Jim Rittenhouse's semidaily journal of news, commentary and reports
Screwups at Arlington National Cemetery have misplaced cremated ashes re-buried as ‘unknown soldier’ because they scooped out the urn when digging a hole at a gravesite. dumped the dirt in their landfill, and only later found out the dirt contained an urn with ashes….
There are now more contractors in Afghanistan than soldiers; just another part of the dumb practices that I’ve seen over and over again in the US government – all the way back to my mom’s job with the feds in meat and poultry procession oversight. When in doubt, contract it out, and claim that that’s [...]
Dame Vera Lynn, still around and reminiscing. Great stuff, especially for those who follow the period. She’s got a autobiography coming out… “It did remind me what things were like, though. I was living in a grass hut some of the time, with two buckets outside the door. On one occasion I had to sleep [...]
Governor Sanford of South Carolina’s spokesman is resigning for a job in the private sector. Comments from folks who know him say that he’s a nice guy who probably is very tired from this ride on the circus. Unlike at the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, Arlington trashes the stuff left behind. As I’ve said before, I’m [...]
US Air Force missile launch site converted over into a state park site in North Dakota; wanna go visit the silo and play twist-the-key? (Multimedia tour online) The missile site, about three miles north of Cooperstown and about 70 miles northwest of Fargo, is one of a handful of U.S. locations that commemorate the Cold [...]
My usual noble call in the case of ‘too many of the Same Thing in the alternate history genre’ is usually responded to with ‘yeah, well, this stuff you sneer at sells, so there.’ And you can’t argue sales. People do the same old same old because they’re trained to and it’s familiar to them. [...]
Betting ring on an Australian Navy ship alleged where one could win points/money on having sex with female sailors, with bonuses for daring locations and less attainable women (including gay women). Some people do not learn. Disgusting.
No, I’m talking about Robert McNamara, one of my particular historical nemeses, considering the number of important things that he messed up, destroyed or ruined. Not to mention the uncountable dead.
The governments of Mali and Algeria are teaming up to smush a local Al Qaeda spinoff in the western Sahara. Of course, Algeria has been sponsoring Polisario in the Western Sahara for decades, but *that’s* the terrorists that they like. The endless ethnic nationalist guerilla war against the central Burmese government goes on, as noted [...]
Found here. Enjoy!
Iraqi PM to Obama: If you release those unreleased photos from Abu Ghraib, my electorate will go up in blue flame and demand that the US get out yesterday.
The 101st Airborne’s commanding General essentially is either ordering or trying to talk his officers and men out of committing suicide. The special edition of Hugo Chavez‘ Venezuelan weekly variety show of the maximum leader is having a special. A four day long special on TV. I intend to contribute by boycotting Citgo gas stations.
Old WW2 era military airfield in the Arizona desert, which has been open on and off since then, now as a Arizona National Guard Heliport.
Well, they had them, and not all of them were found and properly disposed of, apparently….