Dosvidania

Time to say goodbye. The Overlord has to go now. It's been fun.

Actually, I'm going out of town for the next 3 1/2 weeks on business, and really won't be able to blog. No worries though, Your Benevolant Overlord has left you in very capable hands.

The Lovely Mrs. Overlord will be handling all postings whilst I'm gone. Thus you'll probably notice a vast change in posting styles, but don't worry; you'll love it. I promise.

Plus, I may have a few guest bloggers chime in for me from time to time.

I have to say it will be nice to have a break from blogging. Between work, 3 kids, and have a full time life on top of blogging...it wears you down. And with all the extra focus on this year's politics, I've put a lot of extra energy into my 2 sense (pun intended) that you've been reading. This way, I'll be nice and fresh just in time for the election. Or as the left likes to call it, the selection. They mostly say this cuz they have no idea how the electoral college works because they're, well.....mostly just stupid hippies. I hate hippies. I really, really hate hippies.

Anyhow, take care folks. Be nice to the Mrs. for me. And I'll see you in about 4 weeks.

In the meantime, in between posts done the lovely Mrs., check out some of my favorite blogs:

Behind Enemy Lines
Blackfive
The Christian Conservative
The Indepundit
IMAO
LaShawn Barber
Right Rainbow
Right Wing News
The Rottwieler
Spoons
Donovan
Your Arse From Your Elbow-Especially the Debate Section
Semi-Intelligent Thoughts
The Zoo

Random Ramblings

We all know that Kerry's fellow SwiftVets don't think much of him. But what about the POW's/MIA's that Kerry testified were being treated humanely? What do they think? Don't ask, ask them.

Kerry's been pissing and moaning about the SwiftVets ads against him and his followers have called for Bush to condemn them. What I want to know is this. Is Kerry going to condemn the group Move On dot Org?? Somehow, I doubt it.

You may have heard that former President Clinton recently had emergency bypass surgery done. I for one hope he's ok. (Hey, just cuz I can't stand the man doesn't mean I want him dead. Besides, without him, we'd have one less moonbat to ridicule).

Michael Moore has said that he's eyeing the best picture award rather than best documentary. Hmm, could it be cuz it's not really a documentary, but a mockumentary?

Now this is a documentary.

Russia, Chechnya, and Terrorism

If you haven't heard this story yet, you need to get the hell out of that hole and rejoin the world. This folks, is the absolute epitome of terrorism. Militants Terrorists taking over a school and murdering, not just innocent civilians, but children. Did you hear me? CHILDREN!! This is as disgusting as it gets. Or so you would think. Let me ask you. What's worse, a group of people murdering innocent children, or the rest of the world sitting by and watching-doing nothing; or in some cases, sympathizing...

From (where else) the DU:

As another poster has already said, the Chechens have no army. They, much like the American "rebels" of 1775, are fighting with what weapons they have. Not unlike the Iraqi civilians, who have no army and are fighting an occupation that has destroyed their country. The only difference is that the Iraqis don't have an "enemy" contingent of American schools to hold hostage.

-You see, the Checnyans aren't so bad. It's like the brilliant Mike Moore said; they're just like the American Revolutionaries and the Iraqi insurgents murdering terrorists.

I am very simpathetic to the idea that terrorists have no other means to fight

-Uhm, whatever dude. Take another hit, you'll feel better.

The solution is for Russia to get the hell out of a place where they don't belong.

-Hmm, yeah. Capitulation works great. Just ask Spain.

Yes. I'm sure this happened many times in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-Yup, I'm sure the American and Coalition forces spent countless hours gleefully lining little schoolchildren up against the wall and torturing and murdering them.

Treasonouns fucking douchbags. (sorry, haven't used that one in a while and it was quite called for)

Hat tip to CD at Semi-Intelligent Thoughts for this one.

To the Folks in Florida

As many of you know, I've only just moved out of Florida myself. To those that are still there, I hope you're all taking care of yourselves. Florida's been spared the worst in recent years when it comes hurricane season. This year it seems her time has come. In the last month two seperate hurricanes have come through and ripped their way through Florida. And now there's potentially a third storm on it's way.

I read tonight that just at an intersection just 2 blocks from where I lived there were fish swimming in the street. The Hillsborough River is reported to be flooded over for 12 blocks. Believe me, if you've never smelt the Hills. River, it ain't, it ain't good.

I realize that many of the folks affected won't be able to read this post because of power outages, etc. But I do want you to know we are thinking about here at FN. I want you all to be careful and take care of yourselves, and uh....I'll try to behave myself.

Take care folks.

Bush Takes Double Digit Lead Over Kerry

Friday, Sep. 03, 2004
New York: For the first time since the Presidential race became a two person contest last spring, there is a clear leader, the latest TIME poll shows. If the 2004 election for President were held today, 52% of likely voters surveyed would vote for President George W. Bush, 41% would vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry, and 3% would vote for Ralph Nader, according to a new TIME poll conducted from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. Poll results are available on TIME.com and will appear in the upcoming issue of TIME magazine, on newsstands Monday, Sept. 6.

It's simple really. You see, there are lots of people that have lots of issues with Dubbya. Myself included, too many to go into right now. The bottom line is, of the candidates running, Bush is the best man for the job. The people know that. Contrar to what the limosuine liberals like to tell us, re-taxing the rich or instituting a national health care system is not the top priority of most Americans. Most of us just want to be able to go to bed at night knowing that some splodeydope isn't going to fly an airplane into another one of our buildings.

The numbers according to Time:

Bush vs. Kerry:
The economy: 47% trust President Bush more to handle the economy, while 45% trust Kerry.
Health care: 48% trust Senator Kerry to handle health care issues, while 42% trust Bush.
Iraq: 53% trust Bush to handle the situation in Iraq, while 41% trust Kerry.
Terrorism: 57% trust Bush to handle the war on terrorism, while 36% trust Kerry.
Understanding the needs of people: 47% said they trust Kerry to understand the needs of people like themselves, while 44% trusted Bush to understand their needs.
Providing strong leadership: 56% said they trust Bush to provide strong leadership in difficult times, while 37% said they trust Kerry to provide leadership in difficult times.
Tax policy: 49% trust Bush to handle tax policy, while 40% trust Kerry.
Commanding the Armed Forces: 54% said they trust Bush to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces, while 39% said they trust Kerry.

Bush on the Issues:
Iraq: Half (50%) of those surveyed approve of the way President Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, while 46% disapprove. In last week’s TIME poll, 48% approved of the way Bush was handling the situation in Iraq and 48% disapproved.
Terrorism: Almost two thirds (59%) said they approve of how President Bush is handling the war on terrorism, while 38% disapprove. Last week’s TIME poll found 55% approved of Bush’s handling of the war on terrorism, while 40% disapproved.
The Economy: Survey respondents were split on the President’s handling of the economy. Almost half (48%) said the approved of Bush’s handling of the economy, while 48% said the disapproved.

Other results include:
Was U.S. Right Going to War with Iraq? Over half of those surveyed (52%) think the U.S. was right in going to war with Iraq, while 41% think the U.S. was wrong to go to war.

Have the United States’ actions in Iraq made the world safer? Almost half (45%) think the United States’ actions in Iraq have made the world safer, while 45% think the world is more dangerous. In a similar TIME poll taken Aug. 3 – 5, over half (52%) said the world was more dangerous, and 38% said the world was safer.

The Things that Were Good, The Things that Were Not So Good

This is an email from a member of a Naval surgical team preparing to come home. Found via The Paratrooper of Love.

Greetings all from hot, hot, hot Iraq,
We are short indeed...although not quite as short as we had originally thought...our flight home has been posted and is showing up 3 days later than planned. The good news is that we leave in the middle of the night and arrive (all admin complete, including turning our weapons into the armory) ! around dinnertime at Pendleton on the same day we leave (11 hrs time difference). The other good news is it appears we've got commercial contract air carriers taking us home...so we don't have to worry about sleeping on the cold steel deck of an Air Force C-17.

So...we turned over authority of the surgical company last week to our replacements, who had a serious trial by fire here in multiple ways, including multiple traumas, surgeries, increased risk to their personal safety, power outages, water outages, and camel spiders in the hospital...all in their first 4 days. But a few days ago, we heard the helicopters coming and knew they were dealing with multiple traumas, several of which were going to the OR...and we sat in our barracks and waited for them to call us if they needed us. They never did. Last week was the ceremony to mark the official end of our role here. Now we just wait.

As the days move very slowly by, just waiting, I decided that one of the things I should work on for my own closure and therapeutic healing...is a list. The list would be a comparison: "Things That Were Good" about Iraq and being deployed with the Marines as one of the providers in a surgical company, and "Things That Were Not Good." Of course, it's quite obvious that this list will be very lopsided. But I thought I would do it anyway, hoping that somehow the trauma, the fear, the grief, the laughter, the pride and the patriotism that have marked this long seven months for me will begin to make sense, through my writing. Interestingly, it sort of turned into a poem. To be expected, I guess.

Most of all it's just therapy, and by now I should be relatively good at that. Hard to do for yourself, though.

So here goes...in reverse order of importance...

Things That Were Good

Sunset over the desert...almost always orange
Sunrise over the desert...almost always red
The childlike excitement of having fresh fruit at dinner after going weeks without it

Being allowed to be the kind of clinician I know I can be, and want to be, with no limits placed and no doubts expressed

But most of all,
The United States Marines, our patients...
Walking, every day, and having literally every single person who passes by say "Hoorah, Ma'am..."
Having them tell us, one after the other, through blinding pain or morphine-induced euphoria..."When can I get out of here? I just want to get back to my unit..."
Meeting a young Sergeant, who had lost an eye in an explosion...he asked his surgeon if he could open the other one...when he did, he sat up and looked at the young Marines from his fire team who were being treated for superficial shrapnel wounds in the next room...he smiled, laid back down, and said, "I only have one good eye, Doc! , but I can see that my Marines are OK."
And of course, meeting the one who threw himself on a grenade to save the men at his side...who will likely be the first Medal of Honor recipient in over 11 years...

My friends...some of them will be lifelong in a way that is indescribable
My patients...some of them had courage unlike anything I've ever experienced before
My comrades, Alpha Surgical Company...some of the things witnessed will traumatize them forever, but still they provided outstanding care to these Marines, day in and day out, sometimes for days at a time with no break, for 7 endless months

And last, but not least...
Holding the hand of that dying Marine

Things That Were Not Good

Terrifying camel spiders, poisonous scorpions, flapping bats in the darkness, howling, territorial wild dogs, flies that insisted on landing on our faces, giant, looming mosquitoes, invisible sand flies that carry leischmaniasis

132 degrees
Wearing long sl! eeves, full pants and combat boots in 132 degrees
Random and totally predictable power outages that led to sweating throughout the night
Sweating in places I didn't know I could sweat...like wrists, and ears

The roar of helicopters overhead
The resounding thud of exploding artillery in the distance
The popping of gunfire...
Not knowing if any of the above sounds is a good thing, or bad thing
The siren, and the inevitable "big voice" yelling at us to take cover...
Not knowing if that siren was on someone's DVD or if the big voice would soon follow

The cracking sound of giant artillery rounds splitting open against rock and dirt
The rumble of the ground...
The shattering of the windows...
Hiding under flak jackets and kevlar helmets, away from the broken windows, waiting to be told we can come to the hospital...to treat the ones who were not so lucky...

Watching the helicopter with the big red cross on the side l! anding at our pad
Worse...watching Marine helicopters filled with patients landing at our pad...because we usually did not realize they were coming...

Ushering a sobbing Marine Colonel away from the trauma bay while several of his Marines bled and cried out in pain inside
Meeting that 21-year-old Marine with three Purple Hearts...and listening to him weep because he felt ashamed of being afraid to go back
Telling a room full of stunned Marines in blood-soaked uniforms that their comrade, that they had tried to save, had just died of his wounds
Trying, as if in total futility, to do anything I could, to ease the trauma of group after group...that suffered loss after loss, grief after inconsolable grief...

Washing blood off the boots of one of our young nurses while she told me about the one who bled out in the trauma bay...and then the one who she had to tell, when he pleaded for the truth, that his best friend didn't make it...
Listening to another of our nurses tell of the Marine who came in talking, telling her his name...about how she pleaded with him not to give up, told him that she was there for him...about how she could see his eyes go dull when he couldn't fight any longer...

And last, but not least...
Holding the hand of that dying Marine

I am in no way ashamed to tell you this had me very close to tears after I read it.

Finally, Chomps has Arrived!!

So Frank J. has unvieled his new Chomps T-Shirt. I think I'll pre-order one. Of course, if someone wanted to send me one as a gift.....;-)

I love Chomps!!

Terrorism in Russia

This story, for whatever reason, just hasn't made the headlines much. I'm sorry to say this is true even in the blogosphere. But it appears the standoff between the Russian forces and Chechen seperatists is coming to a close. I also find it interesting that several members of the terrorist group (make no mistake, that's what they are) are arabs. When you see countries all over Europe and Asia capitulating to terrorist groups, it is refreshing to see a nation stand against it. I'm by no means a fan of Putin, or his tactics; but I gaurentee that in the future any terrorist group will think twice before taking on Russian forces.

Once Again

I've gotta send a message to my people down in Tampa, and all of Florida. Frances is on her way, and it doesn't look good. She's already a category 4, and it looks as though she may get stronger. One report I read said Orlando may suffer several hoursof wind over 100 miles per hour. Take care folks; as always, we're watching and praying for you.

Kerry Supports Iranian Nuclear Program

A couple weeks ago I you about Iran's threat of a pre-emptive strike against the U.S., and the development of their nuclear programs. Well Mr. Kerry has come up with a brilliant retarded plan to deal with Iran's nuclear program.

WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry has signaled a departure in U.S. policy regarding Iran's nuclear weapons program.

Kerry aides said that, if elected, his administration, in cooperation with the European Union, would offer a deal to Iran that would allow the Islamic republic to retain its nuclear facilities. In return, Teheran would have to pledge to return all imported nuclear fuel acquired for its reactor at Bushehr.

The Kerry position has long been recommended by State Department circles. Current and former U.S. diplomats have warned against a U.S. confrontation with Iran, instead proposing a so-called "grand bargain" with Teheran that would include a removal of sanctions imposed on Iran.

Earlier this year, the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace issued a report that called on the United States, Europe and Russia to devise "a combination of costs and incentives" to change Iran's course. The report recommended that Iran "be guaranteed a commercially viable supply of low-enriched uranium for its nuclear reactors and for the removal and disposal of spent fuel," Middle East Newsline reported.

"If we are engaging with Iranians in an effort to reach this great bargain and if in fact this is a bluff that they are trying to develop nuclear weapons capability, then we know that our European friends will stand with us," Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards said.
In speeches and interviews granted this week, Edwards stressed that a Democratic presidential administration would not ease U.S. opposition to an Iranian nuclear bomb.

"A nuclear Iran is unacceptable for so many reasons, including the possibility that it creates a gateway and the need for other countries in the region to develop nuclear capability – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, potentially others," Edwards told the Washington Post.

Kerry first discussed Iran policy in a speech in June. During that speech, he said his administration would attempt to reach an agreement with the Iranians, a position later echoed by Edwards.

"At the end of the day [Bush officials] can argue all they want about their policies," Edwards said. "But the test is: Have they worked? And Iran is further along in developing a nuclear weapon than they were when George Bush came into office."

The Bush administration has pressed the International Atomic Energy Agency to continue with inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.

The administration has sought to bring the Iranian nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council for the imposition of sanctions.

But Bush said in a television interview on Aug. 31 that he seeks a diplomatic solution to end Iran's nuclear program.

"The military option is always the last option for a president, not the first," Bush said.

I have one huge problem with Kerry's plan. It won't work. How do I know that? It's already been tried...in North Korea.

More Fun at the Expense of DU

There's this post at the DU and I just couldn't pass this post up. In this particular thread, they're bit***** about the fine folks over at Protest Warrior. It seems the discussion in question centers around what the left like to call, chickenhawks. The irony is, the thread on PW was started by a member of DU, named sithknight. And at the same time they're pissing and moaning about PW and the rest of the "war-mongering neo-cons", the lovers of peace masters of intimidation are going goo-goo over this. Party of love and peace my a$$.

My New Favorite Show

The Overlord has found a new show on TV. And he has decreed that it is so good as to entertain The Overlord, that everyone should watch it.

Ok, so FX has this new show called

Rescue ME. It's actually a great show, though definitely not for kids. Lot's of profanity (no censorship), and a bit of nudity here and there. But what do you expect, it is produced (as well as stars) Dennis Leary. It's a very poignant drama about a group of NYC firefighters. Dennis Leary carries the lead role as one of the troop of engine 62. His character is kind of a toss-up on the likeablity scale. On the one hand, the guy's kind of a jack-ass. He puts his kids up to spying on his soon to be ex, he spies on her himself constantly and is continuously trying to manipulate his way back into her life. On the other had, you have to feel sorry for the guy cuz his life really sux. He gets beaten up by the friends of his wifes boyfriend. The girl he's dating throws a molatove cocktail through his window (going back to the jerk part, she's pissed cuz he can't remember her name). And on top of it all, he sees dead people. People he's worked with, or people who's lives he wasn't able to save.

So The Overlord highly recommends FX. Remember though; NOT FOR KIDS.