News Stories

[flying ^]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

even if they did subsequently devalue it by awarding it as birthday gifts.

and this legendary man was the perfect example...

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-...d-war-ii-medal

[flying ^]

... is this Amando Knox 2.0-like case brewing?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...er-friend.html

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

Were soldiers ever called heroes before the 20th century propaganda machine?

Heracles is a hero. Odyseus is a hero, heck even Kira Yamato is a hero (even if he whines too much). A soldier that holds off 50 other enemy soldiers at the risk of his own life in order to protect the rest of his injured platoon, could be a hero. But your average joe soldier isn't a hero, he's just doing his job.

Hard to say for those who survive without closer examination, but for those who were killed, almost by definition that job involved getting shot at or bombed or something.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by flying ^

msNBC host drops the ball on a somber Memorial Day...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1550643.html

I've already seen the knee jerk conservative reaction to this, but I'm not shocked as much as dismayed.

There's a generational gap at work here. For older folks, Memorial Day is more about the World Wars, which are themselves so glorified in our culture that it's almost painful to watch as some distort it to rewrite history. For the younger folks it's more about Vietnam, Korea, and all of the following "conflicts" which seemed to serve little purpose but to get a lot of people killed for someone else's career.

It's a disturbing thought, if you can picture it for a moment, to realize that children in America who were in Elementary and Middle School during 9/11 are now serving in the military. Many of them have already come home, in the form of body bags and wounded veterans. My nephew for example miraculously survived a car bomb in Afghanistan a few years ago, and was "lucky" enough to get away with a crippled arm. Other members of his unit weren't so fortunate. He wasn't even old enough to drink. None of them were.

The problem with our overuse of the word hero is that it cheapens the label. It dishonors those who were truly doing heroic deeds and those who were simply doing their job. Draft or not, joining the military means you may not live to see tomorrow. People conjure up images of firefights and explosives when I say that, but how about friendly fire? Accidents on base? These are more common than you think.

They serve. They are patriots. But they are people just like us. They slack. They skip duties. They run from fights. They commit crimes. There really isn't much "war" going on in either Iraq or Afghanistan, there's a lot of troops sitting around being bored. They get killed more often just patrolling than in enemy engagement, like my nephew.

Across America there is a lot of false patriotism. We say "support our troops", wave our little flags and decorate our stuff in ribbons, but secretly most of us think "I'm glad someone else is willing to do it". If we wanted to support our troops, we wouldn't send them off blindly into wars. We wouldn't treat them as "heroes", but as sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, friends, companions, loved ones. People. Humans.

System of a Down's song BYOB, the singer laments "Why don't Presidents fight the war, why do we always send the poor". Few wars would ever be fought if the leaders and their children were on the front lines, but they have no problem convincing the population to go. Just throw sweet nothings about duty, honor, valor, patriotism, freedom, liberty, and other empty words that have nothing to do with war except to justify it.

Hayes wasn't dishonoring soldiers in his train of thought. He was wondering how we've come to exist in a world where empty words at a podium, a day off of work, and some parades, mean more than a mother asking if the death of her son was worth it and knowing inside the answer was no.

No parent should ever bury their child, and no amount of word fetishisation and false patriotism will ever bring them back. Calling someone a hero isn't much comfort when you're saying it at their grave.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by flying ^

... is this Amando Knox 2.0-like case brewing?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...er-friend.html

If you'd actually *read* the damned article you wouldn't make that comparison because there's just no connecting points outside of both taking place in Japan. The perpetrators were American and they were immediately arrested. What is this crap, inept "news teaser" writing? When posting links, explain what the links are about.

[ganbaru]

Israel gas finds launch navy into troubled waters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...84S07B20120529

[killer3000ad]

Miami zombie attacker may have been on 'bath salts' drug

A naked man who chewed off the face of another man in what is being called a zombie-like attack may have been under the influence of "bath salts," a drug referred to as the new LSD, according to reports from CNN affiliates in Miami.

The horrific attack occurred Saturday and was only stopped after a police officer shot the attacker several times, killing him.

Larry Vega witnessed the attack on Miami's MacArthur Causeway. He told CNN affiliate WSVN he saw one naked man chewing off the face of another naked man.

"The guy was like tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, 'Get off!'" Vega told WSVN. "You know it's like the guy just kept eating the other guy away, like ripping his skin."

"It was just a blob of blood," WSVN quoted Vega as saying. "You couldn't really see, it was just blood all over the place."
Vega said he flagged down a passing police officer.

"When the officer approached him, told him to stop, pointed a gun at him, he turned around and growled like a wild animal and kept eating at the man's face," Fraternal Order of Police President Armando Aguilar told CNN affiliate WPLG.

If I were the Miami PD, I'd stand guard over the victim in the hospital, just in case he gets up and starts chewing peoples' faces off.

PS, did they remember to double tap the zombie?

[Endless Soul]

It could be that the attacker was just saving face...


for leftovers!

Endless "zombie moan" Soul

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Is he a idiot or what ? What the idea to talk about a ongoing operation.
Unless it's disinformation...

Here come the denials.

U.S. Military Denies Parachuting into North Korea:

"The U.S. military on May 29 vehemently denied a media report that special forces
had parachuted into North Korea on intelligence-gathering missions and said a
source had been misquoted."

See:

http://www.defensenews.com/article/2...text|FRONTPAGE

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Here come the denials.

"Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.” Otto von Bismarck

[-Sho-]

Zombies are coming , prepare yourselves

[Kaioshin Sama]

What some are calling the most sophisticated piece of malware ever devised has just been discovered by Kaspersky

They're calling it flame and there are theories going around that a nation state would almost have to be behind it given the size (20 megabytes!) and specific targetting of it within the Middle East. Are we at the dawn of cyber warfare? Given that the U.S has been considering war with Iran for a while and that the attack seems to be localized around that area one has to wonder if....

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

They're calling it flame and there are theories going around that a nation state would almost have to be behind it given the size (20 megabytes!) and specific targetting of it within the Middle East. Are we at the dawn of cyber warfare? Given that the U.S has been considering war with Iran for a while and that the attack seems to be localized around that area one has to wonder if....

This is only a continuation of the Stuxnet malware created by Israel infection the middle east (probably with cooperation from some people in the USA goverment, but I don't believe the Obama administration would be behind, too much to loose if it blows in their faces).

[Haak]

But apparently Israel was infected with it too (scroll down to the map):
http://www.securelist.com/en/blog?weblogid=208193522

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Are we at the dawn of cyber warfare?

We're well past dawn, and headed toward noon, I think:

"The Russians are picking our pockets, the Chinese are stealing our most vital
secrets, and there’s nothing we can do about it – and it’s all going to get worse.

That was the basic conclusion after Friday’s Air Force Association cyber-
conference, where speaker after speaker drove home the utter futility and
helplessness of today’s cyber climate, all the while warning that the problem will
only grow.

Richard Bejtlich, chief security officer for the info-security firm Mandiant, said 100
percent of the high-profile intrusions his company tracks were done with “valid
credentials” – meaning the cyber bad-guys had been able to steal a real user’s
login and password, obviating the need for more complex attacks."


"An audience member’s question Friday crystallized all the speakers’ points at the
cyber-conference: The much-feared “Cyber Pearl Harbor” has already happened, he
said. Global cyber crime is more profitable than the drug trade. America’s onetime
technological advantage is gone; much of its intellectual property secrets have been
stolen.

“People just haven’t realized it yet,” the questioner said."


See:

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2012/03/26/ha...eady-happened/

[ganbaru]

Pioneer Ireland fears austerity was in vain
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...84S04520120529

[Ithekro]

The "Tenth Fleet" of the US Navy is basically the cyberwarfare division.

As for it hitting Israel as well...if you read it carefully you'll notice it is hitting Iranian based systems in the Palastinian territories and those operating by Palastinians using those same systems within Israel. I don't believe there is any mention of any Israeli built systems being infected.

[Haak]

Oh I see...XP

Israel pours cold water over talks with Iran:
http://www.reuters.com/article/world...84S06N20120529

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Haak

Oh I see...XP

Israel pours cold water over talks with Iran:
http://www.reuters.com/article/world...84S06N20120529

MOre like adding oil to the fire...

[Ithekro]

US (and others) expel Syrian diplomats

The United States and a string of other nations expelled Syrian diplomats Tuesday, in response to a United Nations announcement that most of the 108 victims of violence near the Syrian town of Houla had been executed.

The State Department said it had decided to expel Charge d'Affaires Zuheir Jabbour from the U.S., an action mirrored by Australia, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany. The Syrian ambassador had previously been recalled, leaving the charge d’affaires the highest ranking official in Washington, D.C.

Images of bloodied, young bodies laid out in a shallow grave after Friday's onslaught triggered shock around the world and underlined the failure of a six-week-old U.N. cease-fire plan to stop the violence.

.....

The U.N. Security Council on Sunday unanimously condemned the Syrian government for heavy-weapons attacks on Houla.

"The Security Council condemned in the strongest possible terms the killings, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children and the wounding of hundreds more in the village of (Houla), near Homs, in attacks that involved a series of government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighborhood," a non-binding statement said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded that those who carried out the killings be held accountable.

"The United States will work with the international community to intensify our pressure on Assad and his cronies, whose rule by murder and fear must come to an end," she said.