Foreign Base Closings

I caught this story on Yahoo last night and it's not terribly spectacular, except for a little personal flavor. It's a story about base closings in Germany. Bases around Heidelberg and Wuerzburg are being closed and turned over to the Germans. I'm sure they were initially there as part of the rebuilding effort following World War II, but some bases like Ramstein will remain ours. The personal aspect of this story is that I was born in the Wuerzburg hospital which, as you'll see in the very last line, is being closed.

ABCs of terror

I love ABC, wonderful coverage

Last night ABC aired an interview with Shamil Basayev, Chechen terror warlord, on Nightline. Some have suggested that the news arm of Disney may be angling for a Zarqawi interview. On the surface this would seem like a foolish idea. But come to think of it, that's exactly what they're doing. Without scum like this, ABC, and most non-Fox news outlets, would be forced to report good news. Now there's a novel concept, reporting on some of the good things that occur around the world. That might actually lower the number of cynics and whiners in this country and many others. While ABC thinks they're protecting a source, they are, in reality, providing aid to a known terrorist. One who has targeted women and children first and foremost. Disney should be ashamed that this is where their news outlet has fallen.

Riding the Clutch

ESPN is trying to say Tiger Woods' victory at St. Andrews was in some way a clutch performance from a grizzled veteran. Well if they're not saying it, it's certainly implicit in their coverage of his win. I'm sorry but there's nothing clutch about taking a 2 stroke lead and winning by 5 strokes. Especially with his royal hinie, Colin Montgomerie doing next to nothing. A clutch performance is Michael Jordan making a 4 point lead feel like 40. Clutch is Reggie Jackson hammering homeruns every which way he can. In their ever present attempt to increase the profile of their coverage, ESPN has abused the word clutch. Maybe they can have Stuart "Dead Eye" Scott kick off tonight's Sportscenter by saying that Tiger was "straight bangin'." That would be a treat.

White Feather

A True Hero

Recently I decided to read more. Mostly the classic books I was supposed to read in High School but never did. So in my travels through Barnes & Noble, I stopped in the military section. I happened upon a book called Marine Sniper. Most Marines are pretty bad. Bad in the sense that they instill fear in pretty much every enemy they encounter. In World War I German troops getting taken out by Marine snipers took to calling them "teufelhunden" or "Devil Dogs." But I digress. This book is about the exploits of Carlos Hatchcock, about the baddest mother there was in Vietnam. He recorded 93 confirmed kills and I'm sure twice that many unconfirmed. It's truly a book worth reading. I find myself loath to put the book down because It is an amazing tale of dedication and bravery. Unfortunately, Carlos suffered from Multiple Sclerosis and died in 1999 as a result. If this country had more men like Hatchcock and less like Dave Matthews, it would be perfect, well pretty close.