NUKE_CLEVELAND

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 11, 2007 -> 05:58 AM) So in the military people just have to accept whatever vile insults are thrown their way? No protections? Great place for a racist to live and work. I wonder if the recruiters walk into a home and say hey beaner come join the army! Way to mischaracterize my statement. Point Im trying to make is there are a bunch of whiny pussies who can't take a joke and there's people who don't get sand in their vagina when someone has a laugh at their expense.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 10, 2007 -> 10:42 AM) Well, I think we can safely say this is the first "Here we go again" moment for Moore's upcoming film "Sicko". Somehow, I bet that there were people fairly high up in the government just salivating over this when they realized they could go after Mr. Moore for violations of the Cuban embargo. Best marketing Moore could possibly get. Throw that dickhead in jail for about 5 years with Bubba then let him go. When he comes out all bowlegged and 70 lbs lighter, he'll never be heard from again.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ May 10, 2007 -> 01:17 PM) Racial slurs usually aren't an issue when they aren't directed towards you, or you agree with them. Not true at all. You oughta hear some of the vile stuff that gets tossed around within my unit. My gunner is Mexican and we sling all sorts of stuff his way. ( Beaner, wetback, brown bastard) plus whatever stereotype you can think of. Same goes for me. Im Polish and I REALLY get it from my crew about that and I even throw in a few Polish jokes myself. My driver is Irish and we go to town with him about that. It's all understood, however, that it's all in fun and we all laugh really hard about it, even the person getting the business end of it. There are people in this world who can take a joke and then there's a bunch of whiny little b****es who go all to pieces when someone tells a joke about them.

QUOTE(Y2HH @ May 8, 2007 -> 07:44 AM) The difference is, this time, unlike during the .com boom period of the late 90's early 00's, is that this bull is being led by blue chips and the DJ stocks that actually do turn profit and have solid portfolios. Unlike the last time, most of the stocks leading the way on the big board are paying dividends, turning profit, and aren't mired in debt while leaning on what business they 'may be conducting in the future'. These are solid stocks, with solid pasts and solid futures. People always ask me about stocks, as I'm one of my only people in my group of friends heavily (self) invested in stocks, how do you do it? Well, first, it's not rocket science...investing is all around us, everyday...we simply ignore it. Back in 99-01, when every "Johnny come lately day trader" busted onto the scene selling off their chips for diluted tech crap...I sold them what tech crap I had and bought up their blues at bargin basement prices. Just take a look around your house at the numerous products you cannot do without, (soda, candy, cereal, bread, etc) and read the packaging. Who makes those products?! Those are the companies to buy, the ones that will be here for a long time to come because they sell products we cannot live without. Drug companies is another one. People will always get sick, people will need meds. The key is buying them when they're low -- which they aren't anymore -- because people learned from the tech sector the first time around. Oh, and futuremore, this is why trickledown is bulls***. The uninitiated into the global marketplace doesnt stand a chance, because the only info they have on investing is what comes from the experts -- who do not lose even if you do. If you're interested in investing, just look around -- and buy companies you know have been here, and will be here for years to come. For example, Tootsie Roll company (haha, laugh if you will), but in a recession or downturned economy, when people cannot afford cars and expensive computers -- they can still afford a 2cent tootsie roll candy. Great points. To add a little bit, I was reading where while earnings have exploded since the 2000-2001 recession, stock prices have risen much more modestly. As a result, the P/E ratio of the S&P 500 is only 15 or so right now as opposed to the 23-24 that it was during the height of the dot-com bubble. This implies that stock prices have a lot more room to run. Additionally, since most U.S. multinationals do a lot more business overseas now than they used to, their earnings are not affected nearly as much during a downturn in the U.S. economy as they once were. This is why corporate earnings have continued to increase drastically even as our own economy slows somewhat. QUOTE(kapkomet @ May 8, 2007 -> 07:26 AM) ok, honestly, this run by the current market is totally unfounded and ridiculous. I have a feeling what we're seeing is some (ahem) foreign buying here to push things up to an "irrational" level. There's more then meets the eye on this "rise" of the markets, IMO. You can ask SS2K about this one but there's so much liquidity sloshing around out there that it ain't even funny. This cash has to be put to work somewhere so in an environment where corporate earnings are soaring the only answer is stocks.......hence this runup. I kinda wish they'd take a little breather for a week or so but I'm certainly not going to look a gift bull market in the mouth.

I think people need to stop getting offended over every little thing. So what if a bunch of people threw a party and made jokes at someone elses expense. Grow the f*** up already.

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 6, 2007 -> 10:40 PM) American dogs are man's best friend, not Iraqi dogs . . . This Iraqi dog was standing 3 feet in front of us as we opened the door to the roof of this house and it gave us a dirty look. That was pretty much all I needed at that point cause we were half expecting a firefight in there. QUOTE(Texsox @ May 6, 2007 -> 08:25 PM) Once again we seem to be trying to help a country who doesn't want to help themselves or us. It that scenario, no matter what we do, when we leave it's chaos all over again. That was our assessment as well.

Things had been quiet for the last several days but today was different. It's not that we took contact today but someone else did. We were taking a bunch of new guys around this morning. These are the ones that are taking over our sector so we can move to the one immediately north. While we're out cruising around we hear this large boom. We come to find out that there was an EFP ( those explosive formed penetrators ) that went off right outside the Iraqi Police compound on the main highway. The blast killed a soldier from another unit, one that we always used to see around here. We had rolled past the blast site not 30 minutes before it went off. This whole deal pissed us off royally because even though we can't prove it, we're all absolutely sure the Iraqi Police were in on it somehow. Either they did it themselves or they purposefully turned their heads the other way while someone else did it. It's pretty much unanimous in our platoon that these guys should be lined up and shot. We always knew they were more crooked than a barrel of snakes but this is just off the charts. What does it say about things when the ones that are supposed to be our allies do something like that?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 4, 2007 -> 03:38 PM) I think a big part of the reason for this is that as far as the majority of Americans go, this economy is still not trickling down. To my eyes, it's the same reason why ads last year trying to run on the "Strong economy" didn't work for the party in power...the average person just doesn't feel this economy is anywhere near as strong as the market does. I can go up and down the list. Higher oil prices. Inflation (I'm paying 20% more for milk than I was a mere 4 months ago!). The weakening of the housing market (vacancies are at a record high now), the bankruptcy bill, skyrocketing health care prices, the fact that the job market is sputtering along barely able to keep up with population growth, and the complete stagnation of median income over the past few years. I know for a fact that you can tell me all you want about how great the Stock Market is doing, that doesn't change the fact that I'm working 2 jobs right now because the Fiancee can't find one. When people's personal economic situation is in the tank, no amount of stories about how great the stock market is doing will change their opinion of the situation. In many cases the fact that people's personal economic situation is jacked up is their own fault. They all want flat panel TVs, a full new set of furniture every couple of years, the latest and greatest gadgets and on and on and on. None of this stuff is needs, it's wants and they don't make the salaries to get it all so they buy on credit and rack up mountains of high interest debt. This one really ticks me off. The also want to buy a home when they don't have the money for a down payment so they get these crazy sub-prime loans and then have the balls to whine when interest rates go up and they get their throats cut. All that tells me is that they don't research the potential risks of such a venture or they simply don't care. Your average consumer knows jack and squat about properly managing their money. They make financial decisions based on instant gratification versus long term planning. If you live within your means and park some money in investments then anyone can benefit from this stock market surge. I don't make the greatest salary in the world but I'm making out like a bandit these days because when I was 20-21 I was already saving a rather large percentage of my pay. QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 4, 2007 -> 07:43 AM) Heck after the one day of a 4% correction, Paul Krugman had already written up a facitious article about the collapse of the stock market from the perspective of a year in the future. The sharks have been waiting for the economy to go into the tank for a while now. You have the balls to ride out blips in the market and hang in there you can't miss. The day after that big drop I put a bunch of idle cash to work in my existing mutual funds and it has paid off nicely.

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 3, 2007 -> 11:56 AM) http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/05/0...reut/index.html I guess they don't like unbiased, first person, descriptions and accounts. no comment.

Yesterday we did the second sweep through the ville. It was a long day to say the least. We pulled guard on one of the outposts for 24 hours, then went into preperation for the mission and then went at it. We went through the eastern half of “cache strip” ( named that way because of all the weapons cache's and gunfire we encounter there ) yesterday and searched a mosque and a bunch of houses. The house search didn’t turn up much in our sector but one of the other platoons found a bunch of IED stuff, ammunition and fake uniforms. After we were done searching houses, we were given word to go clear a bunch of mud huts. Before we did it, we got stuck waiting on word from higher to actually go do it. So, me and 3 other guys went up on a roof to look for sniper activity. We ended up getting shot at from across the highway so we opened up on the guy. I think we hit him too because he staggered off the roof and down some stairs dragging one of his legs behind him. Once we went through the mud huts, we made it about a quarter of the way through when we ran across a half buried wire stretching across the open field. We traced it to a white car, but didn’t get too close because we thought it led to an IED. We called in EOD to blow it and then raided the house where the wire led back to. Nobody was home except for a dog ( which we shot ) so we turned the place upside down. The command wire led to a breaker switch. We took video of it and then destroyed it with our shotgun. After that, we exfilled the area and returned to base. I then proceeded to sleep for the next 14 hours cause I was so gassed. Next few days look fairly quiet. Aside from that, it looks like we're going to take over a new sector. The area immediately north of our current one is where we're going and it's plenty hot up there. Every time we have guard on the outpost nearby here we can hear gunfire coming from there almost constantly. Looks like a fun time! More to follow.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Apr 27, 2007 -> 08:30 AM) Nuke, regarding the bomb makers being let go. Can you elaborate anymore on that? How is that f***in possible? I mean with the evidence you provided, how can the brass over there allow them back on the streets. We are holding people in Gitmo for less than that, so what gives? Are they going to give up some intelligence or something. I just can't fathom any scenario that these bomb makers should have been let go. Their release will most likely result in more death. Godspeed!! That story had a happy ending that I forgot to write about. Basically what happened was that the decision to let them go had already been made. However, in the last couple of days before their scheduled release there were no less than 4 more IED's found in sector that had already been planted which were made of fire extinguishers filled with explosive material. That finally convinced the incompetent boobs who run things around here that they needed to be put away for a while.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 26, 2007 -> 10:19 AM) You can't tell me that someone like Cheryl Crow buying carbon offsets from an unregulated market is the same as her reducing her traveling party to save the enviornment. The system is inherantly flawed, and probably isn't a realistic solution as I see things. I bolded your three suggestions, and I fully believe that only the last two are realistic solutions. This is my favorite part right here. These hollywood types, who are little more than a bunch of sanctimonious doucheholes, go around whining about how horrible the SUV is for the environment. They do this after flying a bunch of private jets ( dont even try to tell me they use commercial ) which drink more fuel in 4 hours than an SUV can in a year.

It's really good to see that our higher headquarters is finally sick and tired of our guys getting hit out in sector. Yesterday we did a major sweep through the Sunni area ( we always, ALWAYS get shot at when we go through there ) with a few hundred guys. Didn't turn up anything incriminating while searching houses but we did discover and neutralize 2 IED's in the roads and we also killed 2 more boneheads. One of the guys we smoked was, we think, a trigger man for the IED's because he ran from the site where they were found when he saw the swarm of humvees coming at him. The other guy took a shot at one of my trucks and the gunner finished him off with a couple of quick bursts. When we drove by at the end of the day we could still see his sorry ass hanging out the window. Kinda funny really. Today should be quiet for us. Maybe tinker with the trucks a little bit and that's about all really. More fun stuff coming up here in a couple of days. I'll be back with details when it's all over with.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Apr 26, 2007 -> 09:31 PM) actually, the good economy got tons of press during the Clintion admin. a low dollar value does not necessarily indicate a weak economy. right now, the high value of the Euro actually hurts that economy. there is a reason China keeps it's currency at a low value. the EU is upset with the US and China because they feel both countries are purposely keeping it's currency at a low value, creating an unfair economic advantage. Who are they to whine about unfair economic advantages when they subsidize companies like Airbus with government money.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Apr 26, 2007 -> 01:30 PM) What is troubling to me is the show of force for a "white collar" crime. Guns drawn etc. I wonder what they were expecting? If I were in that neighborhood I'd probably not feel comfortable unless I was armed also. As for these people. I don't know who the bloody hell they think they are. They feel as though they can just flout the law and then start a protest when they get arrested for doing so. And we tolerate it. We tolerate it because all these whiny leftist diversity nazi's get a woody at the thought of this country being overrun by illegal aliens.

Just when I thought things were starting to quiet down some here in sector..............well........you know where this is going. This morning we got ourselves into a wild firefight with a bunch of AK toting boneheads running around taking potshots at us. It started innocently enough, we went to the local power station to check on the progress of repairs there. Well, there weren't any repairs done and the place was abandoned ( no wonder they never have power in that area ). We left there and as we were going out on a dirt road one of our trucks sunk in the mud. Me and a couple of my guys got out and hooked up our chains to pull him out and just as I got done snapping a picture of what was going on, we got opened up on from the highway which runs parallel to the north. Me and my boys took cover and the rest of the platoon moved in to cover us so we could pull the stuck vehicle out. Once we got him loose we called in that we were being shot at and moved north to find out who was doing it. As soon as we got up on the highway we took fire from an abandoned house. We proceeded to light that sucker up. All 4 humvees fired on that place at once with our 240's and 50 cal. Yeah, not much was left of the place. While we were looking around for a place to pull off the highway to go investigate, we took fire from a bunch of little mud huts on the other side of the road. Same reaction. We all pulled on line and leveled like 4 of them with our guns. We make it onto this access road and yet another house opens up on us.......and yet another house gets shot to hell with machine gun fire. So we finally get to the houses we were told to go clear and THEN things get interesting. Me and a bunch of guys got off the trucks to go clear it and the gate is locked with a chain. One round from my M4 took care of that and we go in. Right as we reach the top of the stairs, we get opened up on again! This time we had rounds impact all around us and one even grazed off the back of one guys helmet ( no injury ). We found lots of brass and some blood in the place. Whoever it was didn't quite get out before the shooting started. We took cover inside of the now empty house until the trucks could suppress the fire coming at us on the ground. Once that was done, we all scrambled out of this place and got on board. Now that we're all back on the trucks we start driving back and forth down the main highway trying to bait whoever was left into shooting at us again. Our friends in the mud huts start up with a couple of shots so we all get on line again and cut loose on this area again. It was kinda funny, I just kept telling my gunner to sweep right with his fire and all the other guys had pretty much the same idea. This time we leveled like 20 of these places. If there was anyone even close to that area they got toasted badly. After that was done we spotted a pile of sandbags on a roof ( in the same are we took fire from ) that sorta looked like a sniper position so we lit that up, and the rest of the house, also. By now all the fire in the area stopped. Our friends either s*** their pants and fled or they're grease stains in those mud huts. Only reason we didn't go down toward the mud huts to check it out is because they sometimes use small arms fire to bait us into an IED attack. We're a little too smart for that so we just left once the firing stopped. WHEW!!! What a day!!! Time to chill out, stuff my face and take a nap before we go out again later on tonight.

Im defenitely wanting to do a cruise up to Alaska. I'll make that happen when I get back from Iraq. Also, I'd like to visit London, England at some point soon. That one's on the radar screen but not sure when I'll be able to do it.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Apr 22, 2007 -> 06:40 PM) Wow a baseball avatar on a baseball site, amazing :-) Must be a steer or a queer.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GO WITH THE PITCH!??!?! 4-3 now.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Apr 21, 2007 -> 12:38 PM) Robertson has lived on the outside corner of the plate. We have yet to record a hit. Coincidence? Molina's last swing says everything -- attempting to pull an outside pitch to the leftside for a weak out. SSI can't like what he's seeing. Haven't you heard? The farther you hit the ball into the stands the more runs you get! SO SWING HARD!!!

QUOTE(Texsox @ Apr 21, 2007 -> 09:06 AM) Within our current laws, what do you propose that we could have done with him? There are some people here who appear a little off their rocker (Soxy, is that the medical term) and are prone to outbursts. What should we do in those cases? One thing I heard talked about would be reforming the 1968 guidelines that state that anyone who was involuntarily committed to a mental institution can't buy a gun. Tweaking it to say anyone who has been to one whether voluntary or not should not be able to get one. That's something I can support.

EAT s*** KITTIES!!!!!!!!!! GREAT TO BE BACK ON THE WINNING SIDE OF THE LEDGER!!!!!!!!!! DANKS WAS ON IT TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!! PEN IS ALL OVER IT YET AGAIN!!!!!!!!! GREAT WIN ALL AROUND FOR THE GOOD GUYS!!!!!!!! GIMMIE A HELL YEAH!!!!!!

Can you tell its Mark's contract year? He's been pitching his ass off this season.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Apr 20, 2007 -> 06:30 PM) What will stop the next massacre? And actually I believe some of the legislation that comes out of these situations is good and not knee jerk. Sometimes the unthinkable has to happen before we can plan and react. MADD and Amber alerts both were knee jerk reactions to a tragedy. Well for one thing this massacre could have been prevented had someone paid attention when that teacher raised a red flag that this guy was a little off his rocker.

Not a lot has happened since my last entry. It's been quiet in sector and aside from the other section sergeant in my platoon being a total douchehole things are alright here in the unit also. We had the memorial service this evening for the soldier we lost earlier this week. Needless to say it was a very sad occasion for all involved. On a lighter note, I found out when my 2 weeks of R&R leave is going to be. Looks like I'll be leaving here on the 29th of May and probably be home no later than the 1st of June. I was hoping to go sometime in July or August but I'll take what I can get. It'll be party time for me for sure! Tomorrow my guys dont have a mission so we'll probably spend the day tinkering with the trucks, actually eat all 3 meals and watch a movie or 2.