Doug

Wow, do you and Rush Limbaugh have the same writer?

Gary, This post was made from a mac and you probably can't even tell the difference. The cool factor alone should convince you to go Mac. Do it, you will never regret it!

I sent my sinuses to Arizona I sent my lungs to Peru I sent my liver and my kidney For the summer in Sydney But I'm sending my heart to you!

That crag was created when Chuck Norris gave a roundhouse kick to the side of Cougar Mountain.

I gave up that freaky stuff. The costumes and batteries were getting too expensive.

So does anyone here think that Blackwater is being made a sacrificial lamb of sorts? Fundamentally, I have no problem with a company like Blackwater existing and playing a role in a conflict where the U.S. has plenty of citizens around. In many cases it probably makes sense for guard details (e.g. strictly defensive) to be outsourced to a company that has the caliber of personnel they do. Even if every now and then one of them goes off an gets trigger happy, how are we who are sitting here in the comforts of our own homes spraying away on cc.com going to adequately judge whether or not them firing their weapons was really provoked? I mean shit, you can't depend on reliable witnesses in that culture; and in the environment they are in every moving vehicle is a potential offensive threat. To me the issue about a company like that being there is that they may be there a little pre-maturely. As long as there is still a military operation in effect, only the military should be there performing that mission. I'm sure there are a hundred arguments against that out there, but hey it's just my opinion. One item of interest, and I hate to drag this into a partisan debate (like it's not already), but go to the Fox News website. Not one mention of the Iraq War/Conflict. Not one mention of Blackwater. Go to CNN.com. 3 mentions of it, including the headline story. Now I know I'm labled as a flaming liberal tug job because I hate GW and I'm against THIS war, but I gotta tell you, I don't get fair and/or balanced from either of those sources.

needless to say, NSFW

Shit. 7 years of my life down the drain Thanks guys

how about a big "i don't give a flying corner fuck"

superplabafunalisticgnarlyandatrocious

Sad news, bad ending.

This kind of gets back to the liability question I asked about. Is BW under contract to the US Government, or are they licensed to work there privately undersponsorship of the US Gov? I suspect maybe a combo of both? Do they protect both diplomats and and civilian VIP's/contractors? If working under US Govt' contracts there would normally be some level of protection for BW under whatever SOFA agreement existed between us and Iraq, though you make it sound as though that is non-existent. That is of course if they are performing an adjunct mission to the US Forces. If they are working under contract to civilian contractor or other non US Govt' entity under sponsorship then there may be some provisos in the license that cover them in certain circumstances.

Jesus, the H1 Hummer of jack knives. If you can't find something to pick your teeth with on this thing, well let's just say it is you.

excellent post Scott. I think it makes sense that the US government pays for these cats to do this job. The Iraqi Government and the press singling out and sensationalizing this story in that environment reminds me of one of my favorite lines from Apocolyse Now: "Charging someone with Murder here is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500".

Prolly heard that Connie won't put out, therefore not worth interrupting the holiday.

congress. the opposite of progress.

I read a novel titled "The Wall", written by Jeff Long. Interesting story of a couple of guys trying to recapture glory on a route they pioneered in Yosemite 30 years later. Great read. Annapurna - Herzog K2 The Savage Mountain - Curran This Game of Ghosts - Simpson

Hey Porter, I think I found out what happened to your missing meds.

So with actual proof that some kind of weapon exists, France is willing to do something other than stand on the sidelines and watch? Amazing.

As a dad and as a climber this dude ought to be strung up by his gonads. I got an e-mail today from someone who posts here about a climbing incident regarding a guy with two 10 year olds. I hope he sanitizes the e-mail and posts it here. Totally frickin' irresponsible!

Interesting. I thought of you when I read the article today. So these guys and other security firms work under contract to the US Govt' and have to be licensed or otherwise blessed by the Iraqi Govt to operate in country? Just out of curiosity, if they are under contract to the US Govt' and an incident occurs like the one in the article at what point does Iraqi Law allow the victims families to go after either BW or the US Govt'? What kind of law is there in Iraq right now? My curiosity comes from working in Government contracting and some liability issues we've been looking at.

John Kruk, rotund former baseball player was once chided by a woman because of his cherubic physique. Something about not looking like an athlete to whoch her replied "hey lady, I'm not an athlete, I'm a ball player".

Never mind that other shit, use Ramuta. He's a swell guy. Really

Yeah, I'm thinking the quality of spray will significantly decrease until Porter gets hooked up to the interwebs thing. Or at least the quantity.

Sucky sucky sucky Get well soon and come back stronger.