Dispatches from Iraq.......

My close amigo, compatriot and business partner Joe Galloway has been sent to the Middle East by his employers, Knight-Ridder Newspapers, to see what up close and personal stories he can dig up. His first stop is Qatar to interview General Abizaid, the Commander in Chief of CENTCOM, then on to Baghdad. As much as I am able, I'll try and update you on his travels. His first dispatch today:

"just got to lovely qatar and hit hotel after 24 hours of travel. whew. my email works but is clunky as hell. More later"
joe

Giving Thanks......

We hope that you will give thanks for all the blessings in your life today. Thanksgiving Day is really about gratitude. Gratitude for all the things that you have and hold dear. If you are truly grateful, you cannot be sad, angry, resentful, jealous, miserable or otherwise feeling sorry for yourself. God Bless you all......!

And click the icon below to listen to a short message from me........called in from my cellphone and automatically updated to my server. I just love new technology!

audio post powered by Gold Dog Technology and AudBlog

Iraq is no Vietnam.......but

"Iraq is no Vietnam, but there are eerie parallels", so starts the column mentioned below. No one knows the differences....and similarities between the two as well as my good friend, author Joe Galloway. Joe spent the better part of five years covering the Vietnam War for United Press International......from start to finish. And not from the comfort of the International Hotel in Saigon. Today Joe is known as one of the deans of Vietnam War correspondents because of his on the ground, down and dirty, grunt's eye coverage of that war. In 1965, he participated in and survived the largest and one of the most important battles of that war, as recorded in his book We Were Soldiers Once, and Young, later made into the film We Were Soldiers

In 1991 he rode with Gen. Barry McCaffery through Iraq and covered Desert Storm first hand. Very few others did. And now Joe is covering the present Iraqi situation as the head military correspondent and a sydicated columnist for Knight-Ridder Newspapers. As he said to me a year ago, he would be on the ground in Iraq now, if his wife had not said, "if you go to another war and the enemy doesn't shoot you.......I will". Knowing her, she would too. She's a crack shot.

Joe is an ardent supporter of the military, gives his time freely to their causes and holds a Bronze Star for Valor earned in Vietnam. The only such award given to a civilian during the war. So, when Joe speaks words of warning about a military situation, it pays to listen. Read Joe's Column

Iraqi Insight......

Some constructive, rational, and realistic thoughts from Mr. Talabani, the head of the Iraqi National Congress are here in an Opinion Journal Essay

Spread the word.....

Something you will probably not see much of in the mainstream media......Iraqis, yes Iraqis, are organizing an Anti Terrorist Demonstration. Visit the link for more information from Zeyad, an Iraqi who reports the news in Iraq as he sees it.

Thanks to Gordon at The NZ Pundit for spreading the word.

SpyBot to the rescue....!

In a followup to my Adware/Spyware rant of the past week, I stepped up to the plate and downloaded an Adware removal program......SpyBot. After running it on two seperate machines, I'm here to sing it's praises. And, it's FREE.

Adware is so innocuous because it's installed deep with the bowels of your machine....and consequently is hard to identify and manually remove. SpyBot is designed to find all the HKEY codes and little .EXE programs that run the Scumware which allow intrusive popups, unwanted Internet connections and that slow your machine down.

At about 6 Mb, it is a fairly manageable download, even for dialup connections, and installs rapidly and easily. I would recommend running thru the quick tutorial, especially if you are not a Geek. But if you can read above a 5th grade level it is fairly self explanatory. When run, SpyBot searches your entire machine for the offending programs and codes, and then allows you to delete them all, or to manually select the ones that will be deep sixed. It even sorts thru your "cookies" and points out the ones that may do such evil things as data mining.

If you don't know if you have Adware/Spyware on your machine, I can almost guarantee you that you do. Spend the little bit of time using SpyBot and you'll be surprised. Deleting all these Scumsuckers will give you immense pleasure.

Good Bye Old Friend.....

Old soldiers beds never die.....they just fade away. Today I said goodbye to a steadfast friend, my old queen size bed. I won't go into the entire chronology of the bed, but it has been with me for 31 years, and for 28 of those years it was my primary place of respite. For the last 3 years it has been residing in my guest room, which will now become Jack's room. So...the Cody Memorial Bed had to go.

The bed has a long and storied history. I purchased it while in the Army in 1972 from a friend, Lt. Dick Cody. Dick is now Gen. Cody, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army. It has moved with me, and been placed in 14 seperate residences over the years, including a house in Mililani Hawaii, a highrise condo overlooking Waikiki, and apartments, duplexes, and homes in Dallas. Ditto this in Midland Texas. Several years ago, as a guest bed, it received another historic sleeper....my friend and author Joe Galloway. In an ironic slumberland twist, Joe knows Gen. Cody very well, having met him during the first war in Iraq.

When the decision was made to purge Jack's room of the bed, I notified Gen. Cody that he had first right of refusal on taking the bed back. In what must have been a gut wrenching decision for him.....he declined. I then offered the bed, as a piece of history, to Joe Galloway. Joe apparently didn't appreciate the historical significance of the bed as he replied back, "get rid of that suma' bitch, it was worse than a Days Inn mattress slept on by 10,000 traveling salesmen". So, all avenues exhausted, I offered the bed to a charitable organization, The Servants of the Poor. This morning they took delivery of the historic object. I only hope that they can find a good home for it. Perhaps a destitute derelict on par with the first two owners.

This and that, Part II....

*Two more helicopters down in Iraq today with lose of life. The news hits all to close, reminding me of earlier times in another conflict in the late 1960's and early '70's. One soldier dying in a foreign country is one to many, but that is why we have soldiers and armies. To protect our freedom and help others gain theirs.

CNN, in their online news report, makes the comment......"The deaths brought the number of American soldiers killed in the Iraq war to 417. Of those, 278 have died since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May 1." It's that second sentence that gets me. To my way of thinking, inferring that somehow President Bush mislead the public into thinking there would be no more casualties.

CNN thinks that you, me and the American public are morons who will rise up in protest over George's "lie". We are not and we will not. Most people with half a brain know what he meant, that the large scale unit actions were over......that in fact we won the war. Which we did, routing a very large army and sending it's dicatator despot leader into hiding. The lives we are losing now are in the enforcement of the peace. Not that a death in enforcement is any less painful than one in war, it's not. But there is a big difference. In Vietnam, we never had the chance to enforce a peace, we could not conclude the war.

417 deaths in Iraq. That's to many, especially to the families and friends whose lives this will alter forever. But many of us who remember our history, and perhaps lived a little of it, can compare this to other military actions. In WW I, the US military lost over 70,000 dead in under two years. I dare say that 417 soldiers were killed at D-Day in Normandy in the first 30 minutes of action. My friends and comrades in the 1st Cavalry who fought in the Ia Drang in 1965 lost 305 of their buddies in just under 5 days. I hope we can keep this in perspective.

*I have embarked on my first phase of the redecorating of the estate.....La Hacienda del Oro Perro. The guest room is becoming Jack's room, and at his request he wants an Army motif.......good boy! So the walls will soon be some version of brown close to Desert Sand, which will coordinate with the desert camo pillow covers that his Mom will make.

I am compulsive about doing things "right". The words still ring in my ears from childhood, "if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right", but this time I'm fudging a little. Currently the walls are papered, and the "right" thing to do would be strip the paper, retexture the walls and then paint. But....to save time for my other projects, which do involve wallpaper stripping, I have chosen to paint over the paper. I am doing that "right" though, by floating the seams in the wallpaper to hide them and priming the walls before painting. I am also compulsive about projects, once started, being completed quickly.......so I have to go back to work now.

This and that.....

*Movie stars from the 30's are now almost gone. Now, in very sad news Blondie, Penny Singleton, has also passed away at the age of 95. If you read the CNN headline on the link herein, you'd think that her biggest accomplishment was as the voice of Mother Jetson on the 60's TV show "The Jetsons". I suppose that CNN had to pander to the younger crowd that remembers the Jetsons to get a bigger market kick out of their story. That's balderdash. The Blondie movies were tremendously successful in the 1930's and 40's. I still get a kick out of watching them both for the corny situations that Dagwood put the Bumsteads in, but equally important, for the historical peek that movies of this time give us into ordinary life during that time period. Personally, and on a more prurient note, I always thought that Blondie was kind of a babe. I have to note that I'm soon to be married to my own Blondie....and I think she's a real babe too!

*As soon as I make my second 50 million dollars, I'm going to hire a full time staff of attorneys, net gurus and sleuths to go after all the slimeballs that backdoor adware/spyware onto peoples personal computers. For neopytes, these are the little programs that cause pop-up ads to appear on your screen and also secretly transmit your surfing habits back to the sender. Your permission to add these to your computer is not asked. Who puts these there? Morons.

My partner Del noticed a problem with his laptop this week. Actually more than a problem, the havoc caused resulted in his machine being rendered useless with the internet connection application popping up every 30 seconds and occasionally an undending stream of miniature pop up windows appearing. Luckily while I was trying to determine the source of the problem, a perfectly timed error box appeared....!!Bargainz.exe fault error!!. Aha....the source of the problem. Googling up Bargainz, I quickly learned that this is in fact adware. Which in Del's case had run amok.

That's why these criminals are morons. Who in their right mind buys anything marketed on unwanted pop-ups? The only buying behavior generated is to quickly purchase a Colt .45 to blow these scum away. To make matters worse, their little adware program is obviously poorly written. I too found this culprit on my machine at home and the only thing it did was to slow my computer down and occasionally bring up the internet connect screen. No ads ever appeared.

Yes, with the second 50 million, I'm starting a "Suing Company". Money is no object....find these scum, initiate lawsuits, and even if we don't win a dime in recompense, just make their stinkin' lives miserable.

Veteran's Day....

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the guns along the western front fell silent as the armistice went into effect thus ending WWI, one of the greatest slaughters in mankinds history. A whole generation of young men had been destroyed in most European countries. The Austrians and Germans had lost 2.5 million men killed and another 1.2 million missing. Missing usually meaning that the soldier had been pulverized beyond recognition, or that his body had simply vanished into the mud. The British lost over a million men dead or forever missing. The Australians lost 58,000. The Canadians, 56,000. The French, 1.7 million. New Zealand, over 16,000 dead. The United States, 70,000 dead or missing. The number wounded generally ran 3-4 times the number of the dead. Compare this to the, then, populations of these countries and the magnitude of the disaster becomes even more clear.

It was because of the shock of this calamity that the idea for a remembrance to honor veterans of that war, Armistice Day, was quickly conceived. The "war to end all wars", of course didn't, and so in the United States in 1954 this day of honor became known as Veteran's Day, to include all veterans who had served in the armed forces.

My Great Great Grandfather was an infantryman in the Union Army in America's Civil War. I have a faded photograph of him taken in the 1880's in front of his farmhouse. He is proudly wearing his Grand Army of the Republic badge denoting his status as a veteran. My Grandfather, my Dad's Dad, was a Marine Corps infantryman in World War I, and among other actions he fought in the battle at the Belleau Woods. We still have his most prized military possession, the Marine Corps "globe and anchor" insignia that he wore.

My Dad was an infantryman during World War II. He fought his way through Italy with the famed 45th "Thunderbird" Division. On his very first day of combat, his best friend was killed. He was in almost continuous combat on the road north through Italy until his feet were frozen in the Italian Alps, ending his combat career. He spent the remainder of the war in England attached to the 8th Air Force. He was gone for over three years. For 50 years the memories of his experience were to hard to talk about, and only in the last five years have I learned what he endured. We have the uniform that he wore when he was mustered out the Army, some medals, including his prized Combat Infantry Badge, and a few assorted items...including a defused hand grenade still in it's orginal carton that he brought back as a memento.

I too was an infantryman, an officer. As far as I know, the first officer in our family ranks of the citizen soldier. Through R.O.T.C., the Regular Army, active National Guard service and the Reserves, I have about 17 years of combined time. And though I endured some difficult, harrowing, and painful times in my army career, my service pales in comparison to all the hardships that my forebearers and many of my friends endured. I don't dwell on the details of my service, but rather chose to focus on the unique and lasting friendships I have made among my military brothers.

Veteran's Day is sometimes a hard thing for Veteran's to handle. While the general population is, in the main, appreciative of the service of the nations veterans, many do not cast a passing thought about the sacrifices that have been made by young men and women in their service to the nation. Sacrifice not only in blood, but in time. Gone from home and family for years, missing family funerals, gone for Christmas, gone for childrens births. Most citizens can't even be troubled to put out a flag on this day. Veterans notice. Many citizens are glad for the "free" day off. Most Veterans are glad they have the chance to go to work.

Departed columnist Mike Ryoko, a veteran, wrote a humorous column in 1993 suggesting that only Veterans get a day off on Veterans Day. Not a bad idea, but I would suggest that to really honor veterans, that the 11th of November be set aside as a day of national service...a day off work for all in the country to perform volunteer work in a charitable program of their choice. This would be an appropriate and fitting way to honor the service of our veterans. Until this happens, most veterans will celebrate Veteran's Day the way we have for decades, among ourselves.

I have the privelage of knowing, and having spent some time with Gen. Hal Moore . One of the things that Gen. Moore is religous about doing whenever he meets a veteran is saying, "Thank you for your service". So to all veterans....."Thank you for your service"!

Note to the flagless: I have a certificate from the 25th Infantry Division noting that in three short years I ran over 1,000 miles in combat boots. This to keep physically fit and combat ready. My 50 something year old feet are now paying the price. I have flown many 1,000's of miles in Huey's, CH-47's, C-130's, C-141's. I have dropped an accumulated 13 miles straight down in 58 some-odd parachute drops from 1200 ft. [many at night]. There is no telling how many 100's of miles I have "humped" across swamps, deserts, mountains and plains carrying such things as an M-16 rifle, M-60 machine guns, 81 mm. mortars, baseplates and sights, not to mention a loaded rucksack. This all for the privelage of sleeping in a muddy hole covered by a plastic poncho. And my "mileage" is miniscule compared to some troopers I have the privelage of knowing.
Therefore, we would find it satisfying if you might find the time and energy to walk the 20 or 30 paces to your front porch and put out a flag as a token of thanks, that you didn't have to do the above. Thank you.

A Warning........!

If you don't have a Carbon Monoxide alarm system in your home.....make a point to get one this weekend. The results of chancing an encounter with the stuff can be deadly or, at the least, earn you a very miserable trip to the emergency room. We found this out today first hand.

I had seen the ads for Carbon Monoxide alarm systems accompanied by the warnings of it's undetectable menace. But, truthfully, I had filed these warnings away as something that happens to poor people in ramshackle homes with 50 year old patched up heating systems, or as the result of living in a cheap trailer home heated by open flame heaters. In other words, something that happens to someone else. No more.

This morning at 7 A.M. I received a call from Julie saying that she was violently ill, nauseous and with a terrible headache. On awakening her son Jack, he also complained of a bad headache. Being a smart cookie she added up these facts, along with the salient point that she had turned the heater on in her house last night for the first time this season, and came up with a quick assesment of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. She was correct.

Luckily her folks live within blocks. Unluckily they had left their phone off the hook all night. So...barely able to stand, she phoned a neighbor who drove to her parents house and summoned help. They immediately loaded Julie and Jack into the car for the quick trip to the hospital. All Julie could do was lie in a wretched condition while Jack rode with his head, like the family dog, out the window in the 35 degree air, a smart thing to do. By the time I arrived at the emergency room they had been probed, stuck and hooked up to IV's and oxygen masks. Not a pretty sight, but they were on their way to recovery, Jack more quickly, but Julie not far behind.

By policy, and a good one, the emergency room notified the fire department of the situation. The good fire fighters quickly arrived at Julie's home and their monitors pegged for CO as soon as they entered. We were very blessed that the outcome was not a more tragic one. Fortunately, Julie is an early riser and she fought her natural instinct to go back to bed when she started feeling ill. Many people might....and it would be a fatal mistake, the sleep that never ends.

Julie's house is a modern home which she purchased less than two years ago, at which time a complete inspection was made of the heating system. Apparently the heating vent discharge flue had been shaken loose over the last year causing the problem. This should be the lesson for us all.....it doesn't matter the age of your home or heating system. Things can happen. I have a security alarm system in my home with a hardwired fire detector with....I think....a carbon monoxide detector built in. I think? I bought another one today just in case. I hope you get yours!

Strange Skies.....

................that was the title of the email I received today from Blogmate Bernard "Slatts" Slattery in far south Australia. The Internet is an amazing thing. The email from Slatts, 10 kazillion miles away, referred me to an article I had not seen on an event that occured in my hometown. The strange event was the appearance of the Northern Lights over West Texas caused by largescale solar activity which generated excessive electromagnetic energy.

This is a rare occurence, but not a first time one. As the article referred to in the link explains, activity of this magnitude occurs in 10-12 year cycles and the last time I had seen the phenomenon of the Lights was about 11 years ago +/-. I remember it well because I believe that it occured in the same year that we had an earthquake of a magnitude grand enough to shake the bewillikers out of my bed and wake me up in the middle of the night. It was also not long after these two concurrent strange events that I gave up strong drink, something I had been meaning to do for quite awhile. Well OK, something other people had been meaning for me to do for quite awhile. But apparently the Northern Lights and Earthquake in conjunction did the trick for me.

As a footnote, this occurence of the Lights and the electromagnetism that caused them, almost had a dire economic effect. We were using a GPS system to locate the top of the old abandoned oil well mentioned in a previous post. Very shortly after we had located the well, our GPS system was knocked out by the burst of solar energy, as were our cellphones at the remote location 40 miles north of town. It could have cost us several days delay.