Got lucky last night and my friend couldn’t go and see the free preview, so I got his tickets…

Well done movie, and they made it a point to hire good advisors for the film. I’m a reality based guy, so detail makes it better in my opinion.

Quick overview: You’ll find yourself immersed in the story and feel like you’re in the bird or on the hoist during the action scenes. If’ you’ve been to a military school, you probably will feel some old feelings coming back and maybe identify with those students or instructors in the movie.

The story line is not unlike many of us have seen. Elite school, hard to get into, with young hotshot who’s already decided to tear up the world in the style of “Maverick” eyeballing the other pilots and the TOPGUN trophy during the CO’s welcome message. IN this case, the guy who holds the records is standing in the back of the room.

The movie begins with a rescue on a storm swept night int he Bering Sea that doesn’t go well. Very badly, as you might imagine, and Senior Chief Randall gets home alive, but badly shaken, so they send him off to the Rescue swimmer school to work things out. AN Ficher is the kid with the attitude, and can back up his ability in the water, but, of course, lacks the understanding that it’s not some sometime game he’s getting into and Kevin Costner (Randall), via a tough mentoring program, brings him along.

The school scenes are believeable, complete with an Instructor insurrection, when “their way” is modified by the new SCPO shows up and puts a dose of reality into the methods of training. I’ve seen this before in the real world, too.

The story line is great, the photography stunning and the scenes during the flights will keep you pumped up, as the Jayhawks skim the boiling seas under nasty, dark, cloud filled skies.

It’s a 2:15 long movie and go easy on the large cokes, so you don’t have to miss any of the action, but if you need a break, skip the “squid” bar scene and dno’t miss the rest.

I’ll say this, it sure helps you gain a better appreciation of what our young men and women in the Coast Guard face when they make it throught that school and head out to the CG Stations worldwide as lifesavers.

More data here on the history of the USCG Rescue Swimmers from the USCG website here.

From Despair.Com, a DIY demotivator poster generator.

Example of demonstrated creativity:

Thank you, Dave in Texas, for encapsulating our collective endeavours!

Click here and have fun!

I’m looking forward to the cynicism that will be produced!

Trackbacked to:

Dragon Lady’s World

Bear with me for a few paragraphs, for I need to lay a foundation for my point, before I dive it.

I’ll admit, the public discourse is wearing me out. Quite honestly, it sickens me to listen to talking head after talking head, or products of the American public education system of the last two decades respond to serious questions with what their opinion is. I don’t want an opinion when there’s truth to be had. The public educational system, however, has convinced people they need to respond to their feelings.

Hence, idiotic polls by agencies like CBS with this report as the outcome: “Poll: A Split On Confronting Terrorism”. About a year ago, i spent some valuable time blogging about the difference between truth and an opinion. It’s in the junior blog somewhere, and it applies here, but I don’t have the motivation to dig it up just now.

Of course there will be differences of opinions in how to execute a war fighting strategy and, in lower levels, tactics of same will be addressed.

Peopel with high school educations feel empowered to call into talk shows and tell people who spend a better part of their waking hours studying the issues, and try to tell the host that the President is killing innocent people, he knew there were no WMD and he sent popel there anyway.

Give.me.a.break. I didn’t have my “awakening” until the taxpayers sent me to 9 months of Command and Staff college. Not to say everyone needs an MA to speak on the topic, but it would be nice if they bothered to pull the iPod ear pieces out of their ears during the waking hours and took some time at the public library or local meag bookstore, doing some reading on the topic, before pretending they know what’s going on. I wish they’d do the wise thing and recuse themselves, much as is done in the legal system, if you are in a position to bias the outcome because of what you do/do not know.

My evidence is shown here, from the CBS article:

THE U.S. WILL BE SAFER FROM TERRORISM IF IT…

Confronts terror groups and states in the Mideast: 47%
Stays out of other countries’ affairs in Mideast: 45%

Just what, pray tell, do these valient individuals base their response on?

Which brings me to another point of ranting: Why can’t our leaders do it, if the other leaders are (or the reverse case)? A few days ago, the President mentioned, to a group at a meeting that he wondered if the US was going to have a 3rd awakening. This drew comments from the press, and they feigned fear of a “theocratic” government. Frst off, people need to chill out. Second off: Presidents of Iran and Venezuela stood before the world and prayed, one in the style of his Catholic heritage, the other in the Islamic faith. Not a peep out of the press, in fact, it looks like it was purposely ignored, so the press could always claim “plausible deniability” for the time being.

Now, get this:

IN TREATMENT OF POWs, THE U.S. SHOULD…

Follow international agreements: 63%
Do what it thinks right, regardless of what other nations think: 32%

News flash: We are treating “POWs” (defined therein in the Geneva Coventions as military members of a nation). I wonder if they would choke in horror if they knew that illegal combatants (those who are not wearing said uniforms while engaging in combat) are subject to summary execution? I doubt it would happen, but the old line : “Be careful what you wish for comes to mind.” If DoD directed firing squads, the same 63% would howl, but it would only be a case of answering an importatnt question from their place of ignorance….I’m glad we have a man at the helm with more compassion and sense than to give them what they ask for, for they don’t know what it is.

As far as the part about worrying about what others think, it seems to be, in my experience and opinion, that those who got me to “outperform” my self-imposed standards didn’t get my love in several cases, until years later, when it became clear the value of their hard pressed teachings. Teachers, baseball, basketball and swim team coaches alike have had a place in my life in helping me achieve what was better, right and more successful. We didn’t get to where we are as a nation because we copied the Euorpean ways an means of governance and social interaction for a reason: It had failed our forefathers. And, in my great admiration, they did what today’s protestors of our government should do when persecuted: Pack ther possesions you hold dear and go and build the country you define by your protestations. It should be easy to figure out: Just don’t elect George Bush as your President and study him well, so you make sure whatever it is he does in a situation, you do the exact opposite, to remove any possible connection to the man you hate so much. Oh…in the stream of consciousness mode, this has great possibility for terrific satire potential, combined with analysis of what the most likely outcomes would be of no military, no oil, no greenhouse gas producing items, no aerosol powered deoderants, and only vegtables to eat, produced with the use of no pesticides…but I digress…

So…finally taking the long way around, the biggest bone I have to pick is those who act like they know what it is to be the final authority in matters of great gravity, the point of my title.
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Thought for the day:

“The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.” – Winston Churchill

I don’t know, but I sure wish I did. Today, more “if you say we are violent, we will kill you” mentality from the Religion of Peace:

“Pakistanis protest, cleric says Pope should be crucified”.

Kool. I guess they sort of like some of the story of Jesus Christ.

In the face of the “rage riots” (I’m claiming this term!), I can’t for the life of me, figure why some people still insist it was a bad thing to put our treasure into spreading democracy. We had the stampedes that killed Muslims over the penning, by cartoonists, of likenesses of “The Prophet.” Cars burned by the hundreds during night riots in Paris and other parts of France. Muslims terrorists causing mass confussion during the hajj, where Muslims on their holy pilgrimage then, in the effort to save themselves, killed themselves. Those are but a few moments of insanity that show they are using very flawed tactics if the plan of the greater strategy is to take over the world.

It seems to me, in a democratic (well, actually, a representative republic) society, we just call each other bad names in the publically used news sources, as a way to voice our displeasure. I would think those not in power around the world, would cheer the onset of this style of government, for it certainly would increase their life expectancy. On the other hand, modern psychology points out battered wives return and average of 3-4 times, before they leave for good. Sad, but true fact of accepting the attitude of victimhood. I’m speculating there is much of this in some of the very countries who riot to see us die, claiming the right to attack the US based on what the southern Europeans began 600+ years ago (when the US did not exist, and before Colombus set out sailing West to the unknown), as they saw the choice was to die, or not go quietly into the night and the pages of history (that likely would never have been written if the crusades of the faithful Muslim warriors had succeeded at the beginning.

Also, it seems thre is a new job skill out there in the professional arena, where it’s easy to muster up workers for a multi day “rage riot” series. I wonder if anyone has already trademarkled “Rent-a-Riot?” Several poitns of discussion spawn from this, such as: Is it just the unemployment rate is too high in those countries? or…does it pay well enough for the few days, that you can subsist off the proceeds in the time between going out to risk a rubber bullet in the chops, or large concentration of CS gas? Do you get a bonus for places where the police are more agressive and actuarial tables predict violence will come your way more often?

I guess if I dug around the net, I might find the PD for the Operations staff for “Rent-a-Riot” International. It seems like that would be a fairly stable position in the long term (or until the 12th Imam arrives to the sounds of nuclear weapon detonations).

So what is the long term legacy of the Muslim faith? The Pope saw it, throught the eyes of men of the past, who struggled as we are, with those who would take up the sword (dull knife) to force conversion.

Just thinking….

True? Don’t know, but sure sounds like air travel today….

Received via email, and those who have a tendancy to spew coke, coffee, water or tea from their noses when confronted with a funny story…do what you have to do first, then read:

WINNIPEG AIRPORT
This is hilarious. I wish I had the guts of this girl. For all of you out there who’ve had to deal with an irate customer, this one is for you. An award should go to the Air Canada gate agent in Winnipeg for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded Air Canada flight was canceled. A single agent was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket on the counter and said “I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS.”
The agent replied, “I am sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but, I’ve got to help these folks first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?” Without hesitating, the agent smiled and grabbed her public address
microphone, “May I have your attention please, ” she began, her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the Air Canada agent, gritted his teeth and swore “F*** You!”.
Without flinching, she smiled and said, “I’m sorry sir, you’ll have to get in line for that too!”

Related post: Matt of Black Five tells about “Turbo dude” at his boarding experience yesterday….and it’s a true story!

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.

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…
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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.

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