While I applaud Wikileaks and whoever provided them with the video, and absolutely believe that information like this needs to be public, I am wholly on the side of the Apache crew.

I think the biggest problem with this footage, is that it’s incomplete, and if you’re unfamiliar with military comms, you probably have no idea what had happened up to the start of the video.

The Apache crew wasn’t just orbiting and looking for targets, they were directed to a point where troops on the ground were receiving fire from AK-47s and RPGs. The Reuters employees were apparently working on a story from the Iraqi perspective, similar to when American journalists are embedded with US forces.

Unfortunately, the Apache crew mistook the camera one of the journalists was carrying for a weapon, although it did appear that others had weapons as well, and at least one RPG round was found under a body. In my opinion, the ROE were met, period.

Next up was the van, which was attempting to clear the bodies & weapons before ground troops could reach the scene, I’m sorry, it’s fair game. Why were they doing this? Because it’s easy to say that the Apache fired on unarmed civilians when there are no weapons to be found.

The children being injured was a tragedy, but one that could have easily been avoided by not taking them into a combat zone, particularly one that had just been fired upon by an Apache. And please note, that the medic treated them called for an immediate evac, which was granted and both children were taken to a local hospital.

Finally, while the ground troops were cordoning off the area, they again received fire, and directed the Apache to the source, several individuals can clearly be seen with weapons before the Apache destroys the abandoned building they ran to.

Now it’s very easy to second-guess the actions of the Apache crew, particularly when watching the video from a nice quiet, office in a comfortable chair, but I can tell you from experience, that interpreting that same video in a loud, vibrating, cramped space where the video on your screen is bouncing around is an entirely different matter.

So, let me preface this by saying that I am not looking for another job, but I’m still on Monster.com from a few years back when I was. As a result, I occasionally receive notifications from recruiters for job openings, and this one just fucking blew me away:

04/01/2010
Dear Candidate,

“If you don’t feel like you’re a good fit **but** you know someone, perhaps junior to you, who is looking for a temporary assignment without a heavy skill set required, please do feel free to forward this email onto them.”

What. The. Fuck.

Seriously, what the fuck? Who the hell is going to perform on-site tech work for $10/hr? I’m almost certain that I could make that as a fucking “sandwich artist” at Subway, and it wouldn’t require me to use my own vehicle to drive all over town.

You know what this is? This is a damned good reason to sit on your ass and collect unemployment. The contract is for $10 and hour, at 40 hours a week for 3 months, so $1600 a month for a total of $4800.

Do you want to know how much the State of Texas would pay me in unemployment? $408 a week, so I would actually be better off not taking the job, as at the very least, I’d know for a fact that I’d still have money coming in after three months.

Now, I’m not saying that people on unemployment shouldn’t be looking for a new job, but what I am saying, is that when people look around and say “but there are plenty of jobs out there for people who want to work”, perhaps they need to look a little deeper.

Seriously, if I still had stacks of porn I’d help.

Atheist Bibles-For-Porn Swap Riles Campus

Atheist Group Calls Exchange “Smut for Smut,” Prompting Protests from Christian Students at University of Texas San Antonio

(CBS/AP) A college atheist group is offering students pornography in exchange for Bibles.

Atheist Agenda calls the exchange “Smut for Smut,” prompting prayers and protests from Christian students at the University of Texas San Antonio campus.

Student Monica Cornado says it’s offensive to compare pornography to “the Word of God.”

University officials say the atheist group has the right to conduct the swap.

UTSA spokesman David Gabler says, “As long as students are not violating laws or violating the Constitution, they have the freedom of speech and assembly.”

The Atheist Agenda started at UTSA in 2005, and their first “Smut for Smut” campaign blew up into a national media sensation, reports CBS affiliate KENS in San Antonio. Past president Thomas Jackson was deluged with interview requests, and debated Tucker Carlson, the bow-tie-wearing conservative pundit, on MSNBC.

This year, organizers said a group of Christians amassed to protest the event, and one protester ripped a sign from someone’s hands. But police kept a watchful gaze over students involved in heated debates, and did not report any violence.

First, let me say that this is going to piss some people off, it won’t be the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

PHOENIX — A proposed law that would erase registration requirements for certain sex offenders convicted of less violent crimes will likely go no further this legislative session.

Yes, it seems that some Arizona politicians realized that perhaps forcing people convicted of various crimes to be listed on publicly accessible rolls for the rest of their lives might be a tad much, so as the article states they pushed for some changes:

As written, the bill allows sex offenders to stop registering if they’ve finished jail and probation and can prove to a judge that they’re no longer a public safety threat.

See, that’s how the law is supposed to work, you finish your “debt to society”, and you’re allowed to move on with your life. Hell, you can murder a child in cold blood, but as long as you do your time, all is forgiven. But piss on a sidewalk? Fuck you sex offender, we’re going to publicly humiliate you until the day you die. We’re also going to prohibit you from living anywhere but under a bridge like a god damned troll, and then we’re gonna’ forcibly remove you from there as well. Oh, and if we feel like it, we’re also going to incarcerate you for life, even though you’ve served your sentence. Sucks don’t it? Too fucking bad.

So, back to Arizona and this bill: The bill has bi-partisan support. And lawmakers said sex offense laws in Arizona treat all cases virtually the same whether it’s a 19-year-old having sex with a 16-year-old, a person caught urinating in public, or a child rapist.

Wait, so bipartisan support? Okay, why isn’t it moving forward?

Just a few hearings into the bill, he was faced with opposition from several groups, including N.A.I.L.E.M., a group that tracks state laws.

“Let me tell you, if once a sex offender, always a sex offender,” said Diane Neill, the group’s director. “

Ah, so some group with a catchy name is gonna’ claim that anyone who supports this is soft on crime and hates women and children. And who is Diane Neill anyway? You’d think with her forceful declaration about sex offenders that she’d a degreed mental health or criminal justice professional. Truth is, she’s a housewife with a high school diploma and her own cover story in the Phoenix New Times back in 2001. And as you might expect, it isn’t exactly flattering.

To clarify, this is no way meant to apologize for or condone the actions of sex offenders, but I personally believe two things:

1. It is unconstitutional to treat sexual crimes differently than other crimes, due to their nature. In other words, unless you require murderers and grand larcenists to publicly disclose their locations after their release from prison and end of parole, you shouldn’t force sex offenders to either.

2. There are varying degrees of “sex crimes”. Someone who got so drunk that they decided that it was a good idea squat down and piss in an alley is not comparable to a serial rapist, and we shouldn’t treat them like it.

No matter which way you lean on this matter, I invite you to join me in visiting the Tea Bagger festivities in front of Dallas City Hall, Saturday at noon:

For those of you who think that I’m particularly hard on the Tea Party folks, I invite you to join me in partaking in another one of their love fests:

The Dallas Tea Party 2010 Anniversary and Get-Out-The-Vote Rally!!!

February 27, 2010

Dallas City Hall

12:00 noon – 2:00 pm

Dear Apple, did you really just release a final version of Aperture that incorrectly rotates Nikon RAW files? Seriously?

Listen, I know I haven’t always been kind to you, but over the past few years, you’ve grown on me, I’ve even started to recommend you to people. But now?

Now you’re giving me things like the iPad, which really wasn’t the game-changer that Steve tried to make it out to be. No multitasking and no Flash support on a device that would cost me two to three times what a good netbook would? Did you really think that people wouldn’t notice the blue Lego blocks every time they tried to visit…Well, just about anything on the web anymore?

And Aperture 3, you know how much I hate Nikon’s Capture NX2 for its workflow, but love the results it gives me. Aperture 3 could have made me happy, great results with a trademark Apple user experience. But no, right out of the box you had to screw up my photos.

I know that sometimes there are little issues that pop up at the last moment, but c’mon, all you had to do, was import some photos and the problem would be noticeable. You and I both know that my little D90 has been on the market for a year and a half, so it wasn’t that you didn’t have time for a little QA.

Nikon and Canon together make up what percentage of the market you’re gunning for? I’d hazard a guess of at least 80%, and I’m sure that’s conservative. Think of the market share: People who need more than Photoshop Elements or Lightroom, but can’t afford a full version of Photoshop. That could all be yours, and probably a new car too!

Now I realize that you’re probably thinking “What’s the big deal, all you have to do, is rotate the photos yourself!”, and while that’s true, it leaves me wondering “what else is missing or not-quite-right”. What’s that they say about second chances for first impressions?

C’mon guys, maybe it’s time to lay off the Humboldt imports, or if you haven’t been smoking lately, maybe it’s time to pick the pipe back up again.

Since Republicans are always claiming how they’re anti-tax, and friend to the little man, I’d like to take a moment to remind everyone of last March, when Rick Perry decided to reject $556 million in additional federal funds for unemployment because it had “too many strings attached”. What those strings were for of course was to provide unemployment for more people and using a better measure to determine pay. Oh, and that half a billion dollars? It was an interest free loan.

Fast Forward to today, when CNN has run the following:

Texas is one of the hard-hit states. Though its unemployment rate is a relatively low 8.3%, jobless claims have soared. In December, Texas paid 330,000 residents a total of $325.7 million, up from 228,000 people claiming $216.8 million a year earlier.

The state began borrowing from the feds in July to pay unemployment benefits and now owes Washington $1.6 billion, said Ann Hatchitt, spokeswoman for the Texas Workforce Commission.

So employers in the Lone Star State will have to pay at least $64.80 in tax per worker this year, up from $23.40 a year ago. This is the highest rate in 20 years.

“After having a period of high demand on the unemployment trust fund and rising unemployment, we had to set the rates for 2010 to replenish the trust fund,” Hatchitt said.

So, to recap: Rick Perry who says that taxes are bad mmmkay turned down $556 million for jobless Texans because he didn’t feel that more Texans needed to be able to eat,provide for their families and have a roof over their heads. As a result, Texas has had to borrow 1 and a half billion dollars from the federal government, all of which we’ll owe interest on. Oh, and to cover our shortage? We’re gonna almost triple unemployment taxes on businesses.

Now I know that conservatives like to forward on to their families, friends, enemies, people they once talked to on an elevator lots political emails. Well, I’m asking everyone to pass around this one. I want to see the outrage that comes from a man screwing over Texas workers, families and businesses to garner favor with the Tea Party crowd. Anyone who professes to believe in honesty and lower taxes should realize that they cannot in good conscience vote for this man.

AIG is giving out another 100 million in bonuses.

This is what happens when you idolize people like McCarthy, Nixon, Cheney & Bush:

4 men charged with U.S. Senate office infiltration in New Orleans

(CNN) — Four men were charged Tuesday after attempting to illegally access and manipulate the phone system in a district office of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, a local U.S. attorney’s office said.

Joseph Basel, 24, Robert Flanagan, 24, James O’Keefe, 25, and Stan Dai, 24, were charged with entering Landrieu’s New Orleans office, which is federal property, under “false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony,” according to the attorney’s office.

Law enforcement officials say they believe O’Keefe is the conservative activist of the same name who dressed up as a pimp last summer and visited an office of ACORN, a liberal community organizing group, in order to solicit advice on setting up a brothel, among other scenarios.

He secretly recorded the visits on video and posted them on the Web, leading to a media firestorm.

Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, his office said.

Articles on conservative Web sites connect O’Keefe to a man named Joe Basel, describing them as conservative student activists and filmmakers.

According to the news release Tuesday and an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Steven Rayes, who is based in New Orleans, Basel and Flanagan attempted to gain access to Landrieu’s office Monday while posing as telephone repairmen.

Read the affidavit (PDF)

The two men were “each dressed in blue denim pants, a blue work shirt, a light green fluorescent vest, a tool belt and a construction-style hard hat when they entered the Hale Boggs Federal Building,” the release said.

After they entered the building, the two men told a staffer in Landrieu‘s office they were telephone repairmen, according to the release and Rayes’ affidavit. They then asked for, and were granted, access to the reception desk’s phone system.

O’Keefe, who had been waiting in the office before the pair arrived, recorded their actions with a cell phone, Rayes’ affidavit said.

Flanagan and Basel later requested access to a telephone closet, claiming they needed to perform work on the main phone system, the release and affidavit said.

According to Rayes’ affidavit, the two men went to a U.S. General Services Administration office on another floor and requested access to the main phone system. A GSA employee then asked for their credentials, and the two men said they left them in their vehicle, the affidavit said.

All four men have admitted their roles in the operation to federal agents, Rayes’ affidavit said.

If convicted, the four men would each face a fine of $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison, according to the news release.

“Because the details of yesterday’s incident are part of an ongoing investigation by federal authorities, our office cannot comment at this time,” Landrieu spokesman Aaron Saunders told CNN.

Articles posted January 14 on CampusReform.org and Political Vanguard, both conservative Web sites, quoted O’Keefe and a man identified as Joe Basel as conservative student activists and independent filmmakers.

“Don’t just respond to news, but actually create your own headlines,” O’Keefe is quoted as saying by CampusReform.org.