Tonight I Post!

Posted on by
2

Well, what can I say except I’m sorry? No excuses, just that combination of winter malaise, lack of motivation, and nothing in particular to say that makes me such an unreliable blogger.

Tonight I Post! because some of you wonder if I am still amongst the living. Near as I can tell, that’s an affirmative. Although I feel the beginnings of a cold/sore throat thing in my chest and throat. Small stuff. Hmm, I heard a motivational speaker once say that there are only two big things in life, and everything else is the small stuff. And you should never worry about that small stuff. The two big things are being born and dying. Everything in between is the small stuff. Can you believe that guy makes a living talking that crap? It’s the modern equivalent of a snake oil salesman I suppose. But if it makes people feel better I guess there is no harm. Hell, I should thank the guy. It gave me a paragraph in what I suspect will be a rather meandering post.

Tonight I Post! will I guess just cover what I’ve been up to these past several weeks in reverse chronological order. To ease your pain I will try to limit myself to bullets. If you have been a regular around here (God help you!) you will be able to fill in the gaps quite easily I’m sure.

My father has been ill with pneumonia, which coupled with his emphysema has not been an easy go. Get well soon Dad!

Good news and bad news on the dart front: Monday we beat Rubbies 25-6. But 3 of those losses were mine. Which is ok, because I did manage to win six legs. The previous week I was 1-5 and responsible for a tough 16-15 loss to XOX. the first place team. Perspective is a beautiful thing.

Had a nice weekend visit from a fellow blogger, Jenn of I Got Two Shoes fame. She has already blogged the event here, and I can’t add anything else. Well, the “gay friendly” bar she mentions did not involve any friendliness on my part. Not that there is anything wrong with it.

Saturday night was the wedding reception of Duke and Ji Young. Very nice affair. Ji Young looked outstanding, and even Duke cleaned up pretty well. I wish them much happiness and success in the future. That old saw about the wife being the better half doesn’t apply to Duke. Ji Young is at least 2/3s better! Hey Duke, if you can’t take a joke, F.U.!

Actually, I would nickname Duke lucky except for one thing. His darts. Ha!Ha! Actually, he played quite well, just never quite well to win any of the tourneys we played in his honor. But it appeared he had a lot of fun trying, and at the end of the day that’s the main thing.

In all seriousness, it was great to have Duke back at Dolce again. It almost seemed like he had never left. I know he was impressed with the metamorphosis of Dolce Vita into a premiere dart bar, and I hope he knows that his dedication to promoting darts amongst the clientèle had a lot to do with the way things are now. Consider it your legacy Duke.

Other than that all I have done during this hiatus was work hard and play harder. Lots of beer consumed and darts thrown to varying degrees of success. And I’m still standing.

Tonight I Post! is now completed. I do have some photos that would have went well with this narrative, but alas, I am to frickin’ lazy to upload them. And yeah, I know all of the above is not technically in bullet form like I promised. Whaddaya goin’ do about it? And you know damn well it could have been worse. Much worse. Trust me on that!

I will try to become more regular. At least until my colonoscopy is scheduled. Oh my, what a post THAT will be.

Later y’all.

It’s too cold to talk about the weather…

Posted on by
1

…so let’s talk about darts instead!

Monday night my team, the Sliders, locked horns with our neighbor bar’s Blue Bulls. We took a 20-11 victory, but in reality the match was much closer as nearly every leg was tightly contested. As seems to invariably happen I was matched up with the Goat in singles cricket. Me and Craig are friendly rivals (well, friendly between matches, but never at the oche). Over the past couple of seasons one or the other of us would win the match 2-1. Neither of us had gone 3-0 in league play. Until Monday night.

The odd thing was it was a close match as both of us were pretty much equally off our game. The difference in the end came down to bulls. And I hit them a tad more frequently than my opponent on this occasion. So I get the bragging rights until our next meeting. Heh.

Actually, it was a stellar night for all the Dolce teams. Take it Easy beat Bless U, Rubbies won their first match of the season against White Horse, and our new team (Sweet Life) took down Nashville.

Here’s hoping for a continuation of that winning tradition. Go Dolce!

These three guys walk into a bar…

Posted on by
1

A Scotsman, an Englishman, and an Irishman are playing darts at Dolce Vita in Itaewon (you guys know who you are, so I won’t mention any names…).

“Y’know” said the Scotsman, “I still prefer the pubs back home. In Glasgow, there’s a wonderful little bar called McTavish’s. The landlord there goes out of his way for the locals, so much that when you buy 4 drinks he’ll buy the 5th drink for you.”

“Well,” said the Englishman, “at my local, the Red Lion, the barman there will buy your 3rd drink after you buy the first 2.”

“Ahhhhh, that’s nothing, laddies,” said the Irishman.

“Back home in me own Dublin, there’s Ryan’s Bar. Now, the moment you set foot in the place they’ll buy you a drink, then another, all the drinks you like. Then, when, when you’ve had enough drinks, they’ll take you upstairs and see that you get laid. All on the house.”

The Englishman and Scotsman immediately scorn the Irishman’s claims. But he swears every word is true.

“Well,” said the Englishman, “did this actually happen to you?”

“Not to me meself, personally, no,” said the Irishman… “but it did happen to me sister.”

Remembering Linda Ketner

Posted on by
2

linda.jpgFour years ago this month, my friend and soulmate succumbed to breast cancer. Until this moment, I have never written of her, although few days pass when she is not in my thoughts. Even now, the pain of losing her seems too raw and fresh to contemplate, and yet her memory is so wonderful that it begs to be shared if only to give her spirit some substance within the dimension of the living. Although mere words, especially within the constraints of my limited talent of expression, could never capture the essence of this remarkable woman. But Linda Ketner loved me and would certainly forgive my feeble efforts at a proper remembrance. And so, for you, my friend, I share the story that I carry in my heart.

I met Linda in Prescott, Arizona in 1981. She was working as a legal secretary in a law office on my mail route. I’m not sure why I asked her out; she was a couple of years older than me and not really my “type” physically. But she did have a great smile, and her dark Italian eyes sparkled with equal parts of mischief and wisdom as if she was in on some cosmic joke, and my cluelessness was most amusing. Well, whatever it was that created the spark, the resulting fire was to light and warm a friendship that lasted over 20 years.

For the first couple of years, we toyed with romance. We were both single parents with two children. She was Catholic, and I wasn’t. I was on the rebound from a major heartbreak and could not let myself love again, which made her incredibly angry. I moved to Arkansas several months after we met. She brought her kids cross country by bus to visit me there. We spent time at my parent’s small farm in eastern Oklahoma, and she told me later it was the only time in her life she had truly felt at peace and at home. She wanted me to ask her to stay. And I didn’t.

We continued to write and speak on the phone, and I’m not sure how I would have borne the loneliness of that time in my life without her kindness and support. About a year later, she had moved to Phoenix, and I came out to see her. By now, I had come to love her and was finally ready to commit to a relationship. And she wasn’t, at least with me. She had met someone else, and I was too late. Which really pissed her off. I saw firsthand her fiery temper in what we fondly recalled as the refrigerator cleaning incident. As she was emptying the contents of the fridge, she would hurl food items and invectives my way, telling me in colorful terms what an idiot I had been. That actually turned out to be one of our favorite memories that always made us laugh, but it was a pretty intense experience at the time.

So, we both wound up marrying others and going on with our lives. But we always stayed in touch, sharing our trials and joys in long letters, and with the advent of email, our correspondence became even more robust. And she was always there for me, a rock to cling to in stormy seas and a beacon of light on my darkest nights. Her love for me was always unconditional, and even when I screwed up (which was often), she gave me encouragement instead of censure. I’m not sure there is a better definition of friendship.

Looking back, I probably only saw her in person six or seven times over all those years. We were connected in a way that transcended the physical; there was just some power that bonded us in a way I cannot adequately explain. She knew how to touch the places in my innermost being in a way that no one ever had before. She KNEW me. And despite that, she still loved me. I had never known that kind of affirmation, and it was a source of strength and comfort to be blessed with her love.

Whenever I lost myself, she helped me find my way back. She visited me once in South Carolina. The house I shared with my wife was decorated in a manner worthy of Southern Living magazine. She looked around and said, “wow, this is really amazing. But tell me, where do YOU live?” She saw through the lie I had been living for years in five minutes.

Of course, I was only one part of Linda’s life. I’m sure I was important to her, but not the most important. She had her children, her grandson, and on her third try, a husband who was worthy of her love.

Linda was no saint, but she was saintly. I nicknamed her MT2 (Mother Teresa the second). She had an amazing capacity to love. It was her gift. She did things like visiting nursing homes and reading to strangers on a weekly basis. She was always there for the people who needed her most.

As good as Linda was, her life was hard. She was emotionally abused as a child .she married men who treated her badly, but nothing overcome her indomitable spirit. Well, nothing but cancer. But no, the cancer beat her body, but it never beat Linda.

She was first diagnosed in the late 1980s and underwent a double mastectomy. In true Catholic fashion, she told me God was punishing her for her vanity about having large breasts. But she was a survivor. When she reached the ten-year mark without a recurrence, she noted that statistically, she was home free.

Damn statistics. The cancer recurred at twelve years and was inoperable. But she never quit fighting. I know it is cliché to talk about the “brave struggle against impossible odds,” but Linda was the poster child for fighting the good fight against the evil that was eating her body. Her faith, courage, and strength were inspirational to all who knew her.

And just when it seemed things could get no worse, her daughter Amy died from a drug overdose. When I heard the news, I thought Linda would lose her will to live. I think it was touch and go for a while, but Amy’s son needed her, and she fought on. And on. She was in pain most of the time, in mind, body, and spirit, but still, she would not quit. And she never lost herself. I visited Linda a couple of times during the last year of her life and always came away uplifted. It was as if she had had her faith challenged in the most severe fashion and had passed the test. Her reward was acceptance and peace of mind.

Well, maybe not acceptance. The last time we were together was at the hospice. She was drugged up and in and out of consciousness, but early one morning, she awoke while I was sitting at her bedside. She looked at me and smiled, and that same mischievous mirth from the day we met was twinkling in her eyes. We talked about all we had shared, we laughed and cried, and then she squeezed my hand and told me, “this is NOT goodbye.” I don’t know if she was right, but I didn’t argue the point. I love her now as I did then, and she lives on in my heart. If there is a heaven, I know of no one more worthy than her to reside there. She was my angel on Earth, and I miss having her here watching out for me.

As I got up to leave the hospice for the last time, I accidentally tripped on the oxygen tubes that had somehow gotten twisted around my legs. Linda started gasping and clutching her throat. I stood there in shock and near panic. Then she flashed me that big smile and said, “Got ya!”

Yeah, babe, you got me. You got me good.

linda.jpg

A drunken mess

Posted on by
Reply

That pretty much describes my long holiday weekend. Lots of darts and beer. Last night finished up with some norebang with the Dolce crowd and stumbled home at six a.m. Today I am feeling the after affects, but I’m still standing. Barely.

A new week and a new outlook are on tap. Duke arrives Friday and we are all looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks getting reacquainted.

And that’s about all I have to say for now.

I will survive

Posted on by
5

At least I think so. Starting to feel much better today. Thanks for the get well comments!

Went to the doctor today. It took me two months to get into the Army hospital for an appointment and the original problem was the crick in my neck, which resolved itself weeks ago. But given that I am of an age, I am going to do the complete physical thing to see what kind of damage my lifestyle might be wreaking on this tired old body.

So the cute little Korean reception person took my vitals and history. Smoke? check. Drink? check. High blood pressure? Yep. (144 over 86, but then I smoked a fag just before going in). Overweight? Actually, I qualify as obese. So, what else is new?

So, Dr. Lee asks why I’m there. I think medical folks don’t have much patience (heh, patients) for people like me who don’t take any proactive interest in maintaining good health. I professed a desire to change my ways, but I wanted to make sure it was not too late before I went through all the hassle of actually altering my lifestyle.

So, today we did the chest x-ray. Tomorrow I will get blood work done. And I will schedule the dreaded colonoscopy (I can’t pronounce or spell that procedure). She also gave me a prescription for zyban so I can quit smoking. Which I may attempt here soon. As soon as I get my test results back!

So, despite feeling rather poorly all weekend I did play a lot of darts. Friday night at Dolce, Dan and I took the tourney, beating Seung Yeob and Rick. The most memorable thing for me was taking the last leg of the championship game with a 48 out. Double 8, double 8, double 8. Yeah, the first two were misses, but still…

Saturday night at the big Blue Frog farewell to Doug and Tom, I teamed up with Chris B. for a 3rd place finish. We might have done better, but we couldn’t hit when we had too against Alastair and Billy. They took us out of both the winners and losers bracket with some smokin’ ’01 play. The tourney technically ended in a tie because the Championship round didn’t start until 12:30 am. Karl and his partner Rod took the first game, but Rod is a soldier and had a 1 am curfew to deal with. Total purse for 1st and 2nd was W450,000, so Alastair and Billy graciously agreed to split it almost evenly and everyone went home happy.

Sunday I played in my first soft tips tourney out on the far side of Seoul (near the end of line 6). I played decent but didn’t make the money round, finishing in 5th. It was definitely different. 90% Koreans, but they were mostly very kind and gracious to the Yankee interlopers. I could have done better but I let myself get distracted by an opponents handicap rating that appeared to be sandbagging. As I told myself later, that’s bullshit. If you can’t overcome 30 points you don’t deserve to win. Lesson learned for next time.

Last night we had our league matchup with White Horse from Blue Frog. Gawd, I was awful. I struggled all night. How bad was I? In doubles teamed up with Alastair and Petro we went 2-4. And that was all on me. I was fortunate to sweep my singles match 3-0, but I was damn lucky because Won Jun had me on the ropes a couple of times, only to let me sneak away with the win. That won’t happen often against him or anyone else. I’m not playing up to my capabilities and I am damn sure not playing like someone who belongs in A division. Hopefully last night was my wake up call.

Still, its all good.

Today I say

Posted on by
4

I feel this obligation to update but you see I have this problem. There’s absolutely freakin’ nothin’ I need or want to say. And while I am too often prone to talk (or write) under such circumstances regardless, its just not there for me tonight.

Perhaps its because I am a tad under the weather. Well, I guess except for astronauts we are all technically under the weather (hmm, maybe submariners are exempt as well). Truth is, the weather is actually into me. By that I mean the cold. As in I have one. No big deal, just feel lazier than usual, have a hacking cough (above and beyond my normal smoker’s cough), a little congestion, a general malaise.

So how is this going to impact my weekend routine? Not much. Darts at Dolce tonight. Darts at Blue Frog Saturday. A soft tips tournament somewhere in Seoul on Sunday. And of course, dart league on Monday. But, no worries, I will not forget my weakened condition. For tomorrow I will have chicken soup. The kind they serve where there is half a chicken in the broth. Can’t remember what it’s called now and I am, ahem, too sick to look it up.

Did you notice how I included Monday in my weekend plans? That’s because I’m not working Monday. Being as how it is “Superbowl Monday” General Bell has declared it a military holiday and a liberal leave day for us civilians. Pretty cool, eh?

Am I going to get up early Monday morning to watch the game at Hooters? Hell no! I’m too sick…

How not to find a dart team

Posted on by
3

Last night was a tad strange. Our opponent could not field a team so the match is to be rescheduled at some future date. Having a rare free Monday night, I decided to go watch the other Dolce Vita teams compete. I’m nothing if not flexible!

Anyway, I start out at Blue Frog where the Take it Easy lads were playing M&M, last years champs from “C” division who moved up to “B” this year. TIE wound up winning a close and hard fought match, but that’s not the strange thing.

So, I’m sitting there enjoying the competition, drinking a beer and generally minding my own business when this guy comes in with his Korean GF and starts insisting that I put him on a dart team. Hell, as far as I know no one died and left me in charge of anything! I wasn’t even wearing my jersey so I’m not sure how he even figured me for a team captain.

I explained to him the way things worked, i.e. you come out to Dolce on Fridays and throw in the tourney, meet some people, and if you are any good AND a team is looking for a player, you might get an offer. He basically thought that was bullshit saying it was Monday night and he wanted to play. I told him that I had no spots on my team at the moment, but he could put his name up on the website and maybe someone would pick him up. He then started getting kinda aggressive, which I just shrugged off, and then he actually asked his girlfriend to intercede. Damn if she didn’t practically beg me to find him a team. Of course by this point I had decided I would rather forfeit every week before I would play darts with this asshole, so I just said sorry, nothing I can do.

So apparently he left where we were, went into the other room where Dawg Pound was playing and pulled the same shit. Some of those guys are young soldiers, and I’m guessing he got off easy since they didn’t kick his ass.

Then I leave the Frog and head over to Geckos to watch our “D” team, Sweet Life, play for awhile (they won too by the way). LaRoy, the captain of the Geckos team said some crazy dude had come in there giving him crap about playing on the team while he was chalking for crissakes! LaRay sent him over to Dolce, but since our game was postponed no one was there. So he comes back to Geckos and accuses LaRoy of giving him the run around.

Without a doubt the guy was about the biggest idiot I have encountered in my three years here. He was definitely ugly. I hope he was Canadian! (apologies to all my Canuck friends, but Americans have enough baggage without people like this soiling the planet in our name).

Never seen someone burn so many bridges in one night before. I think it is pretty safe to say he won’t be playing in our league any time soon.

LOSER!

Old Mr. Jones

Posted on by
1

I mentioned in a previous post about the new Tuesday night entertainment at Dolce Vita, featuring a great musician named Steve Butler. He covers many artists very well, but his original music is something really special. My favorite song of his is “Old Mr. Jones”. Just so happens he now has a music video up on You Tube. It is my honor to introduce you to Steve and his music. Please come out to Dolce on Tuesday between 8-11 and see this guy while he is still playing for free!

Seoul cold, but London broil

Posted on by
1

Heh, did a London broil on the grill today. Served it up with mashed taters and asparagus. First attempt at this on my own and to be honest it didn’t turn out all that well. Tougher than I’m used to, and my hybrid marinade (a mesquite and Italian mix) was pretty unsatisfactory. Well, it was worth a try I suppose and I have enough meat left over to snack on for the next few days.

Guess I’ll get off my lazy ass (I just won five straight at spider solitaire), shower up, and figure out what to do with my Saturday night. Hmm, there’s darts at the Blue Frog…

Korea in New York City

Posted on by
Reply

In the summer of 2006 I was in the Big Apple for a conference. One day while randomly wandering the streets of Manhattan I stumbled upon Korea town. Didn’t even know it was there. One minute I’m in NYC and the next thing I know I’m back in Seoul. It was really pretty cool.

And now, thanks to the Marmot, I’ve found a video report depicting the sights and sounds of this vibrant Korean community. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Cold night, hot darts

Posted on by
Reply

Something a little different in the Friday night dart routine at Dolce Vita. Tom C. and Doug are on the first leg of their farewell tour, so the tourney was held in their honor. Yes, two more darters/Soldiers are leaving the land of the morning calm soon as they complete their tour of duty here. Both have been regulars at Dolce and their presence will certainly be missed.

The opportunity to bid them farewell in the darter tradition (a tourney) brought out the biggest crowd ever in the history of the Dolce Friday night competition. And the two kegs of free beer probably helped too! Lots of new faces, and it was also good to see the Goat out and about again. 32 players in all, so the bar was packed. Which was good, because it was damn cold last night. Hell, its been bitingly cold all week, with the high temperature hovering in the mid-20s F.

I drew my former Take it Easy teammate Matt as a partner. He’s currently ranked #1 in B division, so I thought we had a fair chance to finish in the money. We played some good darts, most notably against Alestair (a great player from Scotland) and his partner Natalie. He tried to mess with our minds with some psychological warfare techniques, but I just kept telling him “fook you”. Of course, his ability to pound the bullseye 5 at a time was a little more difficult to overcome, but Matt and I pulled it off to advance in the winners bracket.

Which led to our first encounter with Petro (number 1 in A division) and his partner Eric who is also a strong dart thrower. In the first cricket leg they jumped out to a huge lead in closed numbers and points. We fought back and were one bull from the win, but wired it and Petro closed the door. We took the ’01 game, but I lost the diddle and Petro called cricket. He then proceeded to throw a 9-mark and that was pretty much our ticket to the losers bracket.

We then faced the Goat and his partner Rod, a team I was surprised to see in the losers bracket as the are both outstanding players. Me and the Goat have a friendly rivalry going and our games our always close and hard fought. He has it in his head that he has beaten me one time more than I’ve beaten him, but I don’t think he is counting our tourney matchups. Regardless, he’s playing A division this year too, so I’m sure we will get the chance to face-off again soon. Last night Matt and I dispatched them 2-0 (although it took some great darts to do it).

That brought up Natalie and Alestair again. Pretty much an instant replay of our first match: three tough legs of back and forth leads. Alestair was itching for a chance to win the last cricket leg on the bullsyes (they had 3 to our zero, and needed two more to catch us on points). Matt burst his bubble though by throwing three single bulls for the victory.

Which led to our revenge match against Petro and Eric (who had inexplicably been beaten by Jay and Kyle). Well, revenge will have to come another night because we didn’t get the job done, being eliminated 2-0. That gave Matt and I 3rd place and W60,000.

Petro and Kyle went on to beat Jay and Kyle two times to take the tourney title. Petro also won the drawing for a bottle of Jack Daniels, so he went home very happy. Some guys have all the luck! But congrats anyway.

Alestair was spoiling for more darts and wanted another shot at me and Matt. He pulled out W50,000 and said let’s play winner take all. I was tired and had consumed my share of the free beer and wasn’t willing to play for those stakes, although I said I would go W25,000. Natalie had the good sense to say let’s keep it friendly, so we all put in a mahn won. Which me and Matt collected two legs later. And that was all the darts I wanted.

Had a late night meal of samgapsil and soju on the walk home and a final beer at the Opry and that was the end of a fun night.

The second leg of the Tom/Doug farewell tour is Sunday at Bless U. Petro talked me into playing in my first soft tips tourney next Sunday, so we will see what that is all about.

Ok, that’s about all I have to say on the subject. Yeah, yeah, I know I said too much. Deal with it.

Strange changes

Posted on by
Reply

Well, one of these days I’m gonna sit down and write about the presidential campaign. But this is not that day. Now that my man Thompson has dropped out I’m not sure where my loyalties lie (Huckabee being the only one I could not vote for). I presume regular readers know that Billary and Hussein would be nightmares. Anyway, all I know for sure is that a change is gonna come. Don’t believe me? Check out this video for proof:

Classic.

Fayetteville (NC) trumps NY (Times)

Posted on by
Reply

As mentioned in an earlier post, the NY Times has taken its anti-war bias to a new extreme with an anti-soldier story disparaging our brave troops as murderers.

Lo and behold, the little newspaper from Fayetteville (home of Fort Bragg) did a little fact checking of their own and guess what? The NY Times really ISfull of sh*t:

In Fayetteville, North Carolina, the local paper was intrigued by the Times’ claims and decided to check its own archives for evidence. Fayetteville, located near Fort Bragg, home to the 82nd Airborne and special operations units, is an excellent place to conduct the experiment; few localities, if any, have been home to as many soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Fayetteville Observer checked its own archives, with predictable results:

Twelve Fort Bragg soldiers have been accused of killing 13 people in the six-plus years since Sept. 11, 2001, according to Observer records. In the six years before the terrorist attacks, 16 Fort Bragg soldiers were accused of killing 18 people.

There you have it: wartime and peacetime yield the same low homicide rates for soldiers. In reporting these findings, the Observer referred to the claim made by the New York Times that reported instances of alleged homicide involving a veteran increased by 89% in the period 2001-2007 compared with the six-year period preceding the war in Afghanistan. That claim, insofar as it related to Fort Bragg personnel, was refuted by the Observer’s research.

Big hat tip to the gents at PowerLine for shining another light on the roaches who reside at the NY Times…

To the airport I did go…

Posted on by
Reply

At o’dark thirty this morning. In the snow. I was very pleased with my decision to not drive my hoop-dee. Saw three accidents on the Airport Highway between the toll booth and the airport, a stretch of maybe 10 KMs. God love ’em, Koreans just don’t slow down for wet slippery pavement.

Anyway, arrived a little later than expected, but my new employee and his family had a long wait for the baggage, so there was no problem. Oscar has two daughters, 3 months and 2 years of age. And more bags than I imagined possible. It took two cabs to crammed to the gills to transport us back the Yongsan Garrison. But we made it.

Danny, my other new employee arrived Saturday but having lived in Korea previously required no assistance from me. So, after in-processing is completed this week I’ll be a lot closer to being staffed up. Well, 3 more vacancies, but I have someone coming in next month and a solid candidate for another position. Things are definitely looking up work wise.

Snowed a lot yesterday and again today, but the temperature stayed above freezing so there was not much accumulation. Which is a good thing.

And that’s the story from here.

That’s what I’m talking about!

Posted on by
Reply

A good night for darts. Sliders beat the other Dolce “A” division team 21-10. Solid play around. I played much better in week two, going 7-2, including a sweep of my singles cricket match. Even managed a couple of five marks, tons, and a 3 bull combo. Long way to go, but I think we are going to be tough to beat over the course of the season.

My old team Take it Easy also pulled out a big win against Eberhardt, 10-9, so half of the Dolce teams are feeling good tonight!

I have to be at Incheon Airport at 0630 to meet my new employee and his family flying in from Germany. It is such a relief to be getting those vacancies filled.

So, it is off to bed for me…

Lies, damn lies, and statistics

Posted on by
3

A few days ago, the NY Times did a hit piece on our troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.

Oh, by the way, 20% of these 121 cases involved manslaughter associated with drunk driving and at least one example occurred before the soldier deployed. Hey, no need to let the facts get in the way of your narrative, right?

GI Korea (among many others) has been all over this story. He has another post up that shows the worldwide negative impact the Times disparaging article has had on the reputation of our military men and women.

The sad thing about this anti-American propaganda is that the whole premise is demonstratively false. Wrong on the facts, and most assuredly wrong on the conclusion that our GWOT vets are walking time bombs who are a danger to society. As I said in a comment left at GI Korea:

This is just more of the same old, same old from the biased left wing MSM. I remember last year it was about the “increase” in suicides amongst returning troops. Well, they didn’t find it newsworthy that the suicide rate of Iraq vets is LESS than the national suicide rate for all Americans of that age group. So, I guess serving in Iraq makes one LESS likely to commit suicide, right?

Anyway, Armed Liberal has a good post on this topic at Winds of Change. Even taking the NYT’s skewed numbers, it turns out that the “murder” rate of returning vets is significantly lower than the national rate for 18-25 year olds. Geez, why wasn’t that the headline?

So, what is it that makes the Times and its defenders despise and fear our war veterans? I think Ralph Peters has the answer in a New York Post column entitled “The New Lepers”:

The purpose of Sunday’s instantly notorious feature “alerting” the American people that our Iraq and Afghanistan vets are all potential murderers when they move in next door was to mark those defenders of freedom as “unclean” – as the new lepers who can’t be trusted amid uninfected Americans.

In the more than six years since 9/11, the Times has never run a feature story half as long on any of the hundreds of heroes who’ve served our country – those who’ve won medals of honor, distinguished service crosses, Navy crosses, silver stars or bronze stars with a V device (for valor)….

Well, a quick statistics check let the air out of the Times’ bid to make us dread the veteran down the block – who the Times implies has a machine gun under his bathrobe when he steps out front to fetch the morning paper. In fact, the capital-crimes rate ballyhooed by the Gray Lady demonstrates that our returning troops are far less likely to commit such an offense.

Again, the Times’ smear certainly wasn’t an accident. The paper’s staff is highly paid and highly experienced. Its editors know that a serious news story has to put numbers into context. But their sole attempt at context was to note that offenses by former soldiers have ticked up since we went to war.

The Times is trying to make you fear our veterans (Good Lord, if your daughter marries one, she’s bound to be beaten to death!). And to convince you that our military would be a dreadful place for your sons and daughters, a death-machine that would turn them into incurable psychopaths.

To a darkly humorous degree, all this reflects the Freudian terrors leftists feel when confronted with men who don’t have concave chests. But it goes far beyond that.

Pretending to pity tormented veterans (vets don’t want our pity – they want our respect), the Times’ feature was an artful example of hate-speech disguised as a public service…

The hard left’s hatred of our military has deteriorated from a political stance into a pathology: The only good soldier is a dead soldier who can be wielded as a statistic (out of context again). Or a deserter who complains bitterly that he didn’t join the Army to fight . . .

A longstanding goal of the left, recently invigorated, has been to drive a wedge between our military and our society. The real vet is the neighbor who fixes your kid’s bike (or your computer). But the left’s archetypal vet is the Marine colonel in “American Beauty” who, frustrated in his suppressed gay passions, murders poor Kevin Spacey…

So let me suggest the best-possible revenge on the veteran-trashing jerks at The New York Times: Instead of fleeing in terror the next time you see a veteran you know, just thank him or her for their service.

I was shaking my head in disgust when I read the commenters defending the Times at GI Korea. No right thinking person could fail to see through the obvious agenda of disparaging the brave troops who defend this nation. I just couldn’t grasp what it was about our soldiers that inspired such contempt. But I can only conclude as did Mr. Peters that: all this reflects the Freudian terrors leftists feel when confronted with men who don’t have concave chests.

Sometimes I really fear for my country.