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LEFTIST PEACENIK SAMPLER
Australia’s peaceful try to cope with the death of an Australian serviceman in Afghanistan:
Great News, perhaps now there is blood on JH’s hands people will now wake up to these illegal occupations of foreign countries! People are dying or being killed every minute. One soldier dead, well isn’t that one of the risks of being in the forces.
So much for “support the troops”. Here’s Ron from Sydney:
Well thats what happens when you go and invade another person’s country. You should not have been there in the first place, but you can thank Johhny Coward ...
Another person’s country? Who owned Afghanistan? “Big deal,” comments Dan of Qld:
No one forced [David Pearce] to join the army. No one forced him to travel half way around the world to kill Afghanis in their own country. I don’t remember there being any Afghanis on the planes that hit the Trade centres. He joined the army to kill people and he got killed instead. You reap what you sow! If he really cared for his family he would not be there.
I bet Dan of Qld wouldn’t use the “reap what you sow” argument in the case of David Hicks. For that matter, I bet Dan of Qld wouldn’t use the “reap what you sow” argument within range of David Pearce’s family or friends. TR of Sydney hasn’t studied Labor policy:
Get them out of IRAQ and Afghanistan! Simply Vote labor.
Roy Barnes of Croydon Park couldn’t care less:
The day our politicians and defence forces honestly lament the death and carnage they have visited on Iraq and Afghanistan will be the day I spare a thought for the passing of an Australian soldier!
Sweet. Neil of Melbourne is another “blood on your hands” man:
His blood is on your hands Howard!
As is “John Denver”:
Hmm, now John Howard has blood on his hands!! Would Johnny send his son to the middle east??
Actually, the blood is on John Howard’s shoulders. Mike of Hobart scorns soldiering types:
They get paid, they aren’t doing it for free, so please forgive me if i don’t get down and kiss their feet, who do you think keeps the country running so they can come back and spend their money?? it’s the average worker.
Mike may have missed the news: Trooper Pearce isn’t coming back. Tiger of Melbourne joins idiot Mike in hailing average workers:
well big deal, i work hard to pay taxes so you people have the resouces to fight, should i pat myself on the back and tell everyone i risk burning myself out at work to equip the Aussies in Afghanstan?
Life’s tough, Tiger. Please don’t keel over on the photocopier on account of anyone facing down the Taliban. Malcolm of Queanbeyan senses a conspiracy:
Hmmmmmm. Four years at war in two countries and not one casualty resulting from enemy action until Johny needs a poll boost weeks before an election. Johnies rabbit from the hat.
JP of Melbourne isn’t buying into any of this “support the troops” deal:
I also am sick to death of every time a soldier dies, it is a national tragedy. They know the risks when they go overseas to recieve a grossly inflated salary to “defend” our country. The mans wife and family will be looked after by the defence force. What about all the other people who die young, leaving their family behind? But because this guy is in the army, he is automatically a hero? Give me a break.
A break? Hey, a few readers here would happily give you a fracture - skull, spine, anywhere you like. Do not attempt to bring about change, warns Zac of Sydney, for you will be killed:
We need to bring our troops home and place Howard on trial to answer a number of crimes. Until we see somthing like this occur, our country is in the hand of tyrants who will detain, assault, and kill anyone who means to bring about change.
David Pearce was killed while attempting to change Afghanistan from a fascist hell-nation providing cover for mass murderers into something undeserving of annihilation. Karl of Melbourne is yet another unimpressed by our military:
I cannot respect them. These soldiers willingly sign up and take on the risk that they will be required to kill people. Taliban soldiers also sign up and take on the risk that they will be required to kill people. If these people who consider signing up, had any respect for the beauty, fragility, and sanctity of human life, that risk would be enough to deter them from any army. How can I respect troops, when they have no respect for human life?
Karl’s respect for Pearce’s life is achingly evident. Malcolm of ACT fears a military attack on Australian citizens:
The soldier obeys the orders of the establishment, without regards to conscience or morality ... How many of the men at Gallipoli could tell you why they were there to kill Turks in Turkey? They just do as they are told and would turn on us as quick.
Possibly they’d do this out of sheer stupidity, according to Adam of Sydney:
You don’t need any form of intellegence to join the miliatry.
No wonder Chris Sealy writes:
Sometimes I’m ashamed to be a lefty ...
(Via Habib)
#250 I live and work in the far north. I wear feathers in my hat, although a different badge on the front to my workmates. I once wore a darker green hat than yours, but I’‘ve moved on to a less physically demanding career path.
I used to work in the Gold Coast Hinterland in my wild and willful youth, and that Mansford quote was an oft used phrase in similar curcumstances to the one you described.
Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 07:30 AM • permalink#1 (second page) Richard.
Funny thing, there was a certain place I used to frequent as a young digger and Lance Jack in FNQ that had it as practically a motto. At least it was warmer than your place down there. I did one run though a certain place on the Gold Coast Hinterland and can say that it’s at least cooler, with less bugs. But the DS were still DS.Oops, missed the new page and reposted a little bit. Sorry.
Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 07:31 AM • permalinkMy thanks go belatedly to David Pearce for his service, which predates his Afghanistan deployment. He is on record as having loved his army job, and this should not be held cheap by any who seek to draw a mercenary thread from the rich tapestry of his extended family and service life. As his brother-in-law said today, he would have preferred to go the way he did, doing something worthwhile, rather than by meeting with an accident on civvy street.
He was prepared to go to the trouble and confront it. Iran is also a source of trouble, and will have to be confronted. There is little point in trolls dropping in here to argue Tim’s modus operandi. The danger is not just out there. It is within the borders of all western countries as well.
It is here in the form of militant islam, it is here in the form of both rabid and reasonable-sounding leftists. It is here, above all, in the shape of political correctness. It is this which gave rise to the following commentary on a story about Afghanistan on tonight’s radio via BBC.
The storyline went that the Afghans doubt the west’s ability to provide stability, because despite their supposed superior strength, there was no security. Bombs continue to go off.
Sounds familiar. This has also been the storyline from Iraq. It will remain so until the west recovers from PC flu and meets barbarity with unhindered force.
The situation in the so-called “lawless” provinces bordering Pakistan has been obvious for some time. Pakistan has not had the political will to deal the death blow to al quaeda there, or within its own borders, and neither has the west. There are some signs that both are conscious of the problem, and the campaign is stepping up.
We will not win this long war with PC methodology, or with approval from the UN. There is no such approval, and the UN’s record from 1951 onwards stands as a warning that they resolve nothing.
Have fun with your pet troll, but he is a non-event.Ash, we’ve actually learned quite a bit about each other. ;)
Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 07:44 AM • permalink#5 Ash_
Are you talking ‘fishing trip’?
Not that I mind, but if the future legal defence finds out that I have taken her ‘boyfriend’ for a boatride to see where the sharks feed, and explained a few home truths (kinda like the birds and bees, with bait), will she still want to defend the indefensible?Talk about taking one for the team….
OK, I went thru the comments (well, 308 of them) and found:
196 condolence and politically neutral comments
42 ‘incensed’ comments generated by some really outrageous statements by Neocommies
51 left wing/anti Howard politicising comments by aforementioned Neocommies
17 comments either OT or of unclear meaning
1 left-wing but positive politicising comment (no. 247)
1 right wing negative politicising comment (no.145)
308 comments read all upNow what was interesting about this was that ALL of the ‘incensed’ comments were in response to Neocommie comments. So the outrageous/trolling impact of the Neocommies was a trigger event. It seems doubtful that those 42 ‘incensed’ comments would have been made otherwise.
So, in answer to Ant Rogenous’s question, I have to say that this little readathon on my part indicates that the bile and low-down behaviour was originated by the Neocommies and not by the RWDBs.
MarkL
Canberra#9 Grimmy
Okay, how did you get the super secret code?
Bloody Furrin’ Devil. :)#7 Ash_
Sorry, I actually talk that way. Ever since Para school.
Rules: Week one: Separate the men from the boys, Week two: Separate the fools from the men, Week three: The fools get to jump.Actually, Richard and I have learned quite a bit about each other. Don’t know his bra size though. :)
#18 185600 I always thought that the three rules for a para were -
1. Know your shit.
2. Look good.
3. If you don’t know your shit look good.Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 07:55 AM • permalink185600 Re: Chook. Not 152 per chance? Maybe we ran into each other couple of weeks ago if that’s the case.
Posted by deadparrot on 2007 10 10 at 08:01 AM • permalink“It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could of done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…who strives…who spends himself….and who at worst, if he fails,at least he fails whilst daring, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt.
This is fun. My old man was a chook. I was originally Foxhound, but saw the light and spent a “career transition phase” in Canberra and came out the other end as Sunray in Playtime.
Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 08:06 AM • permalink#21 Richard
You would be referring to the boys in the other hat there. Our rules pretty much have all of your ones, but three is ‘If you don’t know your shit don’t try it;.That said, land jumps are a bitch anyways, give me water and a long swim anytime. :)
#20 Grimmy
Okay, you got the surveillance satellites, the CIA, the NSA and all the other cool acronys. But I bet you can’t tell me Adam Gilchrist’s batting average for 2003?
Gotcha, furrin devil! :)#22 Ash_
Of course, clothes are important. Stops the ladies screaming, other men swearing out loud, and anatomists having to change all of those charts. :)Sorry Ash, I shouldn’t be playing games with you. I’m all to aware of what a lack of sleep does to new mothers (and fathers for that matter).
Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 08:10 AM • permalink#33 This is the part where I should tell you that I know a fair bit about what you all mean, but I’m not completely there Richard.
I should be doing work at the moment, and until Amadora wakes up, but I came to realise the tenth time I read a paragraph and still didn’t have a clue what it meant, I may as well give up on work for the night.
Mark, I do know Beans, although I am very much his junior. I did meet a member of the militant arm of the APS at Fairbairn when my old man was staying in the mess for a while who would fit your moniker. You didn’t spend any time at the bar with a short and rotund Major working for the the Australian of the Year did you?
Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 08:14 AM • permalink#26 Richard
Ack
I signed up as a Foxhound, but passed some tests in RTB. I’m still a chook by trade, but I have been hanging out with a bad crowd and haven’t done much of that. Hey, at least you probably don’t have to walk much mate. Swapsies?#28 Ash_
Sorry, we are being rude. What he has been saying is that Adam Gilchrist is not the best player in the last thirty years of cricket, and I am using all of my wit and wiles to change his mind. Honest. And you know nothing, Grimmy. Right?G’day 185600, as an old Third Herd chicken strangler, well met old friend. Been Lurking or working?
Posted by deadparrot on 2007 10 10 at 08:20 AM • permalinkRichard
I worked with Beans - if that is the right term with all the hilarity he generates - in SLB. I am a rockie these days. I think I might well have been at the bar (I have spent just the odd hour there…) IF on that day there was a large group of people there on course and there was also a young lady with me who wished to become a rockie herself. She did not, in the end.
Be about ‘02.
Small world!
MarkL
Canberra#36 185600, when it came to deciding my future career path at the end of my time in Canberra, the not walking anywhere thing was a major factor in deciding not to go back to my old job. I always have a vehicle now, and that’s a very good thing!
Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 08:22 AM • permalink#32 Grimmy
Damn your technological superiority!
Now tell me what it means. Just kidding, I love my cricket, but even I get freaked out by the people who quote statistics at me. Kinda like baseball, I guess.#31 Ash_
Don’t worry, I’m just mucking around. Even I don’t know his average. My dad does though.ANT, What seemed so difficult to understand…or are you incapable of understanding?
1.Tell your (YOU the being the with brains, leader, I think) vile Left what they are doing wrong in being collaborator’s with Islamists, the people that would not hesitate to saw your heads off.
2. Why does your vile Left despise the very people that try to protect you (and your ilk) from those Islamists?
3. Ant…Why do you (and those of your side) think capitalism, freedom and the ability to think, speak (or write) without becoming part of a mass grave, are so wrong?
YOU, ANT…YOU must lead the way with those you seemed to have partially condemned, (your vile Left) in your own words on this Blog yesterday. Can you not do this?
What…just what is so difficult, Ant?
Your kind words of my inaneness answered none of these…
In fact did you answer ANY comments/response that a person of your own visions of your cerebral being would answer, or at least try to answer?
#45. 185600 So much to do so little time. Hope you get time to rest and kick the boots off.
Saw an old mate collect a DSM the other day and a bunch of new bayonets take up the slack. God speed to all.
Posted by deadparrot on 2007 10 10 at 08:46 AM • permalinkI disappear for a half an hour to change and feed the youngster, and it gets all serious again! Have to go for the evening. The boy and Mrs Sharpe have woken and both are demanding attention.
Posted by Richard Sharpe on 2007 10 10 at 09:06 AM • permalinkThe missus asked me tonight, “If you were still serving, and you got told to go, would you go?”
The answer was pretty much, “Duh, don’t have a choice.”
I’m not in anymore, but I do have a choice as to whether to serve or not. I couldn’t do it now - not because I am almost as old as Trooper Pearce and a bit chunkier and slower, but because I couldn’t leave the family behind.
Going away from them now would require a level of courage that I just do not have. I’d miss getting woken up at 0550 each morning by the little one pulling back the covers and ripping the hairs out of my legs. Those carping wingnuts haven’t the slightest idea of what ‘commitment’ really means.
A good man has fallen. I salute those that will take his place. They are better men and women that I.
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 10 10 at 09:10 AM • permalink#51 Ash_ I’m not brave Ash_, I just served with brave men.
I’ve been away from the sharp end for 16 years, I bailed out, ‘cause no doctor could explain why I would fall down for no reason at all, and I didn’t want to let my mates down if it happened to me while on ops.
It’s taken that long for the medical fraterenity to diagnose a congenital birth defect in my heart. I’m 44 years old.
Mates I joined up with are now highly decorated SNCO’s and Officers.
Posted by deadparrot on 2007 10 10 at 09:44 AM • permalink#58 deadparrot
That’s stuffed, really stuffed. I would have been a baby digger in Townsville when you got out. I hope alls’ fallen into place for you though?
I just remember my first Perth course after the big one being Sigs, and being a Sig, thought it would be a breeze. Nope. I had a bloke we called Johnny G as the instructor. Remember him at all?Damn. This time difference is a killer. Looked at the thread at 11:00 last night U.S. east coast time. Maybe 60 comments. Check in this morning and see that all hell has broken loose. I find that a lefty has been dismembered and the body has already been disposed of.Several current and former diggers are having an online reunion and speaking in some kind of language that resembles English. I can pick out the odd word, green hat , and feather seem familiar. Other than that , I’m at a loss.
Seriously though, a sincere thank you, to all who have served and are serving now. Aussies, Canadian, British and American. I know what you people and your families sacrifice and I truly appreciate it. My Dad was a professional soldier and I served as a peace time sailor 73-75 (completely unheroic).#60 sorry 185…. The name does’nt ring a bell. I only really knew a couple, Avi was one, but sadly no longer with us.
Come Monday, the Quack’s going to give me the lowdown on what the plan ahead is. All this because I wanted to update my dive medical. (Been night diving in the Swan River for prawns for years. Doc says now I cant).
I’m glad I made the 50th. It was a blast.
I work in the oil industry now, the Company has been just fantastic since I told them what’s going.
Life is an adventure.
Posted by deadparrot on 2007 10 10 at 10:11 AM • permalink#61 No problems around here “greene”, a lot of us round here saw “nothing”.
But we were ready!
Posted by deadparrot on 2007 10 10 at 10:16 AM • permalinkSpent most of my time in the USMC in the East Asia area. I was also in the just in case group of saw nothings from the ‘79 to ‘85 time frame.
Lots of places in that AO that get real funky within just a few paces off a traveled path.
I always figured that Aussie diggers would have to be most vary familiar with the funkier parts and places.
#65, Grimmy,
What’s with “just in case”? You were there, that’s the important part, and may I tell you a story about a young aussie soldier who went to Vietnam with my husband and came home to a hero’s welcome.
Let’s call him Fred. He did basic training and infantry corps training with the spouse, they deployed to Vietnam in Nov 1966. After a couple of weeks settling in at Nui Dat a group of them were given a day pass to Vung Tau, all headed off to the brothel zone.
Soldiers doing what they do in those places, there was a bit of loud exhuberation, and fred stuck his head up to see what was happening in the next cubicle. Unfortunately his head became entangled with a ceiling fan and severe lacerations resulted.
He was the son of a senior military officer so the circumstances were hushed, and he was sent home “wounded in action”
True story. He even got a welcome home parade in the home town. We have photos, complete with bandages around the head. Never saw a shot fired in anger, but has a rack.
Another mate was blown up by friendly fire from you seppos in Phuoc Thuy province, taken to a US military hospital, General Westmoreland visited delivering Purple Hearts, gave one to Harry with many congratulations. 15 mins later an aide returned and snatched it back with apologies that purple hearts were only for US servicemen. Harry is still the only Australian soldier officially presented with a PH, however briefly. He has a good sense of humour about it.
Zoe:
Sub duty has got to be rough. I can’t imagine dealing with the confinement and constant close proximity of the same few folk day in, day out, all day every day. That would do me in.
mareeS:
The just in case was a rather constant back then. There was the just in case whenever the Sovs did something drastic in Afghanistan. There was the just in case every time PDRC got snitty at Taiwan. There was the just in case when the DPRK tried to kill off the South Korean gov in that Rangoon bombing. There was the just in case when the muzzie scum blew up our brother Marines in Beirut. Just to name the ones that pop into my pointy atm.
Spent lots of time either on ship just in casing, or sitting on a field pack on the tarmac just in casing or confined to barracks in full gear, with all civvie stuff locked up in storage, on standby because someone smelled a potential just in case on the wind.
Mr. or Miss “Ant Rogenous”:
you bilious, ignorant gobshite
This sort of thing isn’t permitted here. As a new member, you haven’t built up the reputation here to allow you to insult the other members freely. And as a matter of fact even long-time members would get a caution if they directed such a comment to another member. If you can’t keep your keyboard civil, I will ban you.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 10 10 at 03:15 PM • permalink#69: Thanks for the heads-up, Andrea. A less ethical site might have just banned me without explanation.
I’m not going to defend those words of mine, but I’m not going to apologise for them either. Presumably you’ve read the entire thread, so it should be abundantly clear to you how much deliberate provocation I ignored before calling that commenter on his infantile behaviour.
It’s admirable that you would caution even a long-time member for directing such a comment to another member. I do note, however, that no such caution was issued to any of the people that chose immediately to fire insults at me rather than attempting to argue in good faith.
I didn’t come here to insult people, and it’d be a shame if you banned me—particularly because I’d like to respond to the several people who addressed my comments in a civil manner after I’d left yesterday, but don’t have the time today.
Until next time, all the best.
Ant
Posted by Ant Rogenous on 2007 10 10 at 07:53 PM • permalink#223 185600;
I have heard of a lot of Russian conscripts draining their armoured vehicles of anything resembling alcohol, including hydraulic fluid, to drink during their little trip to Afghanistan in the eighty’s.
The Russian Air Force, at least, have used alcohol for some of their aircraft hydraulic and anti-icing systems, especially those stationed in Siberia. And that was straight ethanol, not denatured.
It was something of a scandal (for someone) when it became known that MiG-25 and -31 squadrons were effectiely grounded because of shortages of alcohol for aircraft use, having been sold off by maintainence echelons for cash or barter.
#69 & 70
In Ant’s defence, I am a bilious gobshite. The ignorant bit is in the hands of the jury.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 10 10 at 09:10 PM • permalink#18 185600;
Rules: Week one: Separate the men from the boys, Week two: Separate the fools from the men, Week three: The fools get to jump.
Our nephew learned about that this past summer at Ft. Bragg, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. Then rest of the summer at intel school at Ft. Huachuca, the garden spot of Arizona.
He signed on with the Army; they see him through college, then he’s in a for few years, hopefully in an intelligence slot. (His summer breaks are moderately interesting, he says. Always been a low-key lad.)
The boy is doing very well in both so far.
#72
Don’t worry IT, the jury will be back before lunch, then you can continue your studies at Scumbag College
Re #73, jump school and Fort Gesundheit! Good on your nephew! But Airborne school is at Fort Benning, not Bragg; the 82nd Airborne Division is stationed at Fort Bragg, possibly the source of confusion.
And no, I never went to jump school myself; I took my father’s advice about that. He bailed out of a P38 over Sicily, had some interesting adventures, including a brush with a Ranger, and expressed his firm opinion about parachuting to me:
“Jeff, only three things fall out the sky: bombs, birdshit, and fools.”
Which fits in nicely with those Rules, doesn’t it? Wisdom for the ages!
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 10 11 at 12:54 AM • permalink#75 TRJ;
But Airborne school is at Fort Benning,
Dang. My bad. (I knew it started with a B.) You’re right.
I used to work at an FBO that sometimes serviced/fueled planes used by a local jump school. (Takes a long time to fill up a DC-3’s tanks using what’s basically an auto gas station’s pump.)
I’ve had 35 years to think about it since then, and still can’t see the lure of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.
Not that their DC-3 was perfectly good.
#66 Maree: Betcha that aide is now a Democrat congressman.
Posted by dean martin on 2007 10 11 at 08:01 AM • permalink
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#248 I used to work in the Gold Coast Hinterland. It was an oft quoted phrase in circumstances similar to the one you’ve just described.