Web Reconnaissance for 04/19/2006

A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.

Guidons, Guidons, Guidons! Writes, She's at it AGAIN!?! “Eva is at IT again! ...So try and realize how the gravy train works...we aren't interested in what you think we just want to look at your (insert favorite body part here). You can talk about how much you love puppies, wild flowers etc. and how hot you find men in uniform...other than that keep your big yap shut...your career will thank me for it.”

Fun With Hand Grenades writes First contact, part one “It started like any other day. A later mission time was coordinated so we took the liberty of staying up late and sleeping in the next day. Not that I can sleep before four in the morning anyway. Upon arising I took a shower, shaved my face for the first time in three days, and did my usual pre-combat ritual. As usual we were delayed due to our chronic communication problems. Strangely, I didn’t feel the same adrenaline rush I normally do when we finally rolled out the gate, locked and loaded.”

Chris West of GXOnline writes Outside the Wire with the CA Team “This week I’m going to be tagging along with the 1/34th’s Civil Affairs (CA) team. These are the guys responsible for acting as liaisons between the troops and the local Iraqis. This includes everything from performing assessments of the local’s needs to building new facilities to resolving disputes.”

Politics of a Patriot writes Dissent is Patriotic; Hating America is Not “A middle school in Colorado has crossed the line. Citing conflict over the immigration debate, Shaw Heights Middle School in Adams County, Colorado, has banned all wearing of patriotic attire.”

GayPatriot writes Limousine Liberals Running Amok “I’ve used this term before to the sheer puzzlement of my liberal friends. What could I possibly mean? Well, a limosine liberal is one who is in favor of social programs being funded by raising taxes on the middle class because the liberal is mucho-wealthy and can afford to pay… whereas the middle class worker is punished.”

Crazy Politico writes Enviromental Idiots “Anne Applebaum has a great column today on the enviromental movement, and a group that a power company exec called the "BANANAism" movement.
BANANA is short for "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything", and really is becoming the actual cause for many of our energy problems. Congress and the President can talk about anything they'd like, from Alaskan oil drilling, to new, more efficient nuclear power plants, but the BANANA crowd, along with their cousins, the NIMBY family will prevent it.”

Charlie Munn at OPFOR writes Iran: How Our World Views Affect Our Decision-Making “I want to do a quick thought exercise with you, before jumping into the main text of this post. I want to do a word association. I’ll write a word, and you tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. No tricks, no jokes, just think about the first thing that pops into your brain when I say:”

Mohammed at Iraq the Model writes Kill us, but you won't enslave us. “Last week we stopped writing for a while and we apologized to our readers saying that we lost a close friend but we didn't want to give more details as we were overwhelmed by an exceptional situation and a huge shock. We also were afraid from writing more about this subject for security concerns but now I think I must share this with you as it's part of the pain and suffering my nation is going through.”

Neptunus Lex writes Oh, death threats - those again “Taken as a whole, I have to confess that I’m not a charter member of the Michelle Malkin fan club. It’s not so much that I disagree with her on substance for the most part - it’s a tone thing: To hear her talk about it, it’s all about the forces of Good and Evil, the whistling arc and glad clash of absolutist, demonizing rhetorical scimitars, etc. Pundits have to choose a point of view I suppose, but I’ve often wished that along with the courage of their convictions, some of them would take the counsel of the occasional uncertainty, too.”

Atlas of Atlas Shrugs writes The UN has Become the Problem “HOW DYSFUNCTIONAL IS THE UNITED NATIONS? FDD Journalist-in-Residence Claudia Rosett has spent years investigating the corruption and conflicts of interest that afflict the U.N. Her cover story in the April issue of Commentary sums up much of it. She writes:”

Michael Fumento writes Ramadi and Miserable Military Down Time “The primary enemy of the freelance embedded reporter in Iraq is the incredible amount of lost time caused by military transportation procedures.
First, it takes a full day to fly from the United States to Kuwait. Okay, that's not the military's fault. But then you have to stay one or two days to catch your C-130 transport into Baghdad International. I lucked out and got a Royal Air Force seat on standby. Once you've arrived, now matter how early you get there, you have to wait until 2 or later in the morning to catch the armored Rhino into the International Zone. I can understand only traveling the route at night, but night is falling at about 8 now.”

Mrs. Greyhawk writes Fran O'Brien's Creates Charity For Soldiers “Via the Washington Post: The owners of Fran O'Brien's Stadium Steakhouse in Northwest Washington have created a charity to help fund the Friday night steak dinners they hold for wounded soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The restaurant's lease at the Capital Hilton, at 16th and L streets NW, expires May 1.”