Headlines
MAIG Cooridinators Paid as City Employees
Robin Gibbs Dead
Donna Summer - Dead at 63
Vidal Sassoon assumes room temperature
A final grand but sad salute to US space supremacy
Dick Clark - who's got him?
Only in Wisconsin: Drunk 80 Year Old Hits Beer Truck
Anybody have Mike Wallace?
Observation Point Restrepo
(Guest post by LC Draco)
The unit -- 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (ABN), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team
For those of you unaware of the name and the story, it is an outpost named after one of the first soldiers killed at that outpost in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan (The Korengal Valley was regarded as “the deadliest place on Earth”). The story is about the soldiers who went in and set up an outpost in the middle of the night and how they fought to keep it!
If you have not seen the movie…GET IT, WATCH IT, then WATCH IT AGAIN!! It is an emotional, fierce and in-your-face documentary. It received the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. (One of the directors, Tim Hetherington, was the photojournalist killed in Libya on 20 April, 2011).
But now…to the trailer at the official web site. It is a peek into one OP of many and what some of our soldiers go through every day.
R.I.P. PFC Restrepo and your brothers that died there with you. You and your brethren display the TRUE American soldier!!
LC Draco
UPDATE:
Restrepo, A Year In Afghanistan is going to be shown on National Geographic channel Monday 25 April at 9pm, Eastern.
Shuttlecocked
Some of you may know, I am a big fan of the Last Frontier. No, not Alaska, though I’m sure Alaska is nice and all. I mean outer space. Stars, planets, asteroids, all that. I’ve been lucky to have met several astronauts and Mission Control specialists. And I have suffered with the rest of us as NASA became a political football, an AGW advocate, and finally, a muslim outreach center. When the decision to ground the Shuttle program came, I was a bit heartbroken, but with that came the reality that the Shuttles were getting past their prime.
To us mere mortals, that means it’s time to substitute that program with another. One that’s Better, Faster, Stronger™. But no…. that isn’t in the cards at this time. The Constellation Project has been severely scaled back, and the future of the Orion spacecraft is in serious doubt. Then when you read stuff like this, it makes you wonder if NASA is making a bully move to take someone else’s work.
But the bitter pill I can’t swallow has to be the snubbing of Johnson Space Center. Four STS spacecraft needing homes for display: Atlantis will go to Cape Canaveral (I refuse to use KSC), Discovery will go to the Smithsonian, Endeavour will retire to the California Science Center in L.A.
And the Enterprise will go to… New York City, to be displayed on board the U.S.S. Intrepid, because New York City has such a long history of space exploration….
Yes, I was upset. I was actually seething when I heard the announcements. And I also saw the confusion among some of the Canaveral employees when NYC was rewarded. And I called my dad, asking him if this was protocol, or a snub, or a joke. His answer was, this was not the NASA from my childhood. And he is right. It isn’t. Back then we wanted to explore the heavens and reach the stars. Now, NASA is more concerned with climate change and making people feel good. Maybe I’m harsh, or just jaded, because every kid I ever babysat always wanted to be an astronaut, and I seldom hear that from kids nowadays. And it makes me sad.
But Karma has a way of having the last laugh. And as my friend Dick pointed out, our state has more pressing issues as well as better places to allocate the huge financial burden that would have come with displaying a Shuttle. And knowing that California and New York are in dire financial straits….well, let’s just say there’s plenty of popcorn to pass around 
Milestone: 6400 Comments
Well, here at Hookers & Booze we’ve reached our 6400th comment.
The honor goes to mrmacs who said:
You forgot to add the following to the list of government mandated “improvements”:
clothes washers (Consumers Reports)
household thermostats (remote control by the power supplier)
cars (any number of government mandated “features”), etc.
Previous honorees:
3200th Comment -- hilljohnny
1600th Comment -- Nicole
800th Comment -- TheDudeAbides
400th Comment -- WAMK
200th Comment -- GWK
100th Comment -- LC Aggie Sith
Next stop is obviously #12800.
Happy 175th Birthday, Texas!!
Blessed is the child who is Texas born,
Where the wind blows free
And the Sun shines warm;
Where children grow up to be honest and true,
To believe in themselves, and in what they can do.
Learn from the past, live in the present, and look to the future.
Update [ArmedGeek]: I couldn’t let this day go by without posting this:
The Bucket List
Most of us have a list. THE list. Things-to-do-before-I-die list. That’s what I call it. “Bucket List” sounds like you are mopping up crap. And for some, I guess that would be accurate. I have had a list since I was about 17 years old. Some things are grand, like visiting the Taj Mahal (#46). Some things are mundane, like going camping with the family (#1). Others I know will never happen, like going to Vladivostok (#93). Still, some things never even made the cut, like visiting San Francisco. That’s just obvious. All in all, I have accomplished about 30% of my list, including my Holy Grail: seeing the remains of Lucy. No, not Ricardo.
The Lovely Bones....
I have to get cracking if I aim to finish the list before I turn 70. By then I hope to be wasting my time on a keyboa-- shit. Nevermind.
Any weird or unusual items in your Bucket List?
And yes, hookers count.
On Veterans’ Day
Words are never enough to convey thanks to all who served and continue to serve our great nation.
Four days ago, I learned of the death of a friend. Gene was a great guy. He served honorably and with pride in the U.S. Army, serving a tour of duty in Iraq from 2004-05. He retired as a Sergeant First Class, but continued to work for the service as a systems administrator at Carlisle Barracks Army War College. He was admired, and loved, and will be missed by many. I shall endeavor to remember him, and all my veteran friends today. I will never forget.
Remembering
Today is the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Without fail, every year on this day a heavy weight presses against my heart, and time doesn’t lessen the pain. I remember what I was doing that morning. I remember where I was, even what I was wearing, down to the hairclip in my hair. I remember gathering my sewing kit to sew a patch on my eldest’s brownie vest. I remember the patch…. Suffice it to say, I will never forget, and I will make damn sure my children always remember a day of hate, the worst day of our history, and the day when the best part of us shone through the rubble and death to claim once again that we would not be vanquished.
What do you remember about that fateful day?
Milestone: 3200 Comments
Well, here at Hookers & Booze we’ve reached our 3200th comment.
The honor goes to hilljohnny who said:
Elijah Craig is my favorite bourbon. a true sippin’ whiskey, very smooth, just a splash of branch water.
Previous honorees:
1600th Comment -- Nicole
800th Comment -- TheDudeAbides
400th Comment -- WAMK
200th Comment -- GWK
100th Comment -- LC Aggie Sith
Next stop is obviously #6400. (cause if Aggie wasn’t around I’d never get anything right)
Happy Independence Day!
I thank God every day I was lucky enough to be born a citizen of this country.
No Greater Love
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. — John 15:13
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