those pile-on barroom commandos can go fuck themselves and the terminal they rode in on.


warbaby, we've disagreed on things before, but man, you can turn a phrase, bro

And I love Murtha. Good for him for showing some balls.

Here's the screenshot

Shit, dude. I don't mind disagreeing. I particularly like your "Thunderdome for nerds" comment.

Let's get these bastards.

Murtha sorta makes up for that lying sack of poo Ollie North, eh?

Oh, yeah. Actually, North is a deliberate misrepresentation of veterans (and I say that as the son of a Vietnam Veteran*). Guys like McCain (the last republican I respect), Cleland, Ron Kovic, Kerry etc. are much closer to typical.

*at my dads 60th birthday party this weekend my sister and my aunt annie gave speeches. Annie told a story I had never heard before. Apparently, late one night a Western Union guy came to the door of their Woodside, Queens rowhouse when my dad was overseas. They all collectively held their breath as Grandpa signed and tipped the guy. Turned out it was a business thing for Grandpa's store. Still, it was moving to hear. And it's probably a story repeating itself today.

North is a buddy of Stephen Hatfill, whom the FBI suspects is behind the anthrax attacks.

Dosen't shock me at all. He just came across as so phony.

I'm probably one of the most pro-military people you'll find among the ranks of left-leaning Americans and I saw through him even as a teenager. He was designed to appeal to older people who can remember real soldiers from the Audie Murphy days and I feel for them because their genuine patriotism is being co-opted for bad ends. But Tommy Franks isn't George Patton and this isn't 1941.

I like working with military people. Everything that Neil Stephenson says about them in Cryptonomicon is exactly spot on. The good ones know that learning and teaching is critical to survival and victory. And they understand being focused on task, getting the job done and teamwork.

I particularly like non-coms. Non-coms are best.

Amend that. Line troops are best.

One of my best friends is a former Cobra platoon leader with the Light Horse Cavalry and served in Vietnam. I'd go anywhere with Tony. He's tops. He later worked as a fraud investigator for DECA. Absolutely fearless, smarter than hell and resolute like cast iron. Rides around western Georgia in a car with a bumper sticker that says "Fight Racism" and he's not kidding.

My dad was a Spec 4 ordnance in Qui Nhon city. he never got his CIB even though he was near the front, which he's glad for. he told me that he had initially been assigned as a radio operator, but they were full up when he arrived in country, so he was reassigned. Lucky break for him. Grandpa spent WWII in Fort Ord as a master sergeant.My main mentor in technology was a gunners mate on a frigate in the first Gulf War, and my boss back in my PC salesman days, had been a helicopter door gunner (the most dangerous job) in Nam. They all have a calmness when it comes to petty everyday shit that I appreciate. And regardles of my political feelings about various military misadventures I respect those who have gone through what would've had me crying out for my momma.

In my bar travels, I occsionaly meet some ex-military wildmen. Guy next to me at my corner bar told the barmaid not to give him any tequila. When she asked why he said "I remember 20 years ago ordering a shot, and next thing I remember I was shackled and hogtied in a Navy brig."

That's a guy i'd like to party with.

So, vets:

*salutes*

warbaby, please don't pollute MeFi with "my favorite article wuz h4ck3d!" It isn't "hacking" if anyone can edit.

That's in the same range as "kottke updated", frankly.

False or spurious claims get written into Wikipedia articles all the time by POV wankers. The proper term is "vandal", and the proper response is to revert the article. Which is what I just did, to the version as of Nov. 3. Please include any objections you have to its present state on the discussion page for the article.

Wikipedia vandalized on Smedley Butler.

Ahem, stilcho, this isn't Mefi. In case you hadn't noticed.

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I thought the timing was interesting. It suggests somebody else might be drawing the connection between Murtha and Butler. Heh.

I also knew as soon as I made a little noise about it, some dweeb would do the fix. Thanks. It's especially nice that it's you, stilcho.

I'd post this to the Blue

I was responding to this threat. ;-)

The changes are back, btw -- the guy's actively editing dozens of articles. There's added information in some cases, in others it's just heightened emotional POV, unfortunately.

Does this happen much on Wikipedia? Since I don't have an account there (mainly because of this sort of thing) all I see are the effects, not the causes.

Is there a pattern to this guy's activity; are the subjects related? I assume they form some sort of map of his interior landscape, so I'm interested what that might be.

I was clued into the Butler story about ten years ago. There were a bunch of researchers waiting for the archives to be opened in early 2000. And then it turned out there really wasn't much there. Except for confirmation that the plot was real and very inept.

There's a History Channel program on Butler and the plot made after the archives opened. The book by Archer, Jules, The Plot To Seize The White House, (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973) is good and contains a lot of biographical detail on Butler.

I'm not planning on posting to the blue for a while, if ever. My interests and those of the mob don't overlap much and I have taken a real dislike to the ankle-biter aspect of the Blue.

Mat has unintentionally created a lowest common denominator mobocracy. I suspect things may level out after a while, but the tone has gone kerflooey. To much culture of victimhood and unearned moral superiority.

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I was distributing these buttons two years ago. Finally, Murtha stepped forward.

Does this happen much on Wikipedia?

Thousands of times daily.