Saturday, October 18, 2014

Wadi Stones

I have two stones that I found on separate occasions in a wadi in Iraq in 2004. That was the year that killing and mayhem in Iraq markedly increased with roadside IEDs and VBIEDs. It was a horrible but unremarkable escalation of violence against occupiers, tribes and sects. On one, a large three-sided stone, I wrote, "Simplify" On the other, smaller stone, more akin to a stone you'd use to skip across a stream or lake surface, I wrote on one side, "Love Life." On the other side I wrote, "Dream." They have been on my toilet tank cover since I returned. They are the first objects I see every morning when i wake and the last things I see every night before bed. Ten years later, those words from a younger and wiser war-fighter me, written on wadi rocks with a black Sharpie, continue to inform my life. And for what it's worth, those wadie stones inform the lives of my employees; they just don't know it.

Friday, October 17, 2014

The Beck Setlist from ACL (with video links)

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Escape videos

Simply Red - Holding Back The Years

A flock of seagulls

Head over Heals

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

How Novel. A Theater full of Angry White People

watching Glenn Beck and fawning over Michelle Malkin.

@michellemalkin Sold out, energetic crowd! Just like our favorite leader, Mrs Heidi Huber :) She has taught us well! pic.twitter.com/T6RpU2sfFp
— Crazy House Reviews (@CrazyHousePR) July 23, 2014

Saturday, July 5, 2014

My Fucking Tribe

...because, white people from South Carolina.

. #WhatTreySaid - a few words from Rep. Trey Gowdy. Leftists, what say you? pic.twitter.com/OTaVcjQBGy
— Less Gov. More Fun. (@LessGovMoreFun) July 6, 2014

Thursday, July 3, 2014

These Motherfuckers Continue to Run on Family Values

fun house mirrors. just like the democrats of old...

GOP candidate for #LAsen reveals 17-year-old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock: http://t.co/EXLQl1Xv7k
— POLITICO (@politico) July 4, 2014

Senate candidate Bill Cassidy discloses that his teenage daughter is pregnant

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/bill_cassidy_senate_campaign_r.html

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

The Shit that is Iraq

my professional journey in iraq via tweets of mine and others.

!!! Why we stuck with Maliki — and lost Iraq via @washingtonpost http://t.co/E5s9u06uEe
— YGBSM (@YGBSM) July 4, 2014

Iraqi colonel: 'Anarchy is what America has granted Iraq' http://t.co/he1RSYrBPy
— BI MIL/DEF (@BI_Defense) July 2, 2014

POTUS: "American forces will not be returning to combat." Except for those 300 troops (and any others) we're sending. It's combat for them.
— Paul (PJ) Rieckhoff (@PaulRieckhoff) June 19, 2014

hubris and chutzpah "Donald Rumsfeld on Iraq" via @Marketplace and @kairyssdal http://t.co/FgZXINomkG
— YGBSM (@YGBSM) June 15, 2014

In case anybody deletes this tweet: pic.twitter.com/wqWHEykgax
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) June 14, 2014

iraq: 3,528 US combat deaths. 4,489 total US deaths. 32,021 US wounded. https://t.co/B2XIleHd4o
— YGBSM (@YGBSM) June 13, 2014

My fellow Iraq War veterans are missing a crucial point about the sacrifices they made http://t.co/p1qVaejZv0
— BI MIL/DEF (@BI_Defense) June 13, 2014

.@reihan your analysis is flawed. as a boots on the ground trainer in '04, we all saw this coming. sects/tribes trumped nation. ALWAYS.
— YGBSM (@YGBSM) June 13, 2014

.@ron_fournier it's a bullshit piece. i trained NIA '04 KMTB. sunni/shia/kurd factionalism was rampant. everyone knew it couldn't be solved.
— YGBSM (@YGBSM) June 13, 2014

Frustrated Texan