All right buddy, the gloves are off and this might get a bit ugly.

    Helen Thomas had a showdown with Pres Bush in the spring, when she asked Bush to explain why we actually went to war with Iraq, since all the reasons offered turned out to be rubbish.

    He never answered the question.

    So off the cuff, no further research, straight from the heart, I want you, Butch Porter to explain :

1. Why you think we went to war in Iraq, since all the reasons offered have been shredded by the factual record.

2. Do you still think on August 17, 2006 that the Iraq war was the right thing to do?
(even if you originally thought it was ok, have you learned anything which has now created doubts?)

While the entire world was focused on the events in Lebanon, many Palestinians were killed by the IDF in the Gaza, and the fatalities went vastly unreported.

Read BTSELEM's report :

http://www.btselem.org/english/firearms/20060808_Civilians_killed_in_Gaza.asp

Please read the entire article before you offer any comments.

By Lt. Ryan Cusper

Dear Navy SEAL,
My boyfriend was laid off from his job a few weeks back. Ever since cashing his severance check, all he does is sit around and watch TV while I work to support us both. I know unemployment has undermined his confidence, but I'm not his mother! How do I get him out of the house and looking for work?
--Peeved In Palmyra

Dear Peeved,
Killing silently is a tall order, but a quick look at an anatomy chart will show that the larynx is an easy enough target--providing you can make a stealthy submerged approach, sneak up on your victim, and catch him unaware. Once that's accomplished, grasp his hair as close to the scalp as you're able to and yank his head back while using your Ka-Bar combat knife to make a lateral cut across his throat. Make sure you sever both the carotid artery and jugular vein while piercing the windpipe, and press hard; the larynx is a tough, rubbery piece of tissue.

Dear Navy SEAL,
I am a happily married man with a warm and loving wife who is also my best friend. We've been together for 17 years and couldn't be happier. But lately she says she wants separate beds. I'm reeling! We're barely in our 40s, and in my mind separate sleeping is for seniors. Am I making too much of this? Help!
--Anxious In Andersonville

Dear Anxious,
Destroying a bridge might look easy in the movies, but remember: They're designed to withstand the immense shear-forces of wind and weather. Deploying an underwater M-32 satchel charge at the base of each load-bearing pylon looks like the answer, but it might not even shake a modern riveted steel highway or railroad bridge. Without delving into the complex language of the guerrilla combat engineer, the best advice I can give you is to forgo subtlety in favor of brute force: Put two satchel charges at each X-shaped trestle buck, and this should rob the bridge of any reinforcing strength and cause it to buckle nicely.

Dear Navy SEAL,
After several catastrophically bad relationships, I have finally found the right man. But old habits die hard. After all those cheating jerks, it requires great will for me to trust this absolute prince. I find myself reading his mail, listening to his answering-machine messages, even--God help me--following him around! How do I handle this situation? I don't want to ruin the best thing I have ever had.
--Paranoid In Portsmouth

Dear Paranoid,
The 10mm Colt sidearm might not be an ideal long-distance weapon, and it's certainly no sniper's rifle, but it has the advantages of low weight and quicker target acquisition. You can reliably engage aggressors at ranges of 30 meters and more. Use a two-handed grip and brace the barrel against a tree, or use your dive tanks and rebreather as an improvised bench rest. Don't worry about "stopping power": One of those 10mm slugs opens up to about 70 caliber when it hits, leaving an exit wound you could toss a cat through, and bringing so much energy to a target that a hit in the extremities is often enough to drop Ivan in his tracks.

More coffee this morning - I don't know how they make it taste so good! Jakarta is on the Island of Java - which is our American nickname for coffee, so maybe that's part of the answer. Also, right next door is the Island of Sumatra - which is Starbucks' favorite blend. Whatever they do to the coffee out here, I'm going to have a hard time drinking a cup in Waffle House ever again.

Yesterday was an event filled day. Here's how it came together . . .

On Saturday night, we went to this bar called BATS (which stands for Basement At The Shangri-la) to listen to this band we had heard about. BATS is an ex-pat bar - where North American, European and Australian workers hang out and spend their huge paychecks on drinks and 'social activities'. While we were there, we met this couple - Serge and Daria. Serge works for Conoco Phillips and Daria teaches some Italian on the side.

Monday, Daria sent me a text saying she had the day off and would I be interested in getting a tour of Jakarta with a local student friend of hers named Sasa. I hurriedly cleared my busy schedule and accepted her invitation ;). Our first stop was Monas - the Indonesian National Monument. Built during a time of close affiliation with the Soviet Union, Monas looks like something right out of Red Square - standing alone in a grand plaza and towering above the city. At the top, you can look out over the city and see . . . SMOG. Apparently over the past 15 years, Jakarta has put out so much smog that the visibility, which used to allow you to see the Java Sea, now doesn't even allow you to see across town. Truly disturbing . . .

Next we went to the National Museum. After entering the museum, you pass into a courtyard about the size of a basketball court. This courtyard is literally littered with Hindu statues that are easily hundreds and even thousands of years old. The ironic thing is that there are no ropes, no guards, no protections of any kind. You can touch, feel, even get your picture taken with your arm around these ancient sculptures (ask me how I know that).

Lunch was to follow at Cafe Batavia (http://www.expat.or.id/restaurants/cafebatavia.html); a Dutch colonial restaurant built in the 1830's and completely like stepping back into an old Humphrey Bogart movie or an Ernest Hemingway novel. The food was excellent and the Meirs Rum with Coke definitely didn't hurt the ambiance either. After a two-hour discussion on global politics and America's role in the world, we were off to the north end of town and the Java Sea.

The Java Sea is a somewhat tumultous body of water that the Indonesian Islands seperate from the Indian Ocean. We took a gondola ride out over the water and ended up across from an amusement park that I can only describe as Indo-Disney. While not having quite the scale of Euro-Disney or Disney World - or even the Texas State Fair - it does the job for hundreds of Javanese every weekend. The roller-coaster ride I went on lasted roughly 21 seconds and the white-water rafting ride had all the excitement of a slip-n-slide - but you'd never know it from all the smiling faces. It's somewhat disconcerting to see all the muslim girls running around with their scarves on their heads, but kids will be kids - regardless of religious affiliation . . .

Somewhat soaked from the rafting ride, we stopped by a department store with American knock-off clothing from Ralph Lauren, A&F, Valentino and Nike. I was able to buy some cargo shorts, fresh boxer shorts and a Chaps polo shirt for all of 14,000 Rupiah ($14). I since learned that the average Indonesian worker with a college degree makes between 1,000,000rp and 2,000,000rp a month, while Masters Degreed and higher education levels command up to 5,000,000rp per month in salary. That's about $500 at the high-end. Per month. Or less than one-third of the official poverty line here in the USA.

We ended up our night at a British Pub called Buglie's. It's short for bule (white person) and gule (crazy person). The entire bar is full of bule - and the more they drink, the crazier they become. The Indonesian girls are some of the most beautiful I have seen. I found out it's because they are poached from the best clubs around town. They are guaranteed a 1,000,000rp salary every month and can earn another 1,000,000rp-2,000,000rp per month in tips; which puts them between a Bachelors and a Masters earning level - just for having a great body and white teeth. We met up with the rest of the crowd there - Chad, Serge, Simon, Cliff, Bill, and Santi. That's right - 5 guys and one girl. Pretty typical.

I won't complain though - the Indonesian girls just throw themselves at you if you are bule . . .

Went to the state fair and I just had to put this up for Scottie.  I want to push this sheople metaphor a little bit.  Does the judge behind the sheople represent AIPAC, Perle, or Wolfowitz?

  

A little break from terrorists etc. to note more interviews of family down home.  This time it's my cousins down the road (the Sagreras).  Their house looks real nice.  People, usually Christians and Catholics come from all over the country to help out, building fences and houses.  Really nice.  Oddly enough not one humanist/atheist in the bunch, FWIW.

Foiled Plot Doesn't Make Us Safer - MSNBC.com

My friend Jeff just sent me this article with the following thoughts:

Read more at www.dcoffline.com

"Obviously, I think banning liquids, balms, creams, and even TOOTHPASTE from airliners is absolutely absurd.  (Reminds me of 5 years ago when TSA made me and thousands of others break off the little nail file on my nail clippers, because somehow I could gain control of a plane using the deadly force of….. Nail Clippers.)   Yes, I realize that this plot included using liquid explosives, but COME ON: toothpaste???  (I can see the headline:  "Toothpaste Terrorism!"  (I just coined that phrase, thank you very much, royalties are due if you re-use it.) 

Soon, we'll find out that if you take off your polyester shirt in the lavatory (leaving another shirt underneath it so you don't look undressed when you exit the lav), and stuff it between the plastic wall and the metal hull and light it on fire with an electric razor which you have short-circuited previously so it will spark (you plug this into the outlet in the lav to get your electricity), that you can create a serious fire, serious enough to damage control cables running to the tail, and thus cause the plane to crash.  You walk out of the lav, sit back down, and let the fire build.  Coming soon to an airport near you:  we'll all be flying in our underwear, with maybe airline-issued paper gowns like the ones they give you at the hospital.  Think it's far-fetched?  What's to stop a terrorist group from stashing explosive liquids in vials inserted into their body cavities, and then combining them onboard to create the very same bomb that London foiled earlier this week?  You see, there's really no end to the creativity of the people who want to cause death on a spectacular, mass scale.

WHAT IS MUCH MORE TROUBLING IS WHY all of this is happening, and how we can stop it.  The article above is an interesting counterpoint to the Bush nonsense about the "war on terror" and how we are battling "Islamic facists" who simply are bent on "destroying democracy…" and "the freedom we all love" blah blah blah.  WHY are they so bent on destroying democracy, and on killing you, me, our children, their children, and everybody else who is American????  Do they "hate freedom"? Of course not.  Do they hate America?  Absolutely.  (Big difference, George.)

What I thought was most poignant about this article was the part about why the ranks of would-be suicide bombers continues to grow.  What is causing legions and legions of people to think that the only way they can live their lives the way the want to is to kill every American they can find, and for all of them to be willing to die in the process?  Hmmm, something's amiss here…could it be that the Good Old US of A is actually partly to blame for the problems that we find ourselves ensnared in?"

I have heard that, because of the terror plots unfolding in the UK this week, France has raised its Terror Alert Level from "Run" to "Hide".

This is apparently very serious, as the only two levels above this are "Surrender" and "Collaborate."

I'll keep you posted . . .

Duration
Dollars
Deaths - US
Deaths - Iraqi (civilian and police)