Obama: U.S. will not send ground troops to Libya
I’m not opposed to protecting the interests of the seriously vested but what is the definition of “ground” because I’m pretty sure I know what the word “troops” means.
Take a wait-n-see approach ’cause my weight and sea attack approach is…
Wait and see. 😉
It’s one world.
All is all.
What is that LHC doing?
This time of year, at least in this part of the country, nasal/chest congestion complaints fill the air.
So, with that in mind, I’m moving my imaginary international troops into Libya and declaring a global free-trade zone; also, sending UN troops to Bahrain to protect against invading Saudi forces.
Oh wait. I’m sorry, skip that last part. I forgot I eliminated political borders in this realm. Everything goes, doesn’t it?
Let’s fight Saudi forces with U.S. forces and pit American fighting weaponry against itself. I’m sure the Iranian leaders would love to see that! I’d love to see it spill over into Iranian airspace, a simple excuse for taking care of paramilitary cyberwarriors hiding behind computer screens.
Are we a behind-the-times species acting like it’s still a few packs of primates running from large predators?
My network demonstrated its power in Chile, China, New Zealand, and Japan. Time to stir up the sands of the Middle East and show how fleeting oil power really is, isn’t it? One scientist suggested twisting the magnetic poles out of shape a little faster, breaking apart the mantle and sucking raw oil reserves down into the core.
Is there not another planet to play with? Is Carlos Slim the best the world has to offer?
This, there, another.
Word trails trailing off into infinity…
Infernal internal combustion engines.
The shadow of a car making an outline of the Penn State Litany Nylon logo.
A mother in-law needing emotional support more than a cat needs dental work.
Ants roaming the house while the yard gets soaked with rain.
Giving over to randomness to prove that randomness is the variation in predictable patterns.
Watching family members insist the mother/grandmother must give up her way of life for their love and support (and their convenience, coincidentally), not the other way around.
Hearing so many others in nursing homes tell the same story – “my [family relation] felt it was in my best interest to move closer to him/her.”
I want to die where I was most comfortable, not where it was convenient for those taking care of me who’ll end up inevitably extending my life in strange surroundings which I’ll never enjoy as much as I enjoyed my comfort zone. Do us both a favour – put me in a wheelchair and push me into the woods behind my house on a cold winter’s night, with a beer in one hand and a tall glass of whiskey in the other.
Bumper sticker on Honda CR-V near Alabama A&M campus – “My karma ran over your dogma.”
I can’t imagine having to worry about a slow decline or sudden weakness in my old age and afraid to tell my family relations I don’t feel well, knowing they’re just waiting for an excuse to move me to their comfort zone, thinking little of what “home” means to me, not them.
I gave in to temptation today. Yes, my flesh is weak. I bought my wife and me six, count them, SIX cupcakes decorated in green and white for St. Patrick’s Day, courtesy of Publix and David (customer service team leader) and Nathan, bagger supreme.
During a walk up and down the street, I played chase with a neighbour’s little boxer puppy and had fun like a kid again.
Do you manage the IT department of your company? If so, do you read or have an employee read/scan the emails of employees/executives for company security purposes? Do you archive IM sessions and SMS text messages sent from company smartphones? Do you monitor IP traffic passing through the airwaves of company property? Do you use GPS trackers in company cars and company credit cards? Are you part of a larger network paid to keep tabs on specific individuals for a purpose that may or may not coincide with company policy? Do you secretly pay car rental companies to provide tracking data and private investigators, when off-the-books recordkeeping is absolutely necessary?
Thank goodness, no one wants to keep me alive for his/her sake, except my wife, of course, most days, anyway. 😉
Otherwise, as my sister says, it’ll just be a matter of managing my monetary resources to stretch them as much as possible to provide me the comfort and care that is as humane as I would choose to treat my aging pets.
Vanna, I’m glad you still have that smile.
Claire, sorry to hear about your transportation vehicle.
Holding seven billion people and the supporting global ecosystem in my hand, I ask myself what tearing down and rebuilding the system to my specifications (with guidance by the Committee, as always) will bring to future generations unaware of invisible hands directing their ancestors’ actions.
Thank goodness, I’m not the only one.
It’s all about the paradigm of the network in today’s pallid parlour parleying parlance.
If you can’t harness the Sun, then grab le règne by the horns.
My worst torture – being the eldest male at a funeral and filling up my thoughts with more and more new comedy sketches about the dead but mentally shutting down and going into automaton mode while having to play the part of the serious wise elder, not the wise guy.
Celebrate living by having fun – there’s plenty of time to be dead serious.
Most of us grew up some place we call local and probably “home.” Don’t feel sorry for everyone else – just treat them like good family members, with a little love and gentle humour to help lighten the burden of daily living.
Besides, Earth is home to all of us, no matter how we treat it or each other.
Hard to believe the Bristol race track is as old as I am. My father says he took me not long after I was born so the speedway is just about my oldest memory other than my parents’ loving faces. Let’s go racing, shall we?
Glad the Kingsport track is running.
Time to put Claire Lynch back on my Internet tunes and swing to her sweet bluegrass voice.
2011 is not the worst year in my life (or my species) but it sure is a big one. Good thing I know all about the big picture and the circles, cycles and spirals that make everything new all over again.
Thanks to at&t for getting ADSL syncing up again, whatever they did (and to Steve at at&t high-speed Internet customer care this morning for processing the Internet outage credit of $3.80 for this month).
From my father:
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/ODE/KingsportTimesNews/, 13Mar2011, p. 1C.
Brother outlines attorney’s part prosecuting infamous Vietnam rape/murder case
‘I grew up that you do the honorable thing. And I think he did the honorable thing.’
— Ralph Yelton.
By REX BARBER
NET News Service
James Yelton was taught to always do the honorable thing.
He carried that sentiment with him to Vietnam, where he was sent by the Army’s Judge Advocate General Corps in the 1960s. One of the cases he prosecuted as a JAG lawyer there was the basis for a Hollywood movie about the rape and murder of a young Vietnamese woman by U.S. soldiers. That movie, “Casualties of War” starring Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn, was released in 1989. Hollywood producers came to Yelton’s home to consult with him on the facts of the case.
Yelton died in his sleep at his Kingsport home in late February. He was 76. James’ brother, 85-year-old Ralph Yelton, a World War II and Korean War veteran who became paralyzed by machine gun fire fighting in Korea and who also went on to serve 14 years in the Tennessee General Assembly, recalled his brother during an interview this past week.
“James was a very interesting person,” Ralph said as he showed various photographs of his brother. “He had a very high IQ. He was smart. He could talk about anything. He had a grasp, you know, of knowledge in a lot of areas of discussion.”
James graduated from Tipton Hill High School in Bakersville, N.C. He went on to get a doctorate of jurisprudence from Wake Forest U n i v e r s i t y.
With his degree in hand, he began practicing law in Burnsville, N.C., for about a year before opening his own practice in Bakersville. Soon James decided to join the Army because positions were open in the Judge Advocate General Corps.
His first assignment as a JAG officer was at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. This facility, which is still operational, was opened in World War II to produce munitions.
“He was in charge of all the procurement contracts,” Ralph said of James’ responsibilities at Redstone. “The contracts for all of the material they needed to build those missiles there at Redstone Arsenal.”
James was eventually stationed around the globe, winding up in Vietnam in 1966, where he met a soldier who told him about the infamous kidnapping, rape and murder. Ralph said that soldier’s conscience was weighing heavily on him about the incident. That meeting was depicted in the movie, as Fox’s drunken character confides in a chaplain about the Vietnamese woman’s torture and death.
“They show it in the bar, in the movie, where my brother was talking to (the soldier with a guilty conscience). He could tell that he was really distraught, and James got to talking with him, and he told him what happened,” Ralph said. “He told him every bit of it, exactly what happened.”
Just like in the movie when Fox’s character had trouble getting superiors to act on the rape and murder, so did James, Ralph said.
“Well, James went, you know, to the company commander at first. Company commander said, ‘Shut it up. We don’t need that.’ He went to the battalion commander. … Battalion commander didn’t want it,” Ralph said. “But James went ahead with the case. He said that shouldn’t be. That was a crime that shouldn’t be allowed in the military.”
Four soldiers involved in the crime were sentenced to spend varying lengths of time in prison.
Ralph did not know if his brother ever watched the movie. He knows James did the right thing, though.
“I grew up that you do the honorable thing,” Ralph said. “And I think he did the honorable thing. That’s what we were taught all of our life. And I’m sure he did what he felt was the right thing to do, because in a war or anywhere else that kind of behavior don’t need to be tolerated. It don’t need to be let go on.”
Photo by Ron Campbell [removed from this blog entry]:
Former Tennessee state Rep. Ralph Yelton* holds a photograph of his brother James Yelton receiving the Legion of Merit award from Lt. Gen. Charles Hall.
* long-time member of Kingsport area Optimist Clubs.
treetrunkdings 