Went to a baseball game last night at Dodger Stadium. Naturally I associated with an entirely different set of people than I "normally" do. Had field seats between first base and home plate ten rows back. Great view of the game and the really incredible play of infielders in baseball today. It's really hard to get a ground ball through. There is no way that baseball isn't twice as good as in the good old daze. On a night when 18,000 were at a Laker playoff game, the Dodgers had 48,000 and two concerts in large venues were sold out too.

The people around me at the game offered the general observation that they are maxed out with the coverage of the Iraq prisons. Didn't care that much about the "so-called abuse" and felt that "our guys" were being shit on.

Interesting. Let's see if the polls show it too.

"The worst thing about dying is that it starts out a normal day. Then it's all over." There is some really terrific stuff over at Love in War. Well worth the read.

In response to many emails commenting on my pieceabout the movie Troy and telling me about the "mistakes". These mistakes have to do with "leaving out things and changing things" about the original story.

These observations are totally invalid. "Talent" in the arts has everything do with the choices made by the artist(s). Picasso's "choices" were his talent, as were Mark Twain's, and every other artist you can think of. Many times the choices are intuitive. Sometimes they are thought out. In rare cases like Marlon Brando his choices are thrust upon him; the just come without effort; they just happen. Jazz improvisation is like that.

Wolfgang Peterson made choices. That's his talent, or lack of talent. If we go to a movie demanding to see the exact replica of our experiences, we will not like much.

Bad choices=bad art.

In 1996 in Ben-Talha, a suburb of the capital Algiers, Momo cut off a record 86 heads in one night, including the heads of more than a dozen children.

In recognition of his exemplary act of piety, the GIA sent him to Mecca for pilgrimage...

From CPT PATTY AKA The Sweetest Woman in the World Goes to Baghdad. A detailing of the beheading practice in the Muslim World.

Looking for an appropriate place to donate "something" to troops in Iraq or hospitals? Go here for lots of different things.

From Merde in France. Drop by and catch up.

For the French: 'Terrorists on leashes' = 'war crimes'
'American beheaded' = 'permanent improvement'

They love us over there.

Roger L Simon, who like most "professional" writers never uses ten words when five hundred words can say it just as well, has about 5,000 words speculating that the Administration and a mysterious Arab Netword are "sitting" on tapes of Saddam's henchmen horribly torturing prisoners as well as others showing the gassing and maiming Kurds.

#1. Right. In a world of leaks nobody has leaked them.

#2 Ho ho, the secret tapes will somehow "change" things

#3. There is not one substantiating source.

I assume the tapes will be released right after the revelation that the WMDs were found six months ago, Osama bin Ladin has been found and the Administration has been sitting on the info til the right time, and that the chemical weapons stockpile in Iraq was actually destroyed in one of the bombing raids.

Websites, including mine from time to time, publish total crap that conforms to our bias. Simon wants to believe his claims. I want to believe them. Lots of us want to believe them. This "story" has been around for at least six months. We "hope" the "tapes" will be released in the mistaken belief that "see what they did" will somehow let us off the hook.

Like we are dealing with unbiased people in the world media. If you believe that I've got a suite of offices in the WTC I'll lease you.

ADULTERY? ARE WE KIDDING? "GROW UP", SAYS THE MORALLY EQUIVALENT LEFT

Many of you have emailed me asking about the ADULTERY charges against the soldiers. Here's the deal. There is NOTHING in the UCMJ about adultery. Men can cheat on women and vice versa and not be charged for it. BUT there is an article 134 in the code that says:

Adultery in the military is actually prosecuted under Article 134, which is also known as the "General Article." Article 134 simply prohibits conduct which is of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, or conduct which is prejudicial to good order and discipline.

There are three "Elements of Proof" for the offense of Adultery in the Military:

(1) That the accused wrongfully had sexual intercourse with a certain person; (two males or group sex photographed??)

(2) That, at the time, the accused or the other person was married to someone else; and

(3) That, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces. (this is certainly true here)

President Clinton, as Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States AND an adulterer of great note WHO COULD HAVE BEEN BROUGHT BEFORE A MILITARY COURT AND CHARGED under Section 134, did what he could to weaken all standards of conduct, especially adultery in 2002 just before leaving office and while pardoning Marc Rich

However, in a very quiet move, in 2002, President Bush adopted many of the changes that were proposed by President Clinton (Bush wanted Clinton out of the news; a courts martial would have kept him there for years). In addition to the Elements of Proof," the "Explanation" section under this offense now requires commanders to consider the following factors when determining whether or not the offense of "adultery" constitutes a crime:

(a) The accused's marital status, military rank, grade, or position;

(b) The co-actor's marital status, military rank, grade, and position, or relationship to the armed forces;

(c) The military status of the accused's spouse or the spouse of co-actor, or their relationship to the armed forces;

(d) The impact, if any, of the adulterous relationship on the ability of the accused, the co-actor, or the spouse of either to perform their duties in support of the armed forces;

(e) The misuse, if any, of government time and resources to facilitate the commission of the conduct;

(f) Whether the conduct persisted despite counseling or orders to desist; the flagrancy of the conduct, such as whether any notoriety ensued; and whether the adulterous act was accompanied by other violations of the UCMJ;

(g) The negative impact of the conduct on the units or organizations of the accused, the co-actor or the spouse of either of them, such as a detrimental effect on unit or organization morale, teamwork, and efficiency;

(h) Whether the accused or co-actor was legally separated; and

(i) Whether the adulterous misconduct involves an ongoing or recent relationship or is remote in time.

So the enlisted people charged are STILL guilty of adultery under the watered down code. For more details go HERE

First, a word about "bad writing". Some of the posts from Iraq are "badly written" because they are written from the heart by people who don't speak English as a first language. These "from the heart" peieces have more impact than "professional" writing filled with the appropriate adjectives and obscure classical references. The links below are of that type and "tell it like it is" from their POV inside Iraq.
Inside Iraq today: Hammorabi thinks we have made mistakes in Najaf be damaging shrines. Iraq at a Glance really lays it out there about what we face and don't face with this Sadir

I want to say an important thing here, where is Al-Sistani in this critical time?

His English is sometimes hard to follow but he lets you know the situation. And Healing Iraq reminds us of what almost all Muslims feel with this quote from the Quran

"When you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives." Surat Mohammed:4

This is long and very good piece. Be sure you keep reading to the add on where he discusses more than just one quote. Outstanding piece.

"Aboo Grabby is what the local talk radio jocks are calling Abu Ghraib. There's more pix on the way.

Got a three emails and talked to a few friends who saw Troy yesterday. They think the movie is so "gay" that it is going to hurt Brad Pitt's career. None liked it. See below Troy evaluation.

Weekly Movies picture shows Films Cinema

THE ATTACK OF THE LEFT WING SUMMER MOVIES
A Guide to Political Orthodoxy regarding the Correct Interpretaion of Cinematic Entertainment aimed at Progressive Thinkers

TROY; Wolfgang's summer treat. A real movie; a "gore and whore" movie for the ages.

Political Correctness is limited to the stupid interviews opposing "all wars everywhere" being conducted by the stars. They make millions off of gore and war and then because the liberal assholes feel "guilty", they go out and trash the practice. Also this movie is so "gay" it might crash and burn. The chicks are going to go wild about all the gorgeous near naked men. The guys are going to love the battles. We're talking big time blood and gore. The movie is big and will make a ton, unless it is branded as a "fag fest", something that is too obvious to let go. Almost all the "heroes" are pathetically weak. Brad Pitt has a near homosexual relationship with his "cousin" that can only be termed as gay.

THE STORY

This movie is based on a story called The Iliad. Based is the word. If you are young, you haven't read it. Older people have read it. Everybody knows that the tricky Greeks used a hollowed out wooden horse, filled it with soldiers and when the Trojans broke down their wall to let it in, bye bye Troy. "Beware Greeks bearing gifts" comes to mind here. The original story was written by a guy named Homer (not Homey) back in God Only Knows When B.C. It is not only the first narrative, it is also the first gangster story. Homer's tale is pre-Mafia revenge shit; thug vs thug; street soldier vs street soldier; a no holds barred revenge story without much ethics. Read the Edith Hamilton translation, a total gangster tale with "gore galore". The phrase "bites the dust" comes from this nearly 4,000 year old narrative. You will also note that all gangster names in Greek end with consonents, not vowels. So instead of Achillesiano you have Achilles; instead of Hectorelli you get Hector.

Story starts with: "Fuck with my old lady and learn what trouble is", a Don named Menelaus tells a buffed to the hilt wise guy named (get this) Paris. Anybody with a name like Paris who steals your old lady is, like, you know, lookin' for an ice pick facial. What is next? Somebody named Clarence fucking your sister? Somebody named Steve doing the back door polka with your brother? "Fuck you, Asshole. If I want her I take her. That's who I am." Says Paris. And this fruit runs off with the Don Manelaus' apparently more than willing drop dead gorgeous über bitch, Helen . Now this kind of shit, as every gangster knows, is an insult to manhood. Insults to manhood is the worst crime in the entire world. This means goin' to the mattresses, or in this story, going to Troy.

So one Mafia Don goes after a Wise Guy from Troy who "fuckin' stole my old lady". He gets his brother and the baddest hit man in Greece, a guy named Achillies to join him and to bring his mob along too. Paris and his old man rally their soldiers and the number one hit man in their country, a guy named Hector. Both gangs do a ten year shoot out. Gang members on both sides have names that do not end in vowels either, and then little dons fight with other little dons over bitches that just show up looking for trouble. There's a big fight over a chick named Briseis; a goddess with a rack that could feed a goddam whale who a big Don stole from Achillies, the bad ass hit man. You think Achilles ain't pissed? You don't take the best rack in Greece from the baddest dude in Greece. This is about manhood. Achilles is afraid his 42D cup might find out that his dick is smaller than other people's. He will either sulk in his tent or fight. He decides to prove his manhood by fighting Hector, killing the dude and then dragging the dead body around the walls of Troy like he was a 66th Street Rolling Crips "gangstah" from LA.

In the actual book there's tons of Gods and Goddesses duking it out too.

THE ACTUAL MOVIE

This is a, you know, "modren pichur" not some Eisenhower Republican 50s bullshit movie. There are constant oblique references to Iraq. Troy is a quagmire and so on. Not so oblique references to pussy, tits, and tongues. Even Variety has branded the movie "gay" so this movie may not draw the throngs expected; even worse, in the theater I where I viewed it the audience laughed AT it in far too many places. A lady told me she thought "the battle scenes were shot in Greenwich Village". There is no doubt that the men are too gorgeous for words and the women not good looking enough to fight over. Men wore skirts (chitons) in those days so all of the gorgeous men fight in dresses. But the women in the theater went nuts over all the men. There was actual yelling when Pitt showed his naked ass; no guarantee that the yelling didn't come from men in the audience. But this is a gore and whore movie and the battles are bloody and terrific, but run on forever.

There is the usual stupid out of context "feminist" who would have been killed in her cradle back in the "good old daze". But in the "book" lots of the women are goddesses who had super powers, so when a goddess said shit, the non-God guys would squat and ask "what color and how much?"

The hero gangster/hit man Achillies is a buffed out naked as an R rating will allow Brad Pitt, the big movie star who 20 million women wish would rape them while they were being beaten with whips. 20 million times a $6 ticket covers the bottom line. Peter O'Toole (in a dress) is there for the nympho blue hair crowd. Hector and Paris are also buffed out dress wearing hunks. And the tits and ass babes? The ones in this movie, especially Helen, couldn't get a day extra's job on Bay Watch, so we must assume they all gave Wolfgang great head or some dyke cast the movie. However, for you sex fans there is a threesome and some other hot scenes. All in all "Troy" is sort of an Iliad. Entertaining as hell; all the guys bathe before each scene so there's no dirt; great gory bloody battle scenes (long shots are computized); only mild DNC language; and not a lot of tedious character development. Don't wait for the CD because this is BIG SCREEN stuff. I would have liked to hear a Flatlanders or Billy Joe Shavers sound track, but with a guy named Wolfgang directing you get classical stuff. At least it's loud.

CAUTION: More computerized armies. Totally false. You have this out of focus look at all the armies. Battles are all the same. I watched part of that old 60's war horse called "Vera Cruz" the other night. Promise you, real people make a big difference in a movie. Especially a movie where battles are fought in full daylight. Computerized armies suck and that is what you get far too much of in this movie. Also the dialogue is very stiff at times and Pitt isn't all that convincing as Achillies til he fights. And again, it's gay.

Best: All the Greeks were white so we don't have to put up with some snotty black liberal asshole reminding us what pieces of shit bigots all white people are.

See it. It's fun. It's big like a real movie should be. Rated R for DNC language and ugly women. BTW, if you need to read a really really stupid review of this movie go HERE; I have no idea why the usually top of the line NRO publishes shit like this.

Under the radar with all the scandal is a college football betting scandal of huge proportions. Players owing so much money to gamblers that they were "paid to underperform", THROWING GAMES, in order to pay off the debt. College sports is the next icon to fall, again. College basketball was almost destroyed by the last betting scandal in the 50s.

The election of Ghandi in India may derail the fastest growing economy in the world outside of China. She represents the urine drinking, sacred cow adoring, poverty is best, part of India. Their stock market is in virtual free fall. It's Inglewood keeping out WalMart, the usual Left envy of successful people, and the class war. She was elected by "the poor" who will stay poor but may pull down all the successful people.

Oil prices which I had thought to be a function of the cheap dollar (I was WRONG) are apparently a result of huge demand from a now robust Asian economy. Bye bye SUVs. A woman in my office filled her tank for $70 yesterday. Look for a big change in auto stocks as smaller cars become popular once again.

If you or I said any of this the FBI would come calling and we would be sued, jailed, and kicked off the public airwaves. The Left on AIR AMERICA gets away with it because they are liberals. From FRONT PAGE:

"The United States 'is on the slippery slope to theocratic fascism.' 'The Catholic Church has been secretly encouraging oral sex for years.'
" 'Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld 'ought to be tortured.' 'President Bush should be taken out and shot.' "

FRONT PAGE says it all. Hanson in NRO gets deeper. Wait til Michael Moore's movie comes out. A good idea would be to silently distribute cassette tapes of this to the audience as they come out. Late add; 9AM Just re-read the Hanson piece. It's a MUST.

WHERE WAS THE CHAPLAIN?

Iraq as a porno extravaganza as more and more "leaks" to The New York Post and other tabs break out like herpes. Orgies, including ????

Iraq's feared Abu Ghraib jail was one big sex romp - sometimes by candlelight with an audience watching, U.S. troops said yesterday.

Sex and alcohol were commonplace, and soldiers frequently set up candlelit rooms for voyeuristic sex shows, said a soldier who served at the notorious prison.

This is an indictment of the entire command structure. Again, the Heart of Darkness metaphor seems accurate. This was a descent into the abyss of depravity. Could it happen to you? To me? Think about it.

Market and Economy Briefly; the market has psychology. What I mean by that is that the day traders are affected by current events. They talk with each other all the time. The Prison fiasco, the seeming worsening of the Iraq military situation combined with the Berg killing "gets" to people. Check Rasmussen this week you will see a virtual collapse in consumer and investor sentiment. Nobody feels good and the media will do its level best to see that everybody feels bad. The thing the Left wants most is a collapse in the economy AND a loss in Iraq. Iraq is now a very serious situation in the market. Your stops may be hit. If they are, get out. The major indexes are cracking through the range on the downside but barely recovered. If the bad news isn't "in the market" you could see a real collapse.

This isn't funny. The media is Left Democrat and they want blood.

Yours.

Trying to find the Berg Video? Go Here and get on the email list.

NOW IT'S CAMP BUCCA---FURTHER STORY OF COMMAND FAILURES

From the CBS Network's "Latest" prison story, (link is to CBS). The "unbiased" network will dutifully air another hit piece on "60 Minutes Two". This is a tape made by a female guard at another camp called Camp Bucca. The girl complaining about the Camp basically backs up my post of May 9th which contained this:

A word here about battalions and brigades. There are between 3 and 5 thousand men in a brigade and between 5 and 900 men in a battalion. The ratio of men per prisoner according to army rules is: a BRIGADE per 4,000. The prison contained at least 7,000 prisoners and according to the army it would take more than 3,000 men to handle them properly. The actual number of men was a BATALLION of between 500 and 900 people to handle 7,000 prisoners. This is insane. This is a command problem. God only knows how far up it goes.

Another Iraq prison under the same command had a section where two guards were assigned to guard 535 prisoners. None of us have to be experts to know this is impossible. We may find that General Karpinski complained like hell, but no evidence of this has surfaced. From CBS again,

Her videotape shows she didn't like Camp Bucca, or the people under her control: "These people get fed better than we do. Every day, they eat white rice, chicken. Every day we eat MREs. They are suck f****** a**holes. They f*** guys for pleasure and they f*** women for breeding. Excuse my language. I've been around a lot of people who cusses every day."

There's a ton more at the first link and you better read it:

She says she threw rocks at the prisoners because they had been throwing them at her. In her video diary, she catalogs the other dangers in the camp: "This is a sand viper. One bite will kill you in six hours. We've already had two prisoners die of it, but who cares? That's two less for me to worry about."

She details the Palm Sunday Riot at Bucca too. No more atrocities, but the same suspects in the command doing nothing. Note that the media ignores everything else to get Bush. This is Vietnam all over again. The press is attempting to create the news and then pound and pound and pound in order to affect the election.

CIA AGENTS TOLD TO RETURN TO TICKLE TORTURE OR FACE RUIN FROM NEXT DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS OR PRESIDENT

That bad old CIA is again in the Left cross hairs. The usual suspects take aim at the "inhumane" interrogation techniques used to get info from Al Qaeda Terrorists without a fucking peep from the eunich castrated girly boy Republican Party. What is the sense of giving power to this gutless, voiceless, clueless party? This is what got us to 9/11 and now CIA people are panicked over who will be the next president. Trust me, they will all be hung by the next Democrat to take power.

Best bet to keep your job in the CIA? Tickle torture. The doughnut binge treatment. The break them with daily rations of pot technique. Jesus, what a mess.

The New York Post arrives in the early AM in Los Angeles and with the headline: LEASH GAL SEX PICS it was sold out by 7:30 AM in my neighborhood. I can't get it on the web so I guess the traffic is killer. This was an out of control babe ugly who couldn't get laid in a crack house. Anyway there are NO sex pics, they are just described. NY Post IS PG-35. The pix will become available and she will join Paris Hilton as the sex celb of the year. I can see the FOX reality series now.