Guard Dog

Ugly loss last night. Just terrible. Yeah, forget the division title, now i'm just hoping they hold on to the last wildcard spot. Not looking good right now. This road trip has jut killed the season.

Ahhh the first day of the NFL season. GF is coming over. She's a big Titans fan (I LOVE women who are into sports, not THATS sexy) so were grilling shish-kabobs and watching the games and later on.... who knows!

Wals they are NOT fighting for a descent future. They are fighting to replace one strongman with another one whose religion they like. I'll repeat, there are no good guys here. This is one band of savages fighting several other bands of savages who all want something different. And when it's all over the bands of savages who survive will start fighting the other bands that survived. This war will not end with the fall of Assad. And it's just not our problem anymore. It's long past time the rest of the world begins to exploit their own resources and wash their hands of the middle east.

Of course it is, this is an internet forum after all! But on a serious note since it is a pretty well known fact that over half of the rebels fighting in Syria are affiliated with a terrorist backed group, and al Nusura outright claiming to be part of al Qaeda any action taken against Assad benefits them. So it really isn't that much of a stretch is it Hurlie?

Let's hope you don't catch a catfish, too. ... just

I love archery. I have two bows. One is a custom made recurve I had done by Mahsaka when I was working in Texas. That one is just for fun. I also have a 20 year old Browning Timberwolf compound bow. I use that one for hunting & fishing (once). Archery is ALL about technique. I always thought it was the purest form of marksmanship. You really should stick with it Woldan. (No pun intended )

@Wals: Striped bass, rock bass, speck and bream are the most common fish in the Hatchie River & Cold Creek which is where I do most of my fishing. They respond best to live bait like crickets, minnows, and night crawlers (earthworms to those of you not from the south). Top water artificial plugs and spins work well for striped bass but sinking lures are more for lakes since the current is so strong. I once caught a brown trout which was surprising since they are more common in the mountains out east. @Bruce: My property is bordered on the north side by the Anderson Tully Wildlife Management Area. and on the west by Cold Creek. I can walk to the Hatchee River in about 30 min. It is remote by any definition. I use DirectTv satellite for my TV & Internet since there is no cable or broadband service here. My cell phone work ok if I go outside. The nearest towns are Covington which is about 18 miles and Millington which is about 20. Memphis is the nearest city. My nearest neighbor is about 1 mile away. I have never met them but they wave when I drive by. But my house is not a cabin in the woods by any means. I just had it built four years ago. And while I do get a fair amount of produce from the garden and fish, fowl & venison from Tully most of my groceries come from Kroger! Which is fortunate because I only could 4 Gar fish today. You really can't eat them so I put them back. The only fish I'll be eating tonight will be fish sticks from Gortons!

Fish. I don't know what kind, I haven't gone down to the river yet. But we'll see.

That series with the Sox at the Trop is the whole season in three games. a sweep will not put the Rays in first but losing even 2 of 3 will put the division crown out of reach for good and all. But for God's sake you can't just lay down to the M's that way. The Yanks can't be counted on to make these losses a victimless crime!

I disagree. WWII allowed us to gain the military and technological advances that put us at the top of the food chain. WWII was a whole different story. We were attacked. Prior to that there was not much interest in involving ourselves in what was seen as a purely European affair. But then again nobody really knew Hitler was busy exterminating an entire race either. That might have shifted sentiment if it was known. WWI was a good example of a bad intervention. I could easily make the case they US involvement did nothing for us and may have actually made things worse. Korea and the Gulf War were also good interventions because we were defending an ally from an invasion. Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, now this were all expensive mistakes from which nothing good came on our part. I think the Gulf War was a good intervention, and I do believe American involvement in WW2 had a positive effect on the world. I'm unsure about WW1 - I'm sure I could find points both for and against - but I'm leaning towards saying it was a good intervention. You should check up how South Korea really was during the Korean war. It was a brutal, repressive dictatorship (and to be honest, at the time many people would probably have preferred to have lived in North Korea, global politics aside, very ironic of you compare it to the current situation) on a patch of land with no resources at all to talk about. The intervention in itself was also an atrocity in terms of the use of overwhelming force against civilians (compare Dresden, et.c.). Military leaders on the losing sides of wars have been convicted in international courts for less. The South Korean government might have been "allies" of the US on paper, but really Guard Dog, you have got to have one ounce of moral fiber in your body. You don't "ally" with dictatorships of that kind. You talk about "rights" and the American constitution but you're willing to pay a fortune to save a brutal dictatorship overseas which ****s in the face of those very same "rights" of it's own people? It's pointless to aid a foreign dictatorship when the only outcome is a different flavor of totalitarianism. By the same logic of yours, the US should also have aided Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. Not every ally is going to measure up to any moral standard we might have. Hell, most of them won't. But North Korea was backed by the Chinese and they invaded the South who was backed by us. We don't have to like of approve of the south to realize intervening is necessary or an alliance with the US is not worth the paper it's written on. If China invades Taiwan we're going to war with China. not because we like Taiwan but because that is what we agreed to do. I wasn't really comparing Korea to Syria though. Just pointing it out as an example of a good intervention. Or at least a necessary one. I think you agree the ultimate outcome of this Syrian conflict is not going to be a free and stable country no matter who wins. So why bother? We have no alliance to protect, both sides of the conflict are sworn enemies of both our allies and ourselves. We've spent the last twelve years fighting against Al-Qaeda, now Obama wants us to fight for them. No thank you.

I fixed a leak in the barn roof this morning. I worked in the garden for a little bit. I was going to watch the UF/Miami game but I think I'm going fishing instead. Whatever I catch is going in the pan tonight.

Just another heartbreaking loss to a bad team last night. These last two weeks watching the Rays has been like watching a landslide in slow motion.

It is a beautiful night. The stars are out, fireflies are flashing down by the creek. Owls, whippoorwills, you gotta love nighttime in the US South. I'm going to pour a double of fine 9 year old bourbon and take my XM radio out on the porch and listen to the football game. At least until 9 when the Rays/Angels game starts. See you guys tomorrow!

The real problem with the Cowboys is Jerry Jones being unwilling to rebuild the team. In the NFL it is just necessary to blow it up and rebuild every 6-8 seasons. Usually the turnaround is quick. Romo is not the real problem, there are no better QBs to replace him with in any given free agency period and the Boys are always just good enough to not have a shot at the high draft picks. So they try to improve piecemeal and the problem with that is as you improve one position, another is going down in quality. Sometimes it just has to be like pulling off a Band-Aid, better to just yank it off an be done with it.

I'm a Bucs fan. This is going to be a very important year for us. It's now the second season of Schianos rebuilding effort and it's Josh Freemans last chance to put up or shut up as QB.

I disagree. WWII allowed us to gain the military and technological advances that put us at the top of the food chain. WWII was a whole different story. We were attacked. Prior to that there was not much interest in involving ourselves in what was seen as a purely European affair. But then again nobody really knew Hitler was busy exterminating an entire race either. That might have shifted sentiment if it was known. WWI was a good example of a bad intervention. I could easily make the case they US involvement did nothing for us and may have actually made things worse. Korea and the Gulf War were also good interventions because we were defending an ally from an invasion. Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, now this were all expensive mistakes from which nothing good came on our part.

Everyday I see more and more evidence that the single wisest foreign policy decision the US ever made was the Monroe Doctrine. It's been all downhill since we abandoned it.

I told you guys about my nephews career crisis (or lack thereof) a few weeks ago and that he was thinking of joining the Marines. I told him it was a good idea so long as he wanted to be a Marine. If he just wanted to join the military then he should look at all the other branches before deciding. He took my advice met with all the recruiters and ended up enlisting in the Navy. He's going in November. I think it was a smart move for him. Like I said back then, being in the Marines in not easy, you have to want it.

It beats a 5-gallon bucket filled with water. The wife'd never forgive you...and neither would the prosecutor. Yeah they tend to take a dim view of that kind of thing!

My boys have found the mojo again it seems. Even Helickson is back in form. Oh, and Keyrock, that 20-4 victory only counts as one win!

Hurlshot I have two words for you: Children's Benadryl. Problem solved!

Liveleak source has more holes than a sieve: There is no newspaper called the Oklahoma Post A google search of John Blue Reed the alleged defense expert finds nothing There were no Tomahawk launches from the Med. The two observed "ballistics" were likely from the Israeli Sparrow Missile Test. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/world/middleeast/israel-us-missile-mediterranean.html?_r=0 The picture is of an F-22 Raptor that crashed outside of Nellis AFB on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004. And here's two shots of the original http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyhappyjoyjoy/1302616031/ http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?113454-F-22-crash-video (scroll down to post #11 on 06-05-2007 by He219 ) According to multiple sources, the S-300 system has not been delivered (yet) . http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/09/01/report-russia-suspends-delivery-of-s-300-missile-defense-system-to-syria/ http://rt.com/news/syria-s-300-delay-russia-277/ http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/07/22/Syrian-deputy-PM-set-for-Russia-talks-as-violence-rages.html And the S-400 is not yet available for export http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070823/73849589.html Got to be one of the lamest troll attempts I've seen, Oby. Oby is getting lazy in his old age!

Well the Syrian Liberation Front and Syrian Islamic Front are both backed by Hezbollah according to the BBC & Reuters. The Al-Nursura brigade in the south has come out and publicly pledged loyalty to Al-Qaeda. Between the three they have some 60k fighters and are far more organized and better armed than the one group me MIGHT be able to work with, the Free Syrian Army. If Assad is deposed do you think these three groups who all want different things will site down and compromise on a government? Do you think there will be a vote? No, they will do what they do best in the Middle East, start killing each other. And everyone else in the way. Why in the world should we expend our blood and treasure to make that happen? And anything that hurts Assad helps them.

My condolences LadyC. I know exactly how that feels. I have one dog now, I used to have 15 once. I think of them all everyday. There is an old saying "Old men miss many dogs". That works for cats too. You did everything that could be done for that cat. I am certain at some level he knows and loves you for it.

Except in this case any intervention only benefits immoral people. Fact, the rebels are terrorist backed Sunnis who are only fighting because Assad & the Ba'athists are shi'ites. Fact both sides have committed atrocities against civilians. Fact, no matter who wins civilians will be brutally executed by the hundreds and thousands as either side takes revenge/celebrates. Fact, no intervention that is being discussed will prevent any of that. By attacking the army we would be helping the rebels. If that turns the tide of the conflict enough that they win they THEY will have whatever weapons Syria has only now we will be complicit in anything they do afterwards. Including the inevitable massacres and ultimately attacking US or Israel. To hell with them all. I truly hope they completely kill each other off. And before you bring up civilians again, remember, they are screwed no matter what!