BlackFive

If you didn't see Michael Moore get squashed by the Oelephant (the battle of Pelinor Fields in the Return of the King) at the Oscars tonight you missed something good...

"You Hobbits started a ficticious war!"

SQUASH!

Dunkin Donut stock plumets...

update: 748PM CST - Tim Robbins wins Best Supporting Actor...I'm waiting for the politics...he took the opportunity to talk about abuse and to ask those who are abused to seek help. Nice and classy gesture.

update: 8Pm CST - can't breathe. crying from laughing so hard. Robbin Williams doing a French Mini Mouse smoking a cig and expressing ennui about Freedom Fries. Finding Nemo wins Best Animated Picture.

Okay, gonna stop the blogging the Oscar thing. The Michael Moore squashing just was too SWEET not to blog!

I received an email from the good folks at Soldier's Angels - it's a web site where you can adopt a soldier.

Right now, with the current troop rotation underway, Soldier's Angels has over 500 soldiers that need to be matched up with someone willing to adopt them.

JarheadDad pointed out a New York Times article (subscription required) on John Kerry's complex history.

...As both a veteran and anguished opponent of the Vietnam War, Mr. Kerry has spent years working to square the circle of a conflict that divided his generation, and the nation. Now, his old words have come back to haunt his presidential campaign, as conservative backers of President Bush question whether Mr. Kerry is "a proud war hero or angry antiwar protester," as National Review Online recently asked.

The full picture is complex. In 1970 and 1971, Mr. Kerry was among the most prominent spokesmen for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, whose major patrons included the actress Jane Fonda, and which later staged takeovers of public buildings and walkouts from Veterans Administration hospitals. But when Mr. Kerry was involved, contemporaries recount, he often took steps to moderate the group's actions, believing it was better — for it, and him — to work within the political system that he ultimately sought to join. When he organized the mass march on Washington that resulted in his Senate testimony, Ms. Fonda was nowhere to be seen.

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It is an open question whether Mr. Kerry's past will hurt him now, but his words to the Senate remain a special lightning rod, especially because he described soldiers' actions as "not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

John Kerry may have experienced anguish in turning his back on his band of brothers. John Kerry may have been anguished by the war.

But I can confidently say that John Kerry did not have the anguish that the POWs had while he was marching and testifying. Funny how the New York Times rallies around him in a Clinton-esque light. Next will be John Kerry biting his lip and pointing at Jane Fonda - "I did not have relations with that woman".

Anyone know what is happening on the internet? Mudville Gazette and Iraq War News are both down due to high bandwidth usage.

It's about 8:45AM CST.

First there was a report that Osama bin Laden was captured. Now the U.S. and Pakistan are denying the report.

The reporter from the Iranian news service is broadcasting this report of OBL's capture in the Pashtun language - not Farsi. In fact, the story is not being carried in the main media outlets in Iran. It's just being broadcast into Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It's possible the Iranians are trying to help capture OBL and it's their way of stirring the hornets nest. On the other hand...

Here we go, folks. I wonder if John Kerry will abandon all the people of Iraq with his smarter strategy? It would be like what he helped happen in Vietnam. The man has "cut-and-run" written all over him.

Kerry: Bush Has Failed in 9/11 Response

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Democrat John Kerry, widely assailed by Republican critics, said Friday that President Bush has failed in his response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and faulted the Republican for breaking promises on the economy, education and health care.

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In his speech, Kerry said Iraq is in disarray with U.S. troops bogged down in a deadly guerrilla war with no exit in sight. He said outlying areas of Afghanistan are sliding back into the hands of a resurgent Taliban and emboldened warlords.

The Bush administration, he argued, has shown disdain for the Mideast peace process and allowed Iran and North Korea to continue their quest for nuclear weapons that could get into the hands of terrorists.

"I am convinced that we can prove to the American people that we know how to make them safer and more secure with a stronger, more comprehensive, more effective strategy for winning the war on terror than the Bush administration has ever envisioned," Kerry said.

Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry made "a political speech filled with defeatist rhetoric and factual inaccuracies."

"John Kerry ignored the real progress being made on all fronts of the war on terror, and he ignored his own long voting record that would undermine America's ability to fight the war on terror," Schmidt said.

Seriously, though, this speech is going to go against Kerry. I hope he keeps making it...and I wonder what the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan would think of it.

Update - February 28: Jennifer Martinez has a post about another POW's thoughts on John Kerry.

Good day to you...I FEEEEL GREEAAAT!

Here's what happened at Madfish Willie's last night...it features Harvey.

If you haven't over to Argghhh!, you should check out why Low Tide Landings Suck. LMAO.

More to follow...update:8PM CST

Laughing Wolf has an interesting post about NASA and the intersection of goals of the Department of Defense and NASA.

David Kaspar at Medienkritik has an interesting post about Iraqi immigration trends to Germany.

Just the other night Mr. Green and I were having a few beers at Happy Hour, and I remarked, "Damn, Mr. Green, you are one sexy man!" Now, I know why...

Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette has a story about SSG Wolford who received a Silver Star for his actions almost a year ago in Iraq.

Susie, a movie insider, tells us how movies actually get put up on the big screen.

My pal, Ferdie, emailed me this BBC article about French Wine producers protesting a law against advertising alcohol products.

French winemakers take on ad ban

French wine producers are fighting back against a law that restricts alcohol advertising.
The French national beverage, they say, should not be treated like just another alcoholic drink - but as a part of the very fabric of the nation.

"Wine is an important part of our culture," said Xavier Carreau, president of Vin et Societe, which represents wine professionals.

"It can't be lumped together with other alcohol. It's different. It has a certain nobility."

Winemakers, faced with a slump in sales, have held crisis talks with Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to demand exemption from a law banning all television advertising of alcohol and restricting print advertising.

"We are facing a crisis," said Guillaume Willette of the Burgundy Wine Association. "Wine is part of our culture - and this is a debate about the place of wine in French society."

But the money quote is, of course, buried at the end of the article.

Some winemakers also blame a boycott of French products by Americans angry at France's opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.

*tsk* Pour France...

I know that I haven't been posting as much as usual and pointing out what I think is the best on the blogosphere. I hope to resume that tomorrow. So in the meantime, please check out the blogroll (plus Doc at Far from Perfect has Someone You Should Know).

I have going through a lot at work. It's good, just a lot to deal with. All at the same time, my department's expanding and I let some key people go that weren't happy working here. So, what little free time I have has been spent building train tracks with my son.

And, with everything at work going on, I also have the sort of "job opportunity" that Smash had a year ago. It may or may not work out. Technically, it's not supposed to be possible, but the organization that I used to work for, being what it is, doesn't really give a flying @#$% about the rules.

This is one of my all-time favorite official Army pictures: A High-Altitude Low-Opening (HALO) Qualified Special Forces soldier runs off the ramp into nothing but air 20,000 feet up.

Tonight, on the Discovery Channel, Halo: Freefall Warriors Parts 1 & 2 (7P CST) will be broadcast. Unfortunately, I have a company dinner to attend and I'll miss it.

It's probably best that I miss it. Watching things like HALO jumping just make me want to do it again. Hell, I get charged up just thinking about it...

In honor of tonight's Discovery Channel broadcast, I am changing the Blackfive photo.