Archive for September 20th, 2006

Dear Sean Penn;

September 20th, 2006 by xformed

Yesterday’s USA Today had a big article on Sean Penn, not just about his new movie, “All the King’s Men,” but a forum to let him be quoted about how things need to change.

Yes, I argee, but just a few days ago, when I heard that Sean Penn had called President Bush the devil (I wonder if he wrote Hugo’s UN speech of today?), I scribbled this, because it just made me think he’s something because of his money.

Dear Mr. Penn;

I’d like to offer you a little constructive advice, which may help you achieve your end, and not make you look so totally ignorant. There’s a clue here, so please read the following carefully:

Money doesn’t make you smart, nor a strategist, nor an economist, nor a diplomat or an ambassador, and it certainly doesn’t make you right. All it does is make you wealthy, but, even without moeny, you still have a right to say what you think as you will as an American, because the patriots through the ages have secured and then willed your right to this privledge for as long as you wish to maintain it.

If you want to be any of those things listed above, get some well written books, hire some respected tutors, study, study and study some more, then apply for one of those jobs and make the knowledge practical by doing wht you think is right. Once you’ve done those things, your voice will be more universally accepted, and I suspect your tone will be changed somewhat, as it will have been tempered by the reality of putting your hands on the problems of the world.

Respectfully, I submit, “you have to do what you think is right,” and experience will help you understand right better.

Category: Political | Comments Off on Dear Sean Penn;

Ropeyarn Sunday “Sea Stories” and Open Trackbacks

September 20th, 2006 by xformed

This post is placed to help showcase the writings (or rantings) of other bloggers. Please trackback your work!

When I first met him, he was GSE1(SW) Denny Rohr, the leading Gas Turbine (Electrical) petty officer for the Engineering Department of the USS CONOLLY (DD-979). When I arrived aboard in Sept 83, he had been on the ship for several years. During my tenure as Engineer Officer, he passed the test and was selected for and promoted to the rating of GSEC.

Denny was a methodical person and taught me this: “There are no gremlins. If you ever admit that there are gremlins, then you will have them.” However twisted that sounds, his point was nothing was an accident and everything could be explained, even the most transient event observed in the complexities of the gas turbine powered engineering plant. He was right.

When a problem appeared, the first stop for Denny were his several 3.5″ binders know as “Denny’s Brain Books.” His methodology was to record the symptoms and corrective actions for every significant problem/casualty. BY the time I arrived aboard, Denny had amassed quite a collection of solutions, so “issues” were routinely handled in minutes, or hours, not days, as I had been used to in my other shipboard tours. One day, though, a real thinking problem came along.

It was after the complex overhaul in Bath Iron Work from February to November 84. Enroute GTMO for refresher training, the Propulsion Auxillary Control Console (PACC) operator would be scanning his board and note that the clutch/brake for an offline engine in the after engineroom would be on, not a normal condition while we were steaming. Usually, with the shaft not powered, it was still “windmilling” as the other shaft had power. The PACC Operator would report this to the Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW), who usually scratched his head, because he hadn’t ordered it. A call would go to the on watch team in Main Engineroom #2 (MER2), asking if they had applied the brake. In fact, while the PACC in the Center Control Station (CCS) had control, the controls of the Propulsion Local Control Console (PLCC)s in the MERs were disabled, so, short of the watch below taking control back via a deliberate action at the PLCC, they could push all the buttons they wanted and nothing would happen.

So…the mystery of the self operating clutch brake began as described above…
Read the rest of this entry »

Category: "Sea Stories", History, Military, Navy, Open Trackbacks | 2 Comments »

“Revealed: the tough interrogation techniques the CIA wants to use”

September 20th, 2006 by xformed

Standby for some morning “fisking.” Here we go:

“Revealed: the tough interrogation techniques the CIA wants to use”

Ed Pilkington in New York and Clare Dyer
Monday September 18, 2006
The Guardian

Details emerged yesterday about the seven interrogation techniques the CIA is seeking to be allowed to apply to terror suspects. Newsweek magazine reported that a New York lawyer, Scott Horton, who has acted as an adviser to the US senate on interrogation methods, had acquired a list of the techniques. The details were corroborated by information obtained by the charity Human Rights Watch.

Good. I’m glad to know the resources of Human Rights Watch are on the issue. It’s probably because there is nothing else in the world worthy of their focus, everyone but the American’s being all peaceful and loving….

The techniques sought by the CIA are: induced hypothermia; forcing suspects to stand for prolonged periods; sleep deprivation;

Does 21 months serving under a man who slept during the day and stayed up all night, yelling at us staff guys count? If so, maybe he really worked for the CIA, not the Navy. 2-3 weeks on an hour a sleep a day wasn’t unheard of.

What about “port and starboard” bridge watches? 2 years aboard an oiler and I wasn’t the Captain, or Executive Officer, so…no chair on the bridge for me! Steel decks and 4-6 hours periods of standing, oh my!

a technique called “the attention grab” where a suspect’s shirt is forcefully seized;

All but grabbing the shirt happened, but I’m sure it was considered. On the other hand, maybe this will get HRW to go after Hollywood because lots and lots of shirt grabbing happens in movies and in TV series.

the “attention slap” or open hand slapping that hurts but does not lead to physical damage; the “belly slap”;

I can’t claim to have had this happen, but, yes, we show it in US TV and movies all the time and we have the in the vernacular “I’m gonna bitch slap you!” used, not only in movies, but on the street and all over in society…we need HRW after the rest of the society, too.

and sound and light manipulation.

Does sleeping under #2 Jet Blast Deflector for 4 ½ months count as sound manipulation? I did, however, figure out after three days, you sleep or you don’t, so may as well sleep and count it as the sound of freedom. Taking off on this point, maybe it’s the intent of the sound manipulation, or how it makes the “detainee” feel that’s ever more important. Rock concerts are very loud, and people pay money to go and have the opportunity to destroy their hearing for the future. Top that off with too loud iPods and other .mp3 players. Think about it: People actually make a living taking money from people who want to have really loud music played to them!

Several of those techniques chime with information gleaned about interrogation methods used against some serious terror suspects. The New York Times recently reported that Abu Zubaydah, the first al-Qaida member captured after the September 11 attacks, was kept in a freezing cell until he went blue, and later assailed with loud Red Hot Chili Peppers music.

I recall nights on a bridge wing in the winter where, after watch when you peeled off the bulky heavy weather gear and your clothes, parts were pale or blue. I had a duty to stand out there, because that was the nature of my commitment, but now, I ask: Did the American people torture me? Yeah, right…what a specious argument.

I have also been known to assail myself with loud music. As a senior, before Friday afternoon formation for parade, my roomie and I, living large in the 4th Division Alcove room, would routinely “inspire” our fellow cadets with 200W cranked music played over the “Quad” of Padgett-Thomas barracks. Favorites were “No More Mr Nice Guy” and as the year was coming to an end “Schools Out for the Summer.” We had others, with selections from Pink Floyd, too…Talk about a motivator before marching out in a wool uniform to stand in the heat and humidity of South Carolina’s Low Country, looking forward to the gnats who would hang around your ears throughout the experience…

The debate on how far the CIA should be allowed to go in aggressively questioning suspects has divided the Republican party after prominent senators led by John McCain of Arizona rebelled against the administration’s plans to change Geneva Convention to meet the CIA’s demands. Mr McCain told ABC television yesterday that “there is a war we are losing in some ways and that’s our standing in the world because of our treatment in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo”.

Well, it’s all about the spin, Senator. It seems the boys at Abu Ghraib are begging for the panties on the head treatment. It seems to (pardon my pun) “beat” the treatment their fellow Iraqis seem to be using….I bet if you took a survey, they’d trade dogs with bad breath barking at them and naked pyramids back in a heartbeat

The British attorney general warned the US that its plans would face international condemnation. Speaking to lawyers in Chicago at the weekend, Lord Goldsmith said he had thought hard about interfering in a “sensitive, domestic political debate”, but had concluded that the Geneva Convention was “an international standard of very considerable importance and its content must be the same for all nations”.

The Geneva Convention document the British use allows the summary execution of those who are not in uniform and actively participating in the combat…minor detail, I know…it just offend the sensibilities of the “civilized world” to actually hold the guilty accountable anymore it seems. If you’re in the “uncivilized” category, then you can stone people to death and hang teenagers from cranes, and it’s ok…you don’t get it, so you get a pass.

Oh, yeah…thanks for one more lawyer thinking a lawless bunch of murders will follow published law. I thought lawyers trafficed in evidence, but that seems to be left behind as a professional method for the rest of us people to have to deal with.

Guantanamo Bay had become “a symbol” which “the long American tradition of justice and liberty deserves to see removed at the earliest moment”.

Many would argue our troops in the field don’t get the food service, free time, nor clean and comfortable living conditions the people who have been gathered from an active battlefield. As noted above, the “normal” treatment of the enemy combatants (that’s what you are when you fight in a war) in GTMO is superior to what we provide to those who have to be shot at by such men. Talk about justice….

Thanks for your attention.

Update 9/22/2006: And I never had to attend Survival Escape Rescue and Evasion (S.E.R.E.) School, either.

Trackbacked to: Stuck on Stupid, Diane’s Stuff, Third World Country.

Category: Geo-Political, History, Political | 3 Comments »

“Let’s Say Thanks” Website by Xerox- Tell the Troops!

September 20th, 2006 by xformed

Let's Say Thanks Banner

Xerox has a website up where you can select a greeting card and then send your mesage to our troops (click on the image above to get to the site)!

Why is Xerox doing this? from the FAQ:

Q: Why is Xerox sponsoring this program?
A: Social responsibility has been ingrained in the Xerox culture since our earliest days as a company. The Let’s Say Thanks program provides one more outlet for the company to deliver value to the community and support the men and women stationed overseas.

Thanks, Xerox and the employees who make this happen!

Here’s the link to what the troops say about this program.

Along the way, the site highlights the support of Give 2 the Troops and the work the two programs do together.

So, there are two more ways to help out. Anyone can spare a few words to brighten a day, even if the bank account is looking a little slim right now….

Trackbacked to:
Stuck on Stupid

Category: Military, Supporting the Troops | Comments Off on “Let’s Say Thanks” Website by Xerox- Tell the Troops!

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