If I read the headlines correctly, not only did Snoop Dogg call Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner a science experiment, but mentioned that Akon was providing solar energy to 60 million African families.
If so, Akon probably should have been in the title of this blog, huh?
Nice job Akon, but we haven't forgotten you throwing the kid into the crowd during spring break. That wasn't cool but the solar power? Definitely cool Akon. "Beautiful" in fact.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Where Did My Country Go and How Do I Get Back?
I'm not going to pick on the transgendered, honestly, I have nothing against them. When my wife and I either practice baby making or actually take a shot at it, I just really don't think it's anyone's business how we go at it. The same can be said for every other American and non-American in America, I believe in equal rights, I believe in remembering history and we all know that no good can come out of one group discriminating against another.
I just finished Marcus Luttrell's "Lone Survivor" BOOK (not the movie with Marky Mark which is very, very different) and while I found myself shaking my head at the horrific writing, I got his point about how our media and our government can almost be considered traitors in the war on terror. For whatever reason, it appears that our elected officials think that they know more about war than the warriors we send over to fight it. I completely understand that while politicians may THINK they understand absolutely everything and that their actions are what's best for the country and their constituents, that the only people who should be calling any shots are the generals and military tacticians we have in the Armed Forces.
I just finished Marcus Luttrell's "Lone Survivor" BOOK (not the movie with Marky Mark which is very, very different) and while I found myself shaking my head at the horrific writing, I got his point about how our media and our government can almost be considered traitors in the war on terror. For whatever reason, it appears that our elected officials think that they know more about war than the warriors we send over to fight it. I completely understand that while politicians may THINK they understand absolutely everything and that their actions are what's best for the country and their constituents, that the only people who should be calling any shots are the generals and military tacticians we have in the Armed Forces.
I’ve read a lot on the subject
and I’ve come up with the following conclusion in regards to the Rules of
Engagement (ROE) in Afghanistan: You can’t win
hearts and minds AND a war at the same time.
George S. Patton once said that “The object of war is not to die for
your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” With the exception of the famous quote “I
love the smell of napalm in the morning” nearly every quote related to war indicates that it's a pretty negative situation.
In the book “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell notes that the
Taliban and Al Qaeda NEED the support of the Pashtun communities to cross over
the tribal mountain paths between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In his case, he was afforded the custom of “Pashtunwali”
which grants sanctuary and protection to a person seeking refuge. So, if you’re Marcus Luttrell or someone who
just saw Lone Survivor, that Pashtun protection seems like a great thing right?
Not if you’re an American serviceman who is hunting
combatants and is virtually unable to distinguish the Taliban member who is
going to put 3 AK rounds into your face from the common villager who is herding
his goats, doesn’t really care much about Islam so much as his tribal beliefs,
but has been instructed by his village elders to apply the same “Pashtunwali”
to the Taliban members who are inside his village, are hiding along the paths
his goats are walking on and who are getting in position to ambush American
troops. Hence, a new proverb needs to be
applied to the war in Afghanistan: “You lay with dogs, you get fleas.”
Who knows who the Taliban are comprised of? Raise your hands if you do, and if you don't, read the book "The Kite Runner." Marcus Luttrell gets it very wrong in his book when he says that the Taliban needs the Pashtuns because in reality, the Taliban ARE Pashtun. During the Soviet war, when the Northern Alliance (aided by the Mujaheddin like Bin Laden) were fighting the Soviets, a lot of the Pashtuns were crossing into Pakistan and attending Madrassas funded by the US and Saudi Arabia that taught nothing but extreme Islamic Fundamentalism. That is NOT to say that every Pashtun who left came back as a fundamentalist, but it is to say that once the Soviet Union was driven out of Afghanistan, the warlords feuding for territory for the rights to produce and sell opium and would gladly bomb a school if it meant that they might hit an enemy created a need for a force to bring calm to the country. That force was the Taliban and by the time the dust had settled and the Taliban had driven the Northern Alliance out of power, they implemented stone age fundamentalist ideology onto the people of Afghanistan. And to few people's surprise, very few Afghans wanted their country to be like that.
*I could be wrong. I'm still confused by how the Taliban was formed, who did what and why the tribal regions suddenly became involved. I think I'm right but it doesn't matter to the subject which is the military ROE that's causing this war to be drawn out and American lives to be lost.*
Luttrell also notes that the Taliban had surrounded the
village where he was being afforded help by the Pashtun tribe under
Pashtunwali. That they actually came and
beat him for several hours, defying the word of the village elder who was the
one who kicked them out. The Taliban
threatened the village, but could not afford to attack it lest they lose the
support of the Pashtun tribesmen. The
key words there are “The Support of the Pashtun Tribesmen.” If you support the enemy, you are the enemy. Harboring the enemy has to have consequences, especially if it is what
Here’s an uncommonly known fact, Mullah Omar (leader of the
Taliban) did NOT LIKE OR WANT Bin Laden or his organization in his
country. Bin Laden had a lot of sway with
the Northern Alliance since those were largely the guys who were the Mujahedeen
from the prior war with Russia, the same guys who went to war with each other
for control once the Soviets had left the country. If not for granting Bin Laden “Pashtunwali” Mullah
Omar could have easily avoided the destruction of his organization and the loss
of control of “his” country by handing him over. The custom would not allow him to do that.
When soldiers are engaged in combat, it’s not only unfair,
but it’s ridiculous to tell them to put down their guns until they’re shot
at. As stated by Luttrell, the Taliban thinks
that it’s hilarious that they can take pictures and run to Al Jazeera and have
our bravest warriors pulled out of battle and tried for murder by the same
people who sent them into the mountains to win a war. We allow our enemy to use every available
opportunity to get our politicians to look down in shame when the French
denounce the United States as a barbaric country that is using savage tactics
in Afghanistan. What good is it to be a
superpower when any semi-educated enemy combatant realizes that we have the big
guns but can’t use them? In times of
war, which this certainly is, we NEED TO USE SAVAGE TACTICS especially in the
face of savage tactics in order to end the war.
In my humble opinion, we don’t want to be at war and we owe
our servicemen more than the chance to be shot or arrested. We need to be able to use our superior
weapons, to use our superior training, to use our Seals and Rangers and Green
Berets, the Marines, the Navy, the Air Force to bang out missions that will
disrupt, destroy and ultimately defeat whomever it is that we’re fighting over
there. We’ve played cozy with the Saudis
for too long and not only do we Americans have a right to be angry with our
government for bending to the wills of the Royal family, but the guys we’re
fighting have a right to be angry too.
So, when it comes to the Rules of Engagement, it really
comes down to third grade logic, which is not what you want to be using when
determining strategy for a war.
If many Pashtun people are Taliban, and all Taliban are enemies of
our troops, are all Pashtun people enemies of our troops?
The third grade answer is no. But the answer in military strategy is, unfortunately, yes they are.
It
seems to me that this is how we’ve determined our ROE, which I consider to be phenomenally stupid. For example, when the 4 Navy Seals
allowed the goat herders to go which ultimately led to the death of 3 of them,
plus another 19 in the helicopter meant to provide help. Luttrell recalls that every book on military
strategy would state that they had to kill the goat herders to avoid detection
by the Taliban. Why? Because most of the people in that area were aligned
with the Taliban. Just because they weren’t
armed didn’t mean the direct threat to the Seals was not present.
The unfortunate fact is that enemy villages have kids, enemy
villages have women, there are always going to be non-combatants living among
the enemy ESPECIALLY when the enemy doesn’t distinguish itself from the non-combatants, don’t have military bases and aren’t purposely separated from non-combatants. The “hide in plain sight” technique is a
technique that should not be rewarded, it is a technique that should carry repercussions so extreme that non combatants will not allow the enemy to use them for shelter. Our Rules
of Engagement should be to be particularly vicious when bombing the crap out of
villages that the Taliban are hiding in.
That way, perhaps the next village won’t be so receptive towards hiding
the enemy in plain sight.
Our military is so superior to theirs that this war should
have been over and done with in a matter of days. The only thing holding us back from victory, the
inevitable saving of many, many more lives (both US and Afghani) and the
prevention of more attacks on our soil by faceless groups and terrorist
entities that are emboldened at the American weakness which is on display daily
are the people that pull the strings in the worlds lone superpower who pay too
much damn attention to what others think about how we conduct a war.
A real Patriot wouldn’t choose enemy lives over American
lives. Yet our elected officials do that
every day. Leave the war to the war
machine that such a large percentage of my taxes go to and screw the
international media. The countries and people
that will hate us will hate us anyway.
But let’s see them think twice about going to war with us.
My office was on 50 Pine Street (2 blocks from the WTC, within spitting distance of the stock exchange and the Federal Reserve building. I remember everything about 9/11, I remember the hangover from watching the Giants on MNFk, I still smell the smells of 9/11 and dream about the people
I took the subway to work with every day having the last choice of their life being the choice to burn or jump
to their death. We're talking about nightmares (and I'm far, far, FAR from being alone) that nearly 15 years after the event are shared by nearly everyone in proximity to the WTC. I doubt
it’ll ever change. What should change is
the idea that we might leave a stone unturned in going after anyone involved. What should change is the idea that for some reason we feel the need to explain ourselves to anyone during the war effort against these cowards. What should change is our overwhelming inferiority complex in the face of countries like France. What should change is our near-apologetic global stance on our alliance with Israel.
Our country needs to believe in itself again, that we're truly the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's hard to do that when our leaders are owned by multinational corporations who are afraid of offending anyone and who look away when another country offends us. I've heard the words "ugly American" one too many times. I like the way we look and for the sake of our future as a country, for the sake of our collective self esteem, we should not be the fat kid in the playground who gets embarrassed when the other kids make fun of us. We should be defending our troops and when Al-Jazeera puts up a story about how an American unit bombed "an innocent farmer" we should hold up a picture of Daniel Pearl and shrug.
Our country needs to believe in itself again, that we're truly the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's hard to do that when our leaders are owned by multinational corporations who are afraid of offending anyone and who look away when another country offends us. I've heard the words "ugly American" one too many times. I like the way we look and for the sake of our future as a country, for the sake of our collective self esteem, we should not be the fat kid in the playground who gets embarrassed when the other kids make fun of us. We should be defending our troops and when Al-Jazeera puts up a story about how an American unit bombed "an innocent farmer" we should hold up a picture of Daniel Pearl and shrug.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Introduction to my blog, hey, howya doing?
Hey, I'm Brian and I'm not going to use my last name just yet because my wife will probably kill me if I do. I'm the "share too much" type and she's the one who gets embarrassed when we're at a wedding and I'm speaking to 9 people at once. I'm a sociable fellow, a very opinionated person, and frankly, I'm a bit disorganized upstairs so I'm not exactly uninteresting. I (to my chagrin) placed out of my English classes in college 19 years ago, I missed out on the easy homework as well as the chance to meet people with a poor grasp of grammar and spelling since they tend to be the most fun in bars and parties.
I'm pretty shocked about the conditions in this country, a lot has changed since I was 20 and enjoyed my first serious success in New York. I'm talking about a LOT. Such as Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner A few months ago we had a man who not only won Olympic Gold, but spent about the last 8 years on reality television with his kids. There's Brody Jenner (who I believe was a good guy/bad guy on Laguna Beach, one of the first scripted shows to start the reality ridiculousness) and there's Kendall (who is now a fashion model) and there's Kylie (who I am not sure exactly what she does and feel that this should be the norm with people who lack extraordinary talent.) Their father, birth name; Bruce, is now Caitlyn Jenner. Caitlyn has recently been labeled a "hero" for posing in lingerie after deciding at age 65 that he doesn't just have a feminine side but that he's actually a lesbian in a man's body and took steps to correct that over a few months, showing that if you have enough money, you can customize your body like a classic car and turn a badly-botched-by-plastic-surgery/Botox. male face into an acceptable female face with a matching body, and, presumably a working V made from the same P that produced 3 good looking children.
Yesterday Ron Huckabee (R) made a joke, stating that he wished at times that he was transgender too, specifically when he was in high school gym class during shower time. The uproar has been deafening. How could someone be so insensitive towards an American Hero like Caitlyn Jenner whose transformation into a 65 year old woman was more impressive than Bruce Jenner's Gold medal? The remark will probably cost him his presidential campaign.
20 years ago, it would probably cost a magazine their business if they put a transvestite on the cover (unless it was a fetish magazine in the seedy section of your local shop) and Bruce Jenner would go from former Olympic Gold winner into social pariah. Most people would never have known about Ron Huckabee's joke, but would have heard at least a trillion like it. I myself admit that I do not understand the plight of the transsexual person, it just doesn't make sense to me to have a lesbian's brain in a man's body. What I CAN understand is that being married to Kris Jenner for so long might confuse anyone about sexuality, their own masculinity, and why they've suddenly become entirely submissive after leading a life filled with confidence.
I don't feel proud of Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner nor do I feel any dislike for him/her. I don't feel comfortable calling him or her a he or a she, I don't understand how a father becomes a woman. I'm sorry America I don't think or want your explanation to help me, I just wish that we could leave this stuff where it belongs, in the bedroom. I think that people should be able to marry each other if they love each other. I do not think it's natural that a man who has been in the limelight for 8 years should suddenly be wearing lingerie on the cover of every magazine and newspaper and that it should be forced onto people because it just doesn't sit well with me for whatever reason. I accept you Caitlyn, I just wish you'd accept that I'm uncomfortable with the subject.
I'm about to be a first time father and I plan on sharing just about everything with a hopefully growing audience. My chief worries about being a father are having to explain things that I don't have an explanation for, how to avoid letting my son be exposed to the new dangers of the world that I was never exposed to, how to not let learned behavior influence my parenting, how to communicate with my wife when we disagree on how to parent and how to put my foot down on issues that are non-negotiable that we've previously agreed on and that she changes her mind about.
Finally, I suffer from ADHD and Bi-Polar disorder and I plan on sharing a lot about that particular issue. I'm not ashamed of it, I just hope my baby isn't bipolar because it isn't something I wish on anyone. If that keyword in particular gets me a bunch of hits, I've hit some pretty high peaks and some of the deepest lows you can imagine. If you're thinking about suicide, I'm a guy you want to message because I understand (a lot of people say it, I actually really understand it) and would like to share some of my experiences with you so that you don't pull the trigger, take the pills, make the first cut, or do anything else that might keep you from realizing tomorrow that it's the chemicals in your brain that make you think there's no tomorrow. There is a tomorrow and things do get better, even if today you can't see it.
Nice to meet you and I hope you enjoy my blog.
-BG
I'm pretty shocked about the conditions in this country, a lot has changed since I was 20 and enjoyed my first serious success in New York. I'm talking about a LOT. Such as Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner A few months ago we had a man who not only won Olympic Gold, but spent about the last 8 years on reality television with his kids. There's Brody Jenner (who I believe was a good guy/bad guy on Laguna Beach, one of the first scripted shows to start the reality ridiculousness) and there's Kendall (who is now a fashion model) and there's Kylie (who I am not sure exactly what she does and feel that this should be the norm with people who lack extraordinary talent.) Their father, birth name; Bruce, is now Caitlyn Jenner. Caitlyn has recently been labeled a "hero" for posing in lingerie after deciding at age 65 that he doesn't just have a feminine side but that he's actually a lesbian in a man's body and took steps to correct that over a few months, showing that if you have enough money, you can customize your body like a classic car and turn a badly-botched-by-plastic-surgery/Botox. male face into an acceptable female face with a matching body, and, presumably a working V made from the same P that produced 3 good looking children.
Yesterday Ron Huckabee (R) made a joke, stating that he wished at times that he was transgender too, specifically when he was in high school gym class during shower time. The uproar has been deafening. How could someone be so insensitive towards an American Hero like Caitlyn Jenner whose transformation into a 65 year old woman was more impressive than Bruce Jenner's Gold medal? The remark will probably cost him his presidential campaign.
20 years ago, it would probably cost a magazine their business if they put a transvestite on the cover (unless it was a fetish magazine in the seedy section of your local shop) and Bruce Jenner would go from former Olympic Gold winner into social pariah. Most people would never have known about Ron Huckabee's joke, but would have heard at least a trillion like it. I myself admit that I do not understand the plight of the transsexual person, it just doesn't make sense to me to have a lesbian's brain in a man's body. What I CAN understand is that being married to Kris Jenner for so long might confuse anyone about sexuality, their own masculinity, and why they've suddenly become entirely submissive after leading a life filled with confidence.
I don't feel proud of Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner nor do I feel any dislike for him/her. I don't feel comfortable calling him or her a he or a she, I don't understand how a father becomes a woman. I'm sorry America I don't think or want your explanation to help me, I just wish that we could leave this stuff where it belongs, in the bedroom. I think that people should be able to marry each other if they love each other. I do not think it's natural that a man who has been in the limelight for 8 years should suddenly be wearing lingerie on the cover of every magazine and newspaper and that it should be forced onto people because it just doesn't sit well with me for whatever reason. I accept you Caitlyn, I just wish you'd accept that I'm uncomfortable with the subject.
I'm about to be a first time father and I plan on sharing just about everything with a hopefully growing audience. My chief worries about being a father are having to explain things that I don't have an explanation for, how to avoid letting my son be exposed to the new dangers of the world that I was never exposed to, how to not let learned behavior influence my parenting, how to communicate with my wife when we disagree on how to parent and how to put my foot down on issues that are non-negotiable that we've previously agreed on and that she changes her mind about.
Finally, I suffer from ADHD and Bi-Polar disorder and I plan on sharing a lot about that particular issue. I'm not ashamed of it, I just hope my baby isn't bipolar because it isn't something I wish on anyone. If that keyword in particular gets me a bunch of hits, I've hit some pretty high peaks and some of the deepest lows you can imagine. If you're thinking about suicide, I'm a guy you want to message because I understand (a lot of people say it, I actually really understand it) and would like to share some of my experiences with you so that you don't pull the trigger, take the pills, make the first cut, or do anything else that might keep you from realizing tomorrow that it's the chemicals in your brain that make you think there's no tomorrow. There is a tomorrow and things do get better, even if today you can't see it.
Nice to meet you and I hope you enjoy my blog.
-BG
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