NUKE_CLEVELAND

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 26, 2007 -> 07:23 PM) For those keeping score at home, the Dow was down about 240 today, and has now entered official correction territory. Until this credit mess is resolved somehow I see far more bad days ahead than good ones. One thing the market is waiting for, I think, is the December Fed meeting. If they get another cut I think we'll retrace a lot of the ground lost.

I think Romney said it best. The Republican Party needs to clean up its own house. I totally think it's time for a lot of these old hands to step aside and allow some new blood to come to the forefront with some fresh ideas on things. The party's message of "Elect us or the terrorists will get you" is not going to work anymore. I have also read many articles that said that many economic conservatives stayed home back in 2006 because they are fed up with runaway federal spending and may well boycott the '08 election as well unless someone steps up with a workable way to get a handle on it.

QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Nov 26, 2007 -> 09:57 AM) my gut is that every candidate feels this way. most, however, wouldn't say it publicly. in any case, this country needs a "Kennedy Space Program-like" iniative to develop this. It would need to be a Top Priority and the public would have to see some kind of step-by-step plan with achievable goals along the way. I would love to see what the annual oil consumption is of this country. Maybe our goal by 2010 is to reduce this by 5%. I would love to see what the annual import oil consumption is of this country. Maybe our goal by 2015 is to reduce this by 15%. This is one area we are in total agreement. The longer we rely on foreign oil for our economy to function the longer we are extremely vulnerable. One thing I'd like to see the Dems do, and Im surprised they haven't already, is send up a bill cutting off oil industry subsidies that the government pays out and re-divert the money into alternative energy r&d.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 25, 2007 -> 05:55 PM) They should sell the EL, maybe then it would be halfway reliable. They sold the Skyway off and around the country there are a lot of bridges and other infrastructure that is being sold to produce cash for governments.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 25, 2007 -> 01:32 PM) Were you lucky enough to get a hug from that general who was out hugging everyone? Nope. I got my meal that I wanted.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312842,00.html :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy High energy prices are such a hot button issue these days he could run with this all the way to the White House. I'd like to see some details though.

Back again. Nothing really new going on, just more of the same boring old stuff. Lately a lot of my time has been taken up helping one of my guys get ready to go before the sergeants board. I have one going this month and another next month so that will keep me pre-occupied at least some of the time. Oh well, Im not complaining.

QUOTE(Brian @ Nov 23, 2007 -> 10:35 PM) Hope you were able to have some kind of Thanksgiving, Nuke! They had a pretty nice turkey dinner set up for us so that was pretty cool. I was also able to get a quick call in to say hi to the folks just before I rolled out that night so it was about all I could have expected.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 16, 2007 -> 12:30 PM) I hope we can provide a way for the farmers and ranchers to get to the river for their irrigation. Thousands of farms depend on their irrigation pumps for their livelihood. It will also likely kill many animals who also depend on the river for drinking water. It's funny, we build that same fence to keep in a thousand inmates, add guards at a 10:1 ration, and yet they still escape. I guess this fence is better. It will probably stop the drug smuggling also. I'm certain all the street drugs through Mexico will dry up in no time, which is a boom to both sides. One way to stop drug smuggling quickly is to simply execute anyone caught smuggling narcotics on the spot. If they know they will be killed for their trouble if caught they will abandon their efforts in a big hurry.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 16, 2007 -> 09:54 AM) I wonder what Calderon would say if we decided that they could continue sending their poor here, but we were going to send them a bill for it? One thing we could do immediately is subtract money used for services for these criminals and distribute it to the states that paid that money out. That or use it to fund border security efforts.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 15, 2007 -> 07:57 AM) Have you seen any changes in mental health care in your years of service? Are we doing enough? What is the general attitude regarding the Army's efforts in this area? Mental Health care was looked at with scorn before this war began. They have recognized, however that stress of being at war and still having family committments back home takes a toll so they have gone to great lengths to try and remedy the problem. They have numerous resources for us to use ranging from seeing our units chaplain to seeing a stress counselor to seeing a pshyciatrist (sp ). There's 2 obstacles that are faced though. They are the patients own unwillingness to come clean about his problems and there's still the military's "suck it up and deal with it" attitude about most everything. Still, I do think they make a genuine and honest effort to combat the problem and I don't see how they could do anything more.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Nov 16, 2007 -> 12:15 PM) Hey Nuke. Glad to hear you are safe and still fiesty. I just wanted to say that I am behind you guys 100%. No ifs ands or buts about it. However, I also have to point out that I believe GWB is setting us up to become a socialist state. The crap coming from the government, I don't believe at all. They have ulterior motives that are not beneficial to the USA or it's citizens. At same damn time, I wish the MSS would just tell the truth about everything and stop filtering things to enhance their political agenda. I guess what I'm really saying is you cannot believe anything that either side has to say. It's all totally 100% bulls***. God Bless you and your buddies and hope you all come home safe and well. Thanks

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Nov 15, 2007 -> 10:40 PM) This should take care of the problem. Put one on the southern border, and then one on the northern border. Fly a few predators with night and heat vision. One thing I think would be more effective would be instead of parking so many trucks in fixed locations fly squads of agents around in helicopters equipped with thermals. They would be ready to swoop down and pounce on groups of illegals and able to cover a much wider area. I also love how people lament the "thousands of bodies" found in the desert. If they'd have stayed at home they would still be alive.

I know for a fact that the Democratic politicians are going to ignore, marginalize or otherwise try to discredit the huge improvement in the military situation in Iraq. That's a given since their political fortunes are tied to how well they placate the moveon.org wing of the Democratic party. What bothers me the most, however, is how the mainstream media, an outfit which is supposed to be objective, continually ignores, marginalizes or otherwise tries to discredit the huge improvement in the military situation in Iraq. Seems now that they don't have nearly as many bombings, shootings and other attacks to write about, they choose instead to find people who got screwed over by the VA as CNN.com did this morning. I have seen virtually no coverage of the decline in violence in Iraq at all. The only exception to this is Fox News which regularly has reports about positive developments in country here including todays article about the re-opening of a Christian church in Baghdad. I can hear it now "What? Who cares about a lousy Christian Church anyway?". What they don't realize is that the area in question is right smack in the middle of what was billed as "Al Queda's last stronghold in Baghdad" and only about a mile west of where my unit is presently patrolling. Personally, I take issue with a supposedly objective mainstream media which refuses to report any positive developments. Indeed, in a recent interview both Robin Wright of the Washington Post and Barbara Starr of CNN said they felt the improving situation in Iraq was "not worthy of additional coverage.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 12, 2007 -> 02:13 AM) That's a good thing. This is totally true. I should shut up and stop complaining.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 10:06 AM) Anyone hear from Nuke lately??? Hope all is well!! All is well. Too well for my taste as my latest entry indicates, but I've just been having trouble finding stuff to write about these days.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 11:19 AM) Which is why I was thinking if we applied "success" factoring in this stuff, what American city would pass? The law enforcement aspect to me seems like a huge misdirection of our attention. Seems unfair to our military. Its unfair to us in the sense that we need to be preparing for the next war. *COUGH* IRAN! *COUGH* instead of playing beat cops in Baghdad. We do have to finish cleaning up the mess around here, though, and I think we're making some real headway for the 1st time in a very long time. I have never agreed with the law enforcement aspect of this, and indeed it seems now that our forces have been reduced to the role of heavily armed cops. We have utterly crushed the insurgent forces in Baghdad to the point that they can't even breathe without being pounced upon. People are ratting out the bad guys left and right and now there's simply nobody left to arrest. Nowadays I spend my nights walking around a clean and quiet neighborhood. Im not naive enough to sit here and say there will never be another shooting or car bombing, indeed sometimes some jerk takes a shot at us while we're driving down the main highway, but overall things are dead ( I don't mean that literally either ).

Back again. Nothing has been amiss around here, in fact, it's just the opposite. Things have been so darn quiet around here that there's nothing to write about. Most nights, we just go out and patrol a clean and quiet area and that's about all. About the most intense thing that happens around here are my workouts in the gym or a game of HALO in our building. I don't want to bore anybody with minor everyday nonsense so I won't unless I'm asked.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Oct 31, 2007 -> 02:50 PM) Reading the news in any big city, shootings, knifing, killing, theft, assault, how much of what we are seeing is the run of the mill, third world big city violence that wouldn't be reported if the US military wasn't right there? You see, the funny thing is that a lot of that sort of thing gets labeled sectarian crime and thusly is somehow the military's problem when it would happen anyway.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Oct 31, 2007 -> 12:15 PM) The top economist from the Soros foundation said that the fundamentals indicate oil should be around $65. What fundamentals are these? Even at 94 and change a barrel demand still keeps on rising and there is no new supply coming to market to offset it.

What I find really amusing is that all these people keep saying we're headed for recession when you have GDP growth approaching 4% for this quarter according to the latest read on it that was out today. It doesn't seem as though the housing problem is hurting the economy as a whole with numbers like that. This is doubly remarkable in the face of the ongoing subprime mortgage mess and sky high energy prices. People have been predicting impending doom for the economy for months now and even though events say we should be slowing down, we're not.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 30, 2007 -> 01:48 PM) Hey Nuke, with the stories starting to creep out of Iraq about violence being way down, as well as servicemen and civilian deaths, what do you guys feel is the reason? Is it better direction from up top? A new strategy? The surge? I have even heard a conspiracy that the US is getting Iran to back down behind closed doors, and they are going to use that in exchange for ignoring Irans nuclear plant. Any thoughts? Violence IS way down. Lately, it's been so quiet and peaceful in our sector it's not even funny and that seems to be the word across the city and beyond. I think the surge has a lot to do with it, though, as with all these extra guys around the bad guys don't even have room to breathe, let alone plan and execute attacks. Will this continue once they start drawing down? I think yes. Thing of it is, I think there is always going to be a hard core of islamo-fascist fighters in this country, but the "swing voters" so to speak, are going toward the U.S. and supporting the government. I think they're tired of all the killing and want some stability in their lives. As for Iran, I haven't heard any rumors like the one you described. Personally, I hope that the sanctions work and it's really interesting to see the negative effect they have on the Iranian economy and for their civilian morale.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 31, 2007 -> 08:55 AM) Look at where it closed... It ran like a scared little b****. It isn't fundamentally ready for these levels. At least not yet. With todays inventory report it shot right back up to those levels. Oil doesn't trade according to fundamentals, it trades based on speculation and fear and has done so for a long time now.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Oct 30, 2007 -> 08:08 AM) Any additional information beyond what civilians receive? There's quite a bit that the government doesn't share with the press both good and bad.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 04:31 PM) Now Metra is talking shortage and eliminating Sunday ridership in a year or so affecting 50,000 people a week. The truth is that Illinois needs to offer better funding for the entire RTA, and Lake County ought to contribute in and of itself. I think the best thing to do is merge Metra and CTA. That would really suck. I know a lot of Suburban folks who use Metra to spend a Sunday in the city and take in the sights. That would cost Chicago a lot of lost money that they spend there.