Flight Pundit

So how are things going for John Bolton?? And the UN?? Just read this and laugh.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton’s mission to reform the UN is a lot like Hercules’ mythical labor to clean a mountain of manure from the Augean Stables, joked a friend while introducing him before a recent speech. The difference for Bolton, she said, is that the animals making the mess are still there.

Recounting the story, Bolton leans his head back and laughs. “She said it,” he said. “I didn’t.”

After four months as ambassador, Bolton is still shoveling hard. Most of his fellow diplomats agree that the blunt envoy is unconventional. Some call him “a bully,” and others say he is “brilliant.” But opinion is divided about whether he is cleaning up the mess or adding to it.

“He is having a definite impact,” said Ambassador Mihnea Motoc of Romania, a temporary member of the Security Council. “Others wish they could do things the same way.”

The UN needs a bully. A brilliant one at that.

But Bolton’s methods have often put him at odds with traditional U.S. allies here, particularly Britain, which has worked to broker face-saving compromises. “Strategically, there isn’t that much of a difference between the U.S. and the U.K.,” British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said. “The question is one of tactics.”

Tactics? I suppose. The Brits are far more elegant and kiss classy, who beat around the bush a lot. Bolton is a straight shooter who speaks the truth, with a bluntness the UN has never seen before.

Just as member states were brushing themselves off from the last collision Bolton precipitated - over an agreement on how to reform the UN before the World Summit in September - the U.S. ambassador is setting up a new showdown.

He has threatened to block the world body’s budget for 2006-07 unless diplomats commit to “real reform” by the end of 2005, a year that has seen the organization severely damaged by revelations of corruption and mismanagement in the Iraq oil-for-food program, the disclosure of sexual exploitation by peacekeepers and the UN’s inability to change itself.

It hasn’t happened-this reform. Kofi Annan (cough, choke, spit) is still around and therefore so is all the corruption and lies. I say, BLOCK the damn budget. Don’t give them a red penny until real change happens.

The budget battle prompted Secretary-General Kofi Annan to cancel a trip this month to Asia, and warn that Bolton’s gambit could exacerbate the problems it is meant to solve.

“He has an agenda, and he’s pursuing it with a conviction that is uncommon here,” said Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali, who sometimes clashes with Bolton in the Security Council but considers him a friend. “He’s doing it his way, which is not the way we do it at the UN. We are used to a little more compromise.”

It’s about time someone “exacerbrated” the problems at the UN. These issues need to be exposed and fixed. Not just whispered about and swept under the marble flooring of Turtle Bay.

Bolton stands out among sleekly groomed diplomats, with his trademark walrus mustache and mop of gray hair.

Heh, he’s not interested in appearances so much as he is with action. I like that. Anyone who can put aside petty concerns about how they look, and get down to the more important things in life, is worthy of my respect.

Cross Posted @ ARS

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I have to thank Michael for introducing me to the one and only, feather fondling fruitcake of an excuse for a college professor- Ward Churchill- almost a year ago. I remember reading this and getting myself all twisted up in my own undergarment (s). Churchill is still around, still causing trouble and mouthing off and making vague threats. Throughout the year we have both written about this phoney, full of bulloney, attention seeking anti American Indian want-ta-be…I found an article today that sums the year up pretty well.

Some celebrities are recognized by only one name. Cher. Madonna. Bono. LeBron.

In 2005, a CU-Boulder professor entered that territory.

Churchill.

Ethnic studies professor and Native American scholar Ward Churchill dominated talk on campus after publicity surfaced last January about an essay he wrote shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens,” a Web essay Churchill wrote immediately following the 9/11 attacks, ignited nationwide furor for comparing some World Trade Center victims to “little Eichmanns,” referring to World War II Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann.

He also called the Trade Center and Pentagon attackers “gallant” and described them as a “combat team.” He wrote that those who died were not innocent victims, but rather willing perpetuators of the “mighty engine of profit.”

At a speech in February at CU, Churchill said he regretted how he phrased some of his argument, but that he wouldn’t back down from his views.

“What you’re putting out will blow back on you and that’s what happened,” he said, referring to the 9/11 attacks, adding rhetorically: “Why do they hate us?’ Why shouldn’t they?”

Churchill resigned as chair of CU’s ethnic studies department in January as controversy intensified.

Read the rest. This man is something else; he has made a celebrity out of himself and it fits him well. He almost has a Hollywood aura about him, with all the groupies and body guards he has around him. Too bad he’s ruined the reputation of a good college; too bad he has spoiled many an excellent high school students desire to attend that college…too bad he just doesn’t go crawl into a tee pee and suck a feather or something. Oh wait…THAT’S right…he isn’t a real Indian so he would never be seen in such primal living quarters now would he??

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The spirit is evident with this letter:

For the second time in my life, I enter the Christmas season knowing my oldest son will be absent. Not really surprising since a lot of gifted and talented 22-year-olds spend the holidays with friends from school, a girlfriend’s parents or friends on the ski slopes. Good kids, just like my son. Good kids, but not my son.

The first Christmas we were apart, he was safe with the drill instructors of the United States Marine Corps in San Diego. This time, he is half a world away at a forward operating base in western Iraq. I share the pain that any parent feels when the kids aren’t home for the holidays. I hope that the parents whose sons and daughters are not home because of college, social or romantic conflicts can appreciate mine.

Instead of Christmas presents, I assemble packages on a very strict timetable, knowing that anything I send to my son will have about a two-week lag, at best.

The staff of my court has continually hounded me on something to send him as a Christmas gift. When I broached that subject with my son on one of our far-too-infrequent satellite phone conversations, his response was “nothing for me personally, just some stuff for all the Marines here with me.”

Marines live and die with a dedication to their God, their Country and their Corps. Semper fidelis.

They share the toiletries, candy, ammunition, water, paperbacks, junk food, diaper wipes, news from home and the other things that young men need in a war in a faraway desert. They share the pain when their fellow Marines are killed and maimed doing the job that they all volunteered to do.

My son tells me that the best-kept secret of the Marines in Iraq is their morale. He and his fellow Marines actually find great humor in the gloom and doom reporting of the war that permeates the liberal American media. They know, firsthand, they are winning this war and that they are needed and loved by the vast majority of the Iraqi people.

Marines are not concerned with the incredible misinformation that the liberal media is spinning to the American public. They do their job with quiet confidence in their cause, their country and their commander in chief. Even in conditions that most of us would find unbearable, Marines adapt, improvise and overcome. That is the way of the Corps.

This originally appeared @ ARS and Kim authored it…I cross posted it for her.

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Oliver North talking with a Marine in Ramadi Iraq in the middle of the night is asked by the young Marine, “What do you want for Christmas?” the simple questions that you would not expect shock at being asked. unless your in Iraq in the middle of the night.

Washington, D.C. — “What do you want for Christmas?” the young Marine asked. It was the middle of the night and we were standing atop a heavily sandbagged “strongpoint” known as “Outpost Horea” in downtown Ramadi, Iraq — long the bloodiest city in this very bloody country. In the dark, the Iraqi soldier standing watch beside the American looked toward us as a cold breeze rustled through the camouflage netting over our heads.

“What do I want for Christmas?” I repeated, somewhat surprised by the question. “I want you to get home safely.”

The 21-year old Tennessean, girded in 65 pounds of armored flak jacket, night-vision equipped helmet, grenades and several hundred rounds of ammunition reflected on that for a moment and replied, “so do I.”

Then, quietly, from the young Iraqi soldier beside us, words in broken English that stunned me: “As do I — but not too soon.”

This is another sign that Iraq wants to take control of its own future but is not trying to throw out the Americans like the MSM would have you believe. It is a great article and you should read the whole thing.

I wish all Americans a safe and Merry Christmas, and a great new year.
Show your support for Americans and Freedom. Semper Fi & God Bless

Cross Posted at ARS

Technorati Tags: Iraqi, Oliver North

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For My Liberal Democratic Friends:

“Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society ! have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor that America is the only “America” in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the ace, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting the following terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish ! at the sole discretion of the wisher.”

For My Republican Friends:

Here’s wishing all of you…… A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Like GM I know some people I call friends. One is Mustang. Then there is R’Cat who is completely into the Christmas spirit, The instigator or most of my fun Raven is stirring thoughts, The dotting husband Vinnie is in the spirit for his lady, , Kender will change your attitude (Merry Christmas Kender!), Seth is an inspiration to us all. Vinnie’s gets to dote on Merri and make her day better, and The Mad Tech
has some deep thoughts, then our new friend The Ugly American is supporting our troops.

Merry Christmas All, and have a Safe New Years. See ya’ll next year…

Technorati Tags: Christmas

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It’s that time of year again.
Last year I posted the MERRY CHRISTMAS, MY FRIEND poem by a brother Marine James M. Schmidt
It is still one of the best Christmas Poems I have read so here it is again.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MY FRIEND
‘Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one-bedroom house made of plaster and stone.
I had come down the chimney, with presents to give
and to see just who in this home did live.

As I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures of a far distant land.

With medals and badges, awards of all kind,
a sobering thought soon came to my mind.
For this house was different, unlike any I’d seen.
This was the home of a U.S. Marine.

I’d heard stories about them, I had to see more,
so I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
And there he lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor in his one-bedroom home.

He seemed so gentle, his face so serene,
Not how I pictured a U.S. Marine.
Was this the hero, of whom I’d just read?
Curled up in his poncho, a floor for his bed?

His head was clean-shaven, his weathered face tan.
I soon understood, this was more than a man.
For I realized the families that I saw that night,
owed their lives to these men, who were willing to fight.

Soon around the Nation, the children would play,
And grown-ups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom, each month and all year,
because of Marines like this one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve, in a land far from home.
Just the very thought brought a tear to my eye.
I dropped to my knees and I started to cry.

He must have awoken, for I heard a rough voice,
“Santa, don’t cry, this life is my choice
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more.
My life is my God, my country, my Corps.”

With that he rolled over, drifted off into sleep,
I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.

I watched him for hours, so silent and still.
I noticed he shivered from the cold night’s chill.
So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
and covered this Marine from his toes to his head.
Then I put on his T-shirt of scarlet and gold,
with an eagle, globe and anchor emblazoned so bold
. And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
and for one shining moment, I was Marine Corps deep inside.

I didn’t want to leave him so quiet in the night,
this guardian of honor so willing to fight.

But half asleep he rolled over, and in a voice clean and pure,
said “Carry on, Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all secure.”
One look at my watch and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend, Semper Fi and goodnight.

©Copyright circa 1991 by James M. Schmidt
(As printers in the December 1991 issue of the USMC magazine, Leatherneck)
also read the facts at International War Veterans Poetry Archives

Technorati Tags: MERRY CHRISTMAS, MY FRIEND

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Shots a ring
Are you listening?
In the lane
The blood’s glistening
A beautiful site
We’re happy tonight
Walking in a sniper’s wonderland

In the street a baby’s crying
As you stop to set the bomb
He lined up for the kill
Then your brains will spill
Walking in a sniper’s wonderland

In the field you can build a big bomb
Then pretend you’re really someone else
He says: Are you leaving?
We’ll say: No way
But we can do the job
When you’re around

Later on
We’ll conspire
As we dream by the fire
Of faces so afraid
Of the plans that we’ve made
Walking in a sniper’s wonderland

When we shoot
It’s thrilling
Through our sites they get a chilling
We chamber a round
One shot and you are down
Walking in a sniper’s wonderland

Walking in a sniper’s wonderland
Walking in a sniper’s wonderland

Stolen from here
I saw some here else but google took me here instaead. don’t remember where I was before.

Technorati Tags: Sniper

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Go check out the video Michael Yon has up…

Technorati Tags: Iraqi, Michael Yon

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President Bush shows his leadership again. and smacks the defeatists, liberal media and liberal politicians.

“Are you Sunni or Shia?” And he responded, “I am Iraqi.”

Iraqi Pride is growing again.

I also want to speak to those of you who did not support my decision to send troops to Iraq: I have heard your disagreement, and I know how deeply it is felt. Yet now there are only two options before our country — victory or defeat. And the need for victory is larger than any president or political party, because the security of our people is in the balance. I don’t expect you to support everything I do, but tonight I have a request: Do not give in to despair, and do not give up on this fight for freedom.

What he meant to say is your stooped leftists are putting Americans at risk. Stop it you fucking jerks.

Next week, Americans will gather to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. Many families will be praying for loved ones spending this season far from home — in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other dangerous places. Our nation joins in those prayers. We pray for the safety and strength of our troops. We trust, with them, in a love that conquers all fear, in a light that reaches the darkest corners of the Earth. And we remember the words of the Christmas carol, written during the Civil War: “God is not dead, nor [does] He sleep; the Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on Earth, goodwill to men.”

I love that C-Span had Randi (tree up her ass) Rhoads on Q&A as the follow on to the Presidents speech. Is that all the left has to put up is a old hippie whore? Where is the leftist responses to the speech? oh, here they are Reaction to President Bush’s Speech
Reid is a moron piece of shit

“While I appreciate the president’s increased candor, too much of the substance remains the same and the American people have still not heard what benchmarks we must meet along the way to know that progress is being made.” - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Technorati Tags: President Bush, Iraqi

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If Col. Shusko has his way, every Marine — and everyone near them — will benefit from the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP). Unlike men and women in the other branches of the armed forces, every Marine is taught how to fight hand-to-hand, up close and personal.

Fight to win, Fight to kill, Fight to destroy with bare hands.

“Every Marine is a rifleman. Every Marine is a martial artist,” Col. Shusko says.

And you thought the Marines were bad ass before…

– known as “Cyborg” — demonstrates the effectiveness of the Corps’ new fighting style as he throws a trainee to the grass, climbs over him and clamps a chokehold during a drill.

Hat Tip Richard at Jawa Report

Technorati Tags: Marines, Marine Corps Martial Arts Center, MCMAP

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Blogs4Life is coming on January 23rd, in the morning just before the March for Life in Washington, D.C.!

Yes, this is the first annual conference of pro-life bloggers and will feature none other than noted syndicated columnist and NRO Blogger Kathryn Jean Lopez. This is an excellent opportunity for individuals and organizations to network with pro-life bloggers and develop an understanding about how weblog technology can be strategically used to promote life and turn ideas into action.

More information at ProLifeBlogs, Reasoned Audacity and the conference website.

Complete text stolen from Hyscience

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I am going to Colorado this Friday afternoon for Christmas and New Years.

Talked to my Parents about the snowmobiling this weekend. It is outstanding with lots of fresh deep Colorado powder. In the extended entry there is a picture of the snow at my cabin from today. Thanks Mom!

Technorati Tags: Grand Lake, CO, Snowmobiling

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I am trying the latest Ecto blogging tool.

Some people say Ecto is pretty good

ecto for Windows has been updated to work with MSN Spaces.

how about some bold and italized
What else do I want to do?
Update: So the track back is not working. I have to figure out the WYSIWYG thing because the return does not publish automatically.
how about an immage added here
nope, there is no functionality to do that. lets see where did that go?

Technorati Tags: Ecto

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I’m the victim of a French witch hunt says Armstrong

“The Tour is angry because its history has been eclipsed by an American winning it seven times.”

Lance is being portrayed as a whiner but he is correct. Maybe Lance could start/ design a road race that eclipses the *spit*French*spit* trash tour. I am sure we have some Colorado/New Mexico/Utah locations that would beat any stage in the white flag whimp country.

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The NYT comes back out today to defend itself. Its not enough though. The entire issue about government “spying” on it’s own citizens has been blown out of proportion. It’s obvious to me that a team of editors and “journalists” at the Times used this article as a propaganda piece for a book (written by the very same person who wrote the article); the Times also chose to over-dramatize what really happened (and hopefully is still happening) to turn Americans off to President Bush; and the Times did this to sway votes in the Patriot Act hearings. In other words, this is nothing more than a marketing sceme designed to undermine the War on Terror.

Today’s editorial in the NYT:

On Oct. 17, 2002, the head of the National Security Agency, Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, made an eloquent plea to a joint House-Senate inquiry on intelligence for a sober national discussion about whether the line between liberty and security should be shifted after the 9/11 attacks, and if so, precisely how far. He reminded the lawmakers that the rules against his agency’s spying on Americans, carefully written decades earlier, were based on protecting fundamental constitutional rights.

If they were to be changed, General Hayden said, “We need to get it right. We have to find the right balance between protecting our security and protecting our liberty.” General Hayden spoke of having a “national dialogue” and added: “What I really need you to do is talk to your constituents and find out where the American people want that line between security and liberty to be.”

General Hayden was right. The mass murders of 9/11 revealed deadly gaps in United States intelligence that needed to be closed. Most of those involved failure of performance, not legal barriers. Nevertheless, Americans expected some reasonable and carefully measured trade-offs between security and civil liberties. They trusted their elected leaders to follow long-established democratic and legal principles and to make any changes in the light of day. But President Bush had other ideas. He secretly and recklessly expanded the government’s powers in dangerous and unnecessary ways that eroded civil liberties and may also have violated the law.

General Hayden’s pleas were wrong. It is painfully obvious now that had the security forces in this country been able to share information, real time, things might be different now. The days, weeks and months following the 9-11 attacks didn’t allow for a national “dialogue” or debate as the General suggested. We were in the midst of anthrax attacks, we had just seen the first attacks on our own soil. The very rules that were written DECADES earlier no longer applied.
It was (and still is) a very different war with a different enemy. We cannot rely on the rules of a game that is no longer being played. The NYT editors say here that President Bush “secretly and recklessly” expanded government powers…I take issue with this statement. SOMEONE had to take control of the security of this country. It’s the job of the President to do this. Like it or not, sometimes this means doing something more than talk.

Let’s be clear about this: illegal government spying on Americans is a violation of individual liberties, whether conditions are troubled or not. Nobody with a real regard for the rule of law and the Constitution would have difficulty seeing that. The law governing the National Security Agency was written after the Vietnam War because the government had made lists of people it considered national security threats and spied on them. All the same empty points about effective intelligence gathering were offered then, just as they are now, and the Congress, the courts and the American people rejected them.

No, let’s be clear about this: The Vietnam War days are over. We no longer live in that world inside a bubble full of flowers and peace signs, where the minds of scholars and young people were influenced by drugs and crazy music. It’s a new world, a new threat we are dealing with now. What’s really sad about all of this is the fact so many people keep comparing this war to Vietnam. It’s not the same. We cannot continue to do this. Some people need to grow up and ditch the flowers and doves and realize it’s a new century. The 60’s are gone but the attitude of those times is still prevailing.

The NYT got what it wanted though. The article directly effected the votes of certain spineless Congressmen, who haven’t listened to history. See how your elected officials voted and REMEMBER this when the next election comes around.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Republican senator on Saturday accused The New York Times of endangering American security to sell a book by waiting until the day of the terror-fighting Patriot Act reauthorization to report that the government has eavesdropped on people without court-approved warrants.

“At least two senators that I heard with my own ears cited this as a reason why they decided to vote to not allow a bipartisan majority to reauthorize the Patriot Act,” said Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. “Well, as it turns out the author of this article turned in a book three months ago and the paper, The New York Times, failed to reveal that the urgent story was tied to a book release and its sale by its author.”

Blatant disregard for the security of this nation is criminal. The NYT should be investigated. Freedom of press is one thing, but to use the events of a current threat to garner attention for a book, or to alter opinions based on exaggerated claims is quite another…it’s treasonous and very dangerous to America.

Cross Posted @ ARS

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