviewed by the Firm in accordance with the Firm's procedure for the review of correspondence.

What Did We McDo?

What did we as a society ever do to deserve the current McDonalds campaign? That super-annoying jingle at the intro and outro of spots, the incredibly lame McRap/McHipHop in between, and the incessant tag line. It's enough to make me want to jam a screwdriver through my eardrums. The first one I heard I thought, oh, yet another crappy McAd. Then all the other variations and permutations were unleashed with the vigor that an intestinal flu voids your insides while you hang onto the porcelain bowl, praying for a swift and merciful death. If ever there was a reason to boycott McD's, their current scortched-earth carpet bombing radio and tv campaign rises above all others.

Old Mines Are Dangerous!
Yikes! Wouldn't this be the surprise to stumble upon......

Mojave National Preserve (CA)
Explosives Found and Destroyed

On October 8th, a contractor working in the park came upon a metal silo at the Morning Star Mine which appeared to contain explosives. Rangers and the county bomb squad examined the silo and confirmed that it contained about 40,000 pounds of energized and active ammonium nitrate explosives. Around-the-clock security was begun and maintained at the site for nine days until the explosives could be destroyed. Rangers from Lake Mead, Santa Monica Mountains and the BLM assisted with the security. NPS explosives disposal experts from Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon destroyed the explosives in small amounts. The 40,000 pounds constituted about nine times as much of the same explosive as was used in the Oklahoma City bombing.
[Submitted by Kirk Gebicke, Park Ranger]