Grateful Dead

i can't understand how our country went to war with the best intentions and ended up getting it's ass kicked by it's own foot. have we lost the moral high ground here?

And more. The US and the British and the rest of the NATO coalition have a noble task in Afghanistan. They are trying to save that country from becoming another Iran, a Muslim theocracy totally under the control of Pakistan. Unfortunately, most of the US forces seem to be on a mission from God to kill as many Muslims as possible, whether they are actively engaged in the conflict or not. This is ridiculous. If that wasn't the case then these kinds of incidents would be widespread among the many different countries in forward operating bases. They are not. It is almost 100% exclusively coming from the US side. Recently in my local area a young US Marine came out of basic training and from his comments on Facebook it was clear he was ready to tear every Afghan a new one when he got over there. The return comments from veterans were very telling -- he was seen a "a freakin' greenie who was going to get his ass fragged". This whole conflict has slid over the edge into oblivion. I agree that the US is serving no purpose at all now and it is the time to get out. It is unfortunate in the extreme because it undercuts the ultimate sacrifice that more than 1000 US troops have made in the past ten years in Afhanistan. So much for keeping discipline in a cohesive fighting force. I am reminded of the scene in the movie Under Siege when the terrorist locked most of the crew of a US aircraft carrier in the ballast hold and started flooding the compartment. One of the terrorist looks at the closed circuit television of the crew there and says offhandedly "Discipline has totally gone out the window here". it certainly has.

The US is completely finished in Afghanistan. The troops are going loopy. A supposedly lone US troop in Kandahar got drunk and went over the wire at 3am in the morning. He walked to a local hamlet about a 1/4 mile from the base and, after checking the entire town, went into two different homes and slaughtered 16 people -- 9 of them woman and children. He then tried to set them on fire. That is the story being circulated by US officials. Early reports this morning on the BBC say something different. Villagers report two assaults with 16 people killed, same proportion of women and children. The attacks came in two separate villages near Kandahar. One was 1/4 mile away from the forward operating base and one was about a mile away. More than one military person was involved, though the US says there were no "operations" underway in the local area. Just what kind of operations have the US paramilitary operators been engaged in in the past? Well, if they were like this then they wouldn't be different from plain, old-fashioned terrorism to try and scare the locals into pacification. Unfortunately, for all concerned, this tactic never works for a period of time longer than a week and always backfires. This paints the US as totally black. Coming on the heals of the burning of the korans it also puts the military's tail totally between their legs. They might as well declare victory and get the hell out because this is not going to endear them to anybody, least of all those leaning leaning away from the Taliban. I have total sympathy and support to all those brave troops in the NATO coalition and their contractors and mercenaries working on the front line. War is a very, very tough situation. The natural release is getting drunk and beating on one another. I understand this. I also understand PTSD. What I don't understand is how somebody can go over the wire cocked out of their mind in a forward operating base without the consent of the guards and low-ranking non-coms and shoot up two villages and murder woman & children. This is unbelievable and inexcusable. You would think we would have learned something from the Melai (sp.?) Massacre in the the Vietnam conflict. Ohhh welll, those who don't learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. You would also think we would have gotten this ruling the empire thing down by now.

an attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible by the children involved; surely some of the most fabulously, heartbreakingly adaptable beings. please remember my homeland if you can in this month. thank you.

for the people of my homeland, Japan. please remember Japan this month. thank you. two healing offerings.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!

oh, my good Lord....what a piece of news to start the weekend with. he we one of my favourite Zappa bassists too; loved his playing. reminds me of a story Frank wrote in his book about that guy Wild Bill, who was a chemist that made a "family" of mannequins that people could "enjoy sexual relations with", including a boy and a girl. he sure attracted the strange ones, didn't he. let's hope the family heals as best they can.

This is really distressing. http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/22/3754559/former-frank-zappa-bass… But, of course, nothing like it must be for Estrada's victims ugh.

He's popped his head up a couple of times on Facebook, so he's still kicking. Sounds like very sporadic internet access. I'm missing the cookies and beer and flying monkeys myself...