Corcoran Brothers

I looked for this story a long time ago and couldn’t find it, but a Fark thread linking to Very Special Forces spurred me on to resuming the search, with positive results!

Department Of Homeland Security Deputizes Real Mean Dog

WASHINGTON, DC—Unveiling its newest weapon in the fight against terrorism Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced the deputization of Rufus, a big ol’ mongrel ornery enough to make Al Qaeda think twice about carrying out an attack against the U.S.

“Rufus here has one wild hair up his ass ’bout most everything,” said Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, as he introduced the dog, a Rottweiler-pitbull-Doberman mix, to the White House press corps. “But I got a feelin’ Rufus has a ’specially wild hair to fetch him up some of them Ay-rab terrorist types.”…

Rufus is widely regarded as the meanest dog employed by the State Department since Bocephalus, a hard-on of a coon hound who was, by all accounts, crazier than possum fuck. Bocephalus made worldwide headlines in October 1979 when he attempted to tree the Ayatollah.

Read the whole thing. Yulavious.

So I have this crazy ethical debate every other day or so. On post, there is a guy who drives an SUV with two distinguishing additions: a Purple Heart license plate, and a big sticker that shows Calvin pissing on the Red Sox logo. My brain damaged self can’t deal with it. I want to jeer him and give him a Dorchester kiss for his disrespect of the 2004 WS Champs, but he is an injured combat veteran, which is cause for respect. What do I do?*

* This is all hypothetical, since I’d never verbally assault a soldier for their baseball leanings, nor throw a D-cell battery at their windshield.

I’m betting if’n da kine did have his wee rollover and was still there, shit never woulda gotten lost.

New York Daily News - Entertainment - In Iraq, James sees action
“All those people know they could be me,” {ed - Jesse} James said. “I’m one of them. That’s why I went over there to build a custom car. I’m not like a musician. I can’t go over and play songs. I can go over and weld stuff.”

It’s James’ second trip to Iraq. He visited just after the war started in 2003. This trip took a bit of planning, since he had to bring virtually everything needed to build the car to the base. For added hassles, the stuff got lost - and found - in Kuwait.

From Newsweek by way of MSNBC:

If movie trailers are supposed to cause a reaction, the preview for “United 93″ more than succeeds. Featuring no voice-over and no famous actors, it begins with images of a beautiful morning and passengers boarding an airplane. It takes you a minute to realize what the movie’s even about. That’s when a plane hits the World Trade Center. The effect is visceral. When the trailer played before “Inside Man” last week at the famed Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, audience members began calling out, “Too soon!” In New York City, where 9/11 remains an open wound, the response was even more dramatic. The AMC Loews theater on Manhattan’s Upper West Side took the rare step of pulling the trailer from its screens after several complaints. “One lady was crying,” says one of the theater’s managers, Kevin Adjodha. “She was saying we shouldn’t have [played the trailer]. That this was wrong … I don’t think people are ready for this.”

Is it too soon? Are we ready? I think that is up to each individual, but I can’t fault either the filmmakers or the people who are not prepared to see this.

I personally think that it important to remember what happened, and a lot of folks have forgotten. Never mind debates about OEF, OIF, the Patriot Act, or whatever. I think everyone just needs to remember what happened that day, and never forget.

The trailer itself can be seen here.

I saw the trailer last week in the theater, and I found it very moving, but in one place, disturbing. At the end, they have the following words show up on the screen: “On the day we faced fear…we also found courage”. Upon my first viewing, I thought that somehow implied that what the courageous folks did on Flight 93 meant that somehow we (the American people) were courageous, and it pissed me off good. We weren’t heroes. The people on board that flight who did what they had to do were heroes. Upon a second viewing, I think it means we looked for and found courage during the course of the events, rather than internally. I hope thats what it means, but maybe they should change it anyway.

Or maybe keeping up with that boycott thing…

FT.com / World / Europe - Reprints of ‘offensive’ cartoons spark Islamic rage
“Any insult to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is an insult to more than 1bn Muslims and an act like this must never be allowed to be repeated,” said Hamid Karzai, Afghan president, strong western ally and moderate Muslim leader.

Gunmen in Gaza surrounded the local European Union office and threatened to kidnap citizens of countries where newspapers had published the cartoons.

Threatening to kidnap people is a very, very grave choice of a threat, given recent activities.

Here’s the cartoons they are so hoping mad about:

Yeah …. Thats worth killing some Euro-trash

Compare that reaction to this:

But the writer had big problems with a painting by Harlem artist “Tafa”. It depicts an upside down Christ-like figure with a face strongly resembling Osama Bin Laden. The email read in part, “This is outrageous. This is an attack against my religion. How can an artist go so low? Most people are outraged, most Christians.”

On the phone with me, the artist declined to do an on-camera interview, telling me the work speaks for itself, but adding, the resemblance to Bin Laden was no accident.

The art show’s producer Josh Wainwright, insisted he hadn’t even made the Bin Laden connection. “Knowing what you know now would you have barred the painting from being part of your show?” I asked. “Absolutely not,” he replied. Wainwright says he’s a military veteran and despises Bin Laden, but he added, “I don’t think it’s anyone’s job or vocation to limit the expression of artists.”

According to Breitbart: 

Iraqi and U.N. health officials said Monday a 15-year-old girl who died this month was a victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, the first confirmed case of the disease in the Middle East. Tests were under way to determine if the girl’s uncle, who lived in the same house, also died of the virus. He died 10 days later after suffering the same symptoms, officials said.Iraqi health authorities began killing domestic birds in northern Iraq, which borders Turkey, where at least 21 cases of the deadly virus have been detected. Turkey and Iraq also lie on a migratory path for numerous species of birds.”We regretfully announce that the first case of bird flu has appeared in Iraq,” Iraqi Health Minister Abdel Mutalib Mohammed told reporters in the Kurdistan city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad. 

Mohammed made the announcement after receiving results from a laboratory in Egypt that conducted tests on the girl, who died Jan. 17.

 

Much like a Fark contest, I want someone to tell me how to blame this on George W. Bush; not any further spread of the disease, as that is too easy the prospect of a bird flu outbreak in Iraq is especially alarming because the country is gripped by armed insurgency, but rather the initial infection and death of this girl and maybe the uncle.  Jake, I’m counting on you to come up with something good! 

If anyone hasn’t heard about the whole Joel Stein fiasco, then skip reading.  Maybe Google his name and see what’s what.  Long story short, he wrote a semi-humorous piece in the LA Times about how he doesn’t support the troops.  The right-wing blogosphere erupted on him.  The left-wing blogosphere apparently didn’t get the memo.  Whatevs.

Here’s the deal: there was nothing wrong with what he wrote.  He said what right-wingers have been pointing out for a long time: that it is hypocritical to support the troops while cursing the war in which they fight as imperialistic/for oil/misguided.  So what happens?   He gets pilloried and called unpatriotic.  That’s foolish.  He is being truthful and confirms the ranting of conservative pundits, yet they get angry at him for telling them they are right. Joel Stein was correct.  It IS hypocritical to be against the war but hold up those who fight in it as the bees knees.  Not supporting them is completely different from protesting them as people, calling them baby killers, and making a fuss outside of Walter Reed.  That earns a mofo a satchel speedbagging in my opinion.  But to be against the war and still have a yellow ribbon magnet on your car is asinine.  I disagree with Mr. Stein about the necessity for the war, his dislike of parades, and some of his comments on I Love the 80s, but other than that, he’s shiny.

PS: I really don’t care if someone has a yellow ribbon on their car, or a bumper sticker, or anything.  That doesn’t indicate to me that they are more patriotic, understand the military more, or any of that. The only ones I notice are those that say ”Half My (Heart) is in Iraq”, or something similar, because they deserve special treatment.  I can tell you that being deployed is far easier than being at home whilst a loved one is deployed.  Those stickers I notice.

PPS: I’ve conducted some unscientific research and it truly freaks us out when people approach us and thank us for what we do.  I’ve confirmed this with 10-15 other soldiers.  I don’t know why, but it is scary.  Save the adulation for Audie Murphy.

As Kin-Yah mentioned earlier, Edo did come home for a visit. That’s why the Miracleed tab has been removed, only brothers serving overseas get their own tab. And I will now confirm that Sean actually did cry like a pussy er baby.

It was most humorous, Colleen was telling the story of how her friends had asked if “Santa” (last year played by Edo) had come to visit this year. Colleen had said no, Santa was (not allowed to say, essentially overseas). I then stated yeah, but you know, Santa does have the magical ability of getting around the world in the blink of an eye. With impeccable timing, Edo pulls in the driveway at that moment. Colleen, having no idea what the fuck I am talking about, starts wondering why I had developed a tourettes type tick nudging my head towards the door.

There was an issue when Edo almost performed a leg sweep on Kin Yah when he would not stop the hugging, but it all went well in the end.

Xmas was wonderful, and Edo and JoeDaYuz came over that night for a glorious Xmas Rib Feast. We also had a wee going back to Dixie dinner the night before Edo left, these are where the pictures are from.

We are all proud of Edo for his service, dedication, coming home safe, and his giant balls. Literally.

stridency. heck you don’t hear that a lot.

my christmas morning was truly made when ed showed up for breakfast. that’s right, from somewhere dusty to beautiful somerset in mere days. i cried like a baby, a hungry angry baby. and then we ate a lot of bacon, eggs, breads, sausage, etc. it was great to see him (and in one piece, i might add). and for the ladies… ed looked very hunky.

new years weekend was exhausting. tim and i backfilled around the foundation that we excavated months ago, installed the stone in the basement and dug two trenches, one 120 feet and another 160 feet. when digging the water line trench, i had to pull out a boulder the size of a yugo. wasn’t too sure how that was gonna work. turned out okay.

additionally, on new year’s eve i put in a grueling shift at the pub working the door for a private party. very difficult. $60 for open bar (7pm - 2am) and unreal eats, beef tenderloin, chicken cordon bleu, baked stuffed shrimp, littlenecks, etc. the only real problems were the six or so gate crashers. no fisticuffs, but very close to raising my voice.

somehow i only gained four pounds over the holidays. i think it’s because i didn’t drink enough. oh well, there’s always next year.

Part of Da Kine’s new assignment is helping split off the support unit he is with from the 25 ID (l) to a self-sustained indepedent unit, the 45th Sustainment Brigade. As a newly created unit, they require their own special ID, their own colors as it were. But, who decides and designs the new colors?

Well, in this case, Da Kine did.

Below is the 25th’s unit patch and symbolism:

On a red taro leaf, 2 7/8 inches (7.30cm) in height, and 2 inches (5.08cm) in width at the widest point, with stem up, surrounded by a 1/8 inch (.32cm) yellow border, a yellow lightning flash per pale 1-13/16 inches (4.60cm) in height.
The taro leaf is indicative of the descent of the 25^th Division from the Hawaiian Division, while the lightning flash is representative of the manner in which the Division performs its allotted assignments.

The old 45th Corps Support Group used the United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) patch:

Da kine combined the two to create, submit and have approved:

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