Corcoran Brothers

Our very first VODKA (Virtual Online Da Kine Award) Has been awarded. We were much bemused that it was neither virtual nor online.

Jake received the award in the category of “Most supportive having never met Da Kine” Hell, Jake gets it for being most supportive period. On the thread, Jake made 15 well-wishing comments, on his own blogs he posted about this at least 6 times.

It was with great honor, Jake was presented the first VODKA.

UPDATE - I apologize to the IE users on behalf of Microsoft, who refuses to follow CSS standards. If you had to scroll way down to see the picture, or posts, I have corrected the issue, obviously. And for fooks sake, get Firefox!

I’ve been a fan of FX for a minute now, on account of The Shield and Rescue Me. FX has gone above and beyond with developing original series, and has a whole slew of new ones coming out in the next few weeks. Among them are promising comedies Starved and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The promos look good on those and I have the Tivo set. Drama is getting no short shrift, though. Over There is a new drama concerning OIF that I peeped on the Tivo this evening. Nip/Tuck has been big for a while now, though I was so confused catching it mid-second-season that I haven’t really had a chance to get into it. Cheers to FX for trying to make shit happen.

Unfortunately, Over There has some issues. All of the discussion on the internets I’ve seen about it deal with whether it is for or against the war in Iraq. God’s honest truth, I couldn’t tell. TV shows don’t need to be plot-driven in order to succeed. Look at any Law and Order series; they have very little plot going for them, but they’re damn fine shows regardless. Likewise, to a lesser extent, CSI. Who had a crush on whom? Which CSI member got in trouble for doing something bad? I can’t remember, because CSI leaves all that serial plotting to LA Law and NYPD Blue. Over There may very well develop a plot, but after one episode, I highly doubt it. I love William Faulkner, but if someone is dumb enough to make a TV series about The Sound and the Fury, they better pitch it to whoever greenlit Over There. I have a script for Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake I want to develop…

But see, as a military person meself, the lack of plot wasn’t the part I disliked most. Oh, no: far from it. Much like Kinshay seeing a movie with lots of guns in it, I start to immediately tick off inconsistencies, mistakes, and silliness whenever I see something dealing with the military. To bring up Law and Order again, any time they have something with the Army in it, Courtney and I have to giggle at how wrong they get everything. But that is one part of one episode on occasion, not the whole series. While watching Over There (with high expectations), I thought I’d start writing down the goofs for shits and giggles. Listen to me, friends. I am going to be completely serious. I came up with glaring mistakes every 5-10 seconds. This isn’t piddling shit, like someone is wearing their rank 1/4″ too low or their boots have the wrong soles. If anything, they were dressed damned fine. No, this was all fundamental stuff that indicates to me that nobody involved in producing this show had any experience with the military of today, or even the military at all. After 5 minutes, with fully 50 mistakes identified, I had to stop noting them because my gimp hand got mad sore. If someone has seen the show, shoot me an e-mail and I can go over some of the more memorable ones. To reiterate: the previous point is not an exaggeration. I saw glaring mistakes every 5-10 seconds.

Despite the load of shite I just dropped on the show, I still have to give props to FX. At least they aren’t dropping all kinds of “reality” bullshit on the public and turning our beloved country dumb in the process. To paraphrase David Cross, Over There is a better watch than World’s Funniest Retards.

Jake posted a story about WMD’s found in Hawaii (frogs.) He was gauranteed some good comments for the following reasons:

1. Jenn is High Priestess of invasive species, and has been mildly amused with our dick jokes, whacky politics and other ramblings, waiting to pounce.

2. Da kine. Anything Hawaii da kine has to comment on. He is our pacific correspondent.

3. kinyahbrutha’s undying hatred of Senator J. Kalani (not a girl’s name) English. While it has been a long time since he has raised that particular punching bag, we all appreciate it when he does.

kinyah of course linked to the original post, I checked it out. During the Textpattern to Wordpress comversion, we lost about 100 - 200 posts and around 1,000 comments. Considering the quality of most of the old stories we linked to, I did not become too concerned. But when I saw only 4 comments on what I consider to be our finest post/commenting ever, I knew it had to be fixed.

Luckily when I did the conversion, I created a new database, and restored a backup to it, then ran the conversion. The original textpattern DB is intact. It took quite a bit of searching, but I found all the original comments.

Rather than spend two days figuring out the proper SQL to dump them in the right spot, I exported the name, post time and comment from everyone, then added them as normal, then edited them to the proper name and timestamp. I did not carry over the email addresses and websites. I tired to keep it as close to the original as possible, thought the INSERT statements made it a little difficult. You may see a few extra ‘ around, or a missed /n/r. These are not the posters typos, only my poor redaction skillz.

I am proud of what we had on that day, Febuary 12, 2004. It showed what we were made of. Even in extreme spanking of a public figure, we were not afraid to rightly criticize each other on points. I do not know if I would have had the stones Jake did to show da kine he was wrong on the haole issue. Jake and I both busted on da kine when his written did not come across with the inflection he intended.

We talked about an official, and then we asked their opinion. We posted his response, but showed what a coward he was, not responding again once we had a rough translation.

You all may have have noticed how much shit is gone from the sidebar, et al. No more categories, excessive links, banners for causes. I took them all down. Why? Cause this is not that kind of site. This is not, and will not be an Agitator, an Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, Ace of Spades, Andrew Sullivan or even Blahstuff. No one clicks on the category links, no one delves into the archives (unless looking for something specific, and the search box is there for that.) I stopped posting about news stories everyday because the big guns cover them. Unless it fires me up or makes me think of something worth saying, why post it? It’s covered. What difference does my having a banner on the site do? This site isn’t for the untold masses. It’s for us. The Brothers and our family and friends. A stranger may find us from google, but they won’t bookmark us. That’s fine. I am here to be with you, not to get hits. On the sidebar is not the shortened metadata, the most recent comments, which we all love, the most recent Flickr pics, and links to all the brothers, our friends, and selfishly, my daily reads. Why selfishly? They are not there so much as promotion as for me to click on when I am not near my proper bookmarks.

I started using webstat.net on da kine’s page, then this one. I used to use a log analyzer, but it was a pain in the ass, and I never trusted the numbers. Webstats uses a wee tiny javascript to track, and the numbers were smaller, but more trustworthy I think. We average about 50 hits per day. I know for sure where about 10 of those come from. Then someone will tell me they check the site all the time and I am shocked. Family, friends of the family, people we know overseas, etc. I still can’t belive it is 50 a day. Nationalz is averaging almost as high as ours, mostly baseball fans in a virtual webring. da kine did it right. He read all the Nats blogs, picked out the best ones he was going to read, and emailed them: “Yo guy, I like your shit, I am gonna link to you. Check my stuff, if you like it, link, if not, that’s cool, I’m still gonna link to you.” His readership grew from 3 (literally) to high 40’s overnight. Much like Jake has blog interaction with Flopped the Nuts (hands down the best poker blog , maybe all blog, name ever) and other poker blogs. da kine has a readership of people he will never meet. We all know each other.

Everyone is welcome to comment. If you’re reading this, at least one of us knows you. If you have something to say, don’t worry, say it. If needed, I’ll throw a lil introduction on there. (pssst, I am speaking directly at you Axe-Man, master carpenter. We still need to double.)

Again, I’m proud of what we have here. We have fun most times, frustration at times (all of us have spent an hour or two writing what is sure to be a killer post sparking awesome dialogue only to get no comments, more than once a brutha has said they are not posting again from no comments) debate, and best and worst of all, in our darkest hour, we easily communicated, hurt and prayed together. Without picking up a phone, within 12 hours, hundreds of people followed a fallen brother’s plight from all of the states, Ireland, England, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.

Back to my point, while we may not be Instapundit, kinyahbrutha reminded me that one day we were king of them all, even if they didn’t know it.

I urge you all to read again our finest work:

My Governor Can Kick Your Governor’s Ass

I recall seeing this link a while ago: Forsake the Troops. I got all steamed up at first, then realized it was just some douchie looking for attention. The guy wants to be hated, makes him feel whatever… I didn’t even post about it since it would only give him what he wants (3 more hits.)

It did makes it’s way around the right side of the blogosphere, with all the expected response. No reason to post there either.

Til I found this via SondraK. Oh shit thats some good stuff. How can someone who validates his existence by being an asshole not smell the setup? Too much fun.

* NOTE the new category - NSFW: Not Safe for Work. (Rach mighta missed it, and would have seen the “guy with a 7 inch penis growing out of his ass” )

I used to think I was a tough guy ’cause I strolled around on a hog that I did my own work on: chopping the fender, painting it flat black, putting on some new turn signals and a side-mount license plate and brake light…that was then, this is now:
bq. When he belches around Baghdad’s old quarter on his spotless Harley Davidson, Kadhem Sharif, a powerlifting champion sporting wrap-around sunglasses, makes for an unlikely sight. And the 53-year-old is fully aware that his passion for one of the most recognizable symbols of the American way of life is not to everybody’s liking in post-war Iraq.

bq. But his garage is a carbon copy of any Harley aficionado’s den in the United States, complete with posters of naked “babes on bikes.” And his collection of 40-plus motorbikes provides a condensed history of 100 years of national turmoil…

bq. About half of his motorbikes are Harleys. “I was 12 when I sneaked out on my father’s Harley for the first time. I bought my first one eight years later, a 1966 Fatboy,” Sharif recalls.

bq. When Saddam Hussein’s feared elder son Odai helped himself to one of his favourite Harleys, “it was almost like losing a child.”

bq. “Odai came back after the 1996 assassination attempt against him and ordered me to convert the bike into a three-wheeler because he was handicapped … I started hiding my best Harleys because I was afraid he would take more.”

Not only does this cat have much love for the Hahleys, but he also has much love for the troops and hated Saddam Hussein:

bq. Despite the intimidating size of his chest and forearms, the former Iraqi bench-press champion, known to his friends as “Mr. Muscle,” now risks an icy reception in insurgent strongholds as his face has become one of the symbols of the overthrow of Saddam’s regime.

bq. On April 9, 2003, Kadhem was one of the first to rush to Baghdad’s Fardus Square and pictures of the burly Shiite hacking away at the marble plinth of Saddam’s giant statue were beamed live around the world in one of the most enduring images of the regime’s ouster.

bq. “People in the neighborhood know me. I get on with everybody. U.S. soldiers used to block the road so they could spend some time in my garage,” Sharif says.

bq. “They sometimes bring me copies of motorcycling magazines and even bought me leather boots. I’m still in touch with one of them who is saving up all his money to buy my Harley chopper.”

If that isn’t a man’s man, I don’t know what is.

Many thanks to Matt for this link .

It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.
Robert E. Lee (1807 – 1870)

I thank God our’s are the best military forces in the world, best trained, best armed. I pray for their safety over glory. Do the job well, and come home.

STLtoday – News – Missouri State News:
JEFFERSON CITY—Gov. Bob Holden wrote President George W. Bush on Tuesday saying he was concerned about the use of Missouri National Guard soldiers to drive vehicles for civilian contractors in Iraq.

Holden said if they are, he strenuously objected to the “wrongful use of U.S. Army personnel in this manner.

You are so right. You are so goddamn right it makes me sick to think soldiers would drive civilian contractors. How dare we order soldiers to drive civilian contractors. It' s not like civilian contractors are GETTING THIER FUCKING HEADS CUT OFF. Why the fuck would we want to protect AMERICAN CITIZENS with AMERICAN ARMY PERSONNEL. Sure, there is no threat against American civilian contractors. Except that little beheading incident.

You fucking asshole. You absolute piece of shit. You think the military powers that be are coddling the civilians? That they don' t know how to properly allocate man power to respond to the threats against all Americans? You pompous blowhard. Let' s pull your state police detail and let you ride around Philidelphia, Nick Berg' s home town. You go to his house and explain how it is a misallocation of Army personnel.

This asshole gets the wrecking ball followed by a bismark. Delivered by this man.

Update - After a quick reality check with Da Kine, I decided against sending the post directly to the governor. I did however whip up a little something. Please note his email address and write to him, expressing your approval or disapproval.

From: Shay Corcoran
Subject: A response is requested
Date: May 12, 2004 2:59:16 AM EDT
To: mogov@mail.state.mo.us

Governor,

I am quite concerned about a story I read on the St Louis Today online page here:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/Missouri+State+News/AA30228B0255D5AE86256E910066EFA6?OpenDocument&Headline=Holden%3A+Missouri+soldiers+shouldn' t+drive+civilian+contracto

Is this factual? Can this quote truly be accurate?

“I can understand the necessity to occasionally use units and soldiers to do other non-traditional kinds of missions to accommodate the short-term dictates of the combat zone; but I cannot understand, nor support, the use of soldiers to provide labor for a civilian contractor,” Holden' s letter to Bush said.

“Clearly, the use of the 1221st Transportation Co. in this manner violates the traditional employment of soldiers in a manner that disregards the risks to the lives of these young Americans,” Holden wrote. “I ask you to immediately look into the inappropriate use of this unit and take all actions necessary to insist that our Army forces be used in a manner in which they have been organized and trained.

How is this inappropriate? A transportation company being used for transportation? Have you considered that the threat to civilian contractors is so high, that they are actually being protected by these soldiers? Given the cruel death Nick Berg, I cannot fathom that you would really politicize what is so clearly a necessary mission – protecting American Citizens. I wonder, if Nick Berg where from St Louis, would you letter have been of the opposite tone? Or do you believe that Americans doing a difficult job, under difficult circumstances and threat of abduction and murder are not worthy of American protection?

I would appreciate clarification on this issue.

Sincerely,

Shay Corcoran

Listen to the guys on the ground, they’ll give you the best intel.

FrontPage magazine.com :: A Plea from a Marine in Iraq by Robert Nofsinger

When we ask ourselves questions like, “Why do they hate us?” or “What did we do wrong?” we are playing into our enemies’ hands. Our natural tendency to question ourselves is being used against us to undermine our effort to do good in the world. How far would we have gotten if after the surprise attacks on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, we would have asked, “Why do the Japanese hate us so much?” or “How can we change ourselves so that they won’t do that again?” Here in Iraq the enemy is trying very hard to portray our efforts as failing and fruitless. They kill innocents and desecrate their bodies in hopes that the people back home will lose the will to fight for liberty. They are betting on our perceived weakness as a thoughtful, considerate people. Unfortunately our media only serves to further their cause.

Link stolen from Instapundit

I’m sure other blogs are covering this, but this story from Reuters recounts the last moments of the life of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of the four Italian hostages taken by Iraqi gunmen earlier this week. I nominate Signor Quattrocchi for immediate entry to the Hero List.

Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted earlier this week, was shot dead on Wednesday after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers’ demands and withdraw some 3,000 troops stationed in Iraq.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a video recording of the killing showed that Quattrocchi was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head.

“When the murderers were pointing a pistol at him, this man tried to take off his hood and shouted: ‘Now I’m going to show you how an Italian dies’. And they killed him,” Frattini said.

The man struggled to take off his hood to face his own death and by his example proved Silvio Berlusconi right: Western Civilization is superior to all others. While his thuggish, loathesome, scumbag kidnappers were afraid to look him in the eye while murdering him, he showed them what Italian men are made of.

If this doesn’t choke you up then you don’t have a heart.

Now look at the bottom of the story.

Rome’s traditional pro-Arab stance shielded Italians from past bouts of Middle East violence. Berlusconi has changed the diplomatic equation by proving a firm ally of Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Although many Italians have criticised this shift in emphasis, few people, apart from the hostages’ families, called for talks with the kidnappers.

“I absolutely oppose what is happening in Iraq, but I don’t think that the kidnap and murder of one person should be what shapes policy,” said Clara Biondo, a 26-year-old student in Milan. “That would be effectively paying them ransom.”

In Italy, even the anti-war crowd understands the cold facts regarding dealing with your enemies. Too bad the voters in Spain and the socialist elements in our own country don’t get it.

From The Washington Post:

Shortly before the U.S. invasion in March, Fippinger was one of several dozen human shields scattered around a refinery in Baghdad.
“We are planning to stay here in the refinery if war breaks out,” Fippinger said at the time. “We are staying here because we think this war is unjust.”

I find it very amusing that these brave souls who state the war is all about oil would choose to be shields at an oil refinery. Cause in a war where we want to steal your oil, the first place we would bomb is the refineries. Yeah. Brave people. Really sticking your neck out there.

I had no idea people were being fined for breaking the UN Sanctions by going to Iraq ante-bellum. Though being fined for violating international sanctions is something I want on my resume. Way cooler than a jaywalking ticket.