Monday, May 23, 2011

Renegade and Renaissance in Eire

Today, the Commander in Chief and his wife paid a visit to Ireland of all places today. It was a flying visit. Arriving early this morning but already departed.

The Obamas were met with the usual wet and blustery conditions one is normally met with at Dublin Airport which has is own unique weather system to remind those coming home from holiday that they're back in reality now. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Ambassador Dan Rooney were on hand to welcome the visitors and take them to Áras an Uachtaráin for a private meeting with President Mary McAleese.

Obama then held talks with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Farmleigh this morning, where they discussed a range of issues, including Ireland's deficit problems and US planes stopping at Shannon. Mr. Obama said the bond and relationship between the two countries could not be stronger. He said 'we will do everything to help' Ireland in its economic recovery. He said he was inspired by the progress made in the peace process in Northern Ireland and that it was obvious to him that Ireland punches above its weight in a range of issues, including food security and peace keeping.

It is also understood that a brief but important meeting was held between the leaders and Colonel "Whopper" Creedon of U.N.E.T.I.D.A. but there was no official confirmation.

This afternoon, Marine One brought POTUS and FLOTUS to Mr. Obama's ancestral home of Moneygall, Co Offaly where they embraced Henry Healy, Mr. Obama's distant cousin, who greeted them on arrival. They then spent time to meet and greet some of the hundreds of onlookers before visiting the local shop and having a pint of Guiness in Ollie Hayes' pub for which the President insisted on paying for with a €50 note. Publican Hayes told RTE later, he was so surprised and starstruck, he completely forgot to give The President his €46.25 [$65] change!

The Obamas returned to Dublin to take the stage in College Green where the President delivered a resounding address. "This little country, that inspires the biggest things -- your best days are still ahead. Our greatest triumphs -- in America and Ireland alike -- are still to come. And, Ireland, if anyone ever says otherwise, if anybody ever tells you that your problems are too big, or your challenges are too great, that we can’t do something, that we shouldn’t even try -- think about all that we’ve done together. Remember that whatever hardships the winter may bring, springtime is always just around the corner."

Air Force One departed for London just before 21:30 earlier than tomorrow morning's schedule due to the volcanic ash cloud.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

frenchman could be a scumbag [this is apparently news!?]

It's been suggested that I spend a few moments commenting on the fact that a frenchman could be a scumbag sexual deviant? To be honest, it's really the same as telling you that water is wet.

Apparently the head of the International Monetary Fund [the organisation that owns The Republic of Ireland] one Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested while boarding his flight home from New York at JFK airport. Apparently there were allegations put forward by a hotel maid that he had exposed himself and when she ran; he caught her attempted to rape her and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

I'm glad I'm not so desensitised to the horror of today's news stories that I couldn't still be shocked and horrified that such a man, regardless of having such a responsible and important job as the head of the IMF, could be capable of such a heinous act. Then I discovered that Strauss-Kahn was french and with that I understood at least in part, because simply being french does not excuse, but at least explains this vile behaviour.

If found guilty he faces 74 years in prison and so will get off lightly. His alleged crime however is not one even I would ask the death penalty for; no for him and those like him; the fitting punishment is to be deprived of his penis with the aid of a very heavy spiked steak tenderiser.

The vomit-inducing french media are up in arms aver the treatment of Strauss-Kahn. A famed former prosecutor-judge Eva Joly, observed in the Daily Liberation. In their concept of equality, she said, “Americans don’t differentiate between the director of the International Monetary Fund and any other suspect.” - yes indeed - this is actually a problem for her!

Strauss-Kahn's case is just beginning, but I surely do rest mine.

Hanna

I'm a bit behind in reviews again and I must go out of order to warn people about Hanna.

Hanna is like some inbred child born from a union of Luc Besson’s Leon and La Femme Nikita which then in turn had a bastard child with The Bourne Identity. The result produced excellent performances from Eric Star Trek Bana and Saoirse City of Ember Ronan but other than those performances and some satisfying moments of intense action I found the whole experience a bit too drowned in it’s bizarre symbolism as well as possessing a plot with more holes than a colander.

The movie started off very well setting up the fact that Hanna [Ronan] was Erik [Bana] 's daughter and together they lived in a remote secluded icy wilderness, bereft of technology save a Luger pistol. Erik is basically a hermit who teaches the young Hanna languages, history, science and how to kill people in the time it takes to sneeze – basically, all the knowledge a growing girl needs. She knows nothing of aviation, electricity, music, TV, the Internet or has ever even interacted with people her own age. Once Erik realises her curiosity can no longer be contained in their simple life, he gives her an “out” option from this existence, which she accepts but not without disastrous consequences.

Once you see the movie you will ask yourself [and whomever you saw the movie with] over two dozen questions afterwards that have no real answers. But this is not a movie like Inception which is open-ended for intellectual interpretation, no this just has questions left unanswered due to bad film-making. These range from amazingly stupid decisions that otherwise intelligent characters make, to the laws of physics being broken. Although it wouldn’t have made much of a movie otherwise - the whole idea of Erik even keeping the CIA transponder in the first place, knowing what would happen if activated is beyond ludicrous.

Notes to film-makers: When Character A shoots Character B from behind and you see no exit wound but later on a bullet hole is in the wall with Character B’s blood – people will remember that there was no exit wound. Also please research the amateur film-making mistake of “crossing the line”, which any 1st year film student can explain it to you if you can’t read it in a book by yourself which by the stupidity of cinematography on show here wouldn’t surprise me.

Final Verdict: Excellent performances from the leads can’t save this move from being phenomenally flawed. The satisfactory albeit brief moments of action can’t sadly distract us from the long-drawn-out middle of this bizarre, woefully technically incompetent film.

Colonel Creedon Rating: **1/2

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Happy Lucas Day!

Today we celebrate the birth of the greatest director, creator and now deity of all time. George W. Lucas is 67 today.

Happy Birthday George!

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Black Hawk Down? Black *something* down...

In 2006, Joint Special Operation Command [JSOC] commander General Stanley McCrystal was operating under the understanding that that U.S. units could not enter Pakistan except under extreme circumstances and even then, Pakistan would deny giving them permission. Wikileaks later revealed JSOC was conducting an ongoing drone program, along with snatch & grab and assassination operations, based in Karachi and conducted both in and outside of Pakistan.

Osama Bin Laden's now-famous sprawling compound was located on the outskirts of Abbottabad, 50km north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. It is a town with a high military presence due to proximity to Kakul, the Pakistan Military Academy - the equivalent of Westpoint or Sandhurst and many retired officers live there.

But at 1AM Monday morning, local time when the area was shrouded in darkness and bereft of moonlight, 25 operators of DevGru [the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly referred to by it's former name - SEAL Team Six], their dog and the pilots of the U.S. Army 160th SOAR [Special Operations Aviation Regiment] under the direction of the CIA, entered Pakistani airspace in two Modified MH-60s and two MH 47s to undertake Operation: Neptune's Spear.

The helicopters inserted the operators who performed their duty and hovered over the compound for 40 minutes. During this time, it appears that no one from the local security forces or military facilities seemed seemed to take issue with this. Kakul's front gate was not 700m from the compound of evil. In fact most of the people in the area only realised something was happening when one of the aircraft was blown up to safeguard secrets after making a hard landing due to "engine failure". Closer residents to the compound however tweeted complaints about the noise of the helicopters and described it as a rare occurrence.

If we assume for the moment that the U.S. Government is telling the truth when they say that Pakistan had no prior knowledge of the raid then it stands to reason that there was some pretty impressive technology employed to circumvent Pakistani air defence systems. The Pakastani's are no slouches when it comes to military hardware and especially air defence as they maintain cold relations with their neighbour India with whom they have had several conflicts with since the end of WWII. Many organisations and individuals are speculating about some new kind of “Stealth Copter” but the only credible answer to this conundrum is that technology of extra-terrestrial origin was used to mask the radar signature, disperse the heat emissions, muffle the sound and decrease the visibility of the aircraft to the point where it’s just short of a Romulan Cloaking Device from Star Trek.

Evidence of this comes in the form of the fact that the presence of Colonel “Whopper” Creedon of UNETIDA was noted travelling from Area 51 to the 160th SOAR airbase at Fort Campbell, Kentucky some weeks ago as he personally oversaw a convoy of several armoured articulated trucks with Osprey and Apache escorts flying overhead. Col. Creedon in particular is believed by some to be responsible for acquiring advanced alien technology from various sources and integrating it into U.S. weapons systems such as rail guns, airborne lasers, the V22 Osprey and the recently revealed successful test of a HEL over a body of water. Questions must now be asked as to the dangers of such technology obviously being applied haphazardly to vehicles, weapons and aircraft in such a way that caused one of the helicopters involved to malfunction and put both the lives of the Special Forces operators and their mission at considerable risk.

“So we lost a helo!” Creedon said when asked to comment. “Shit happens! It’s not the first time a Blackhawk has gone down is it? SOAR modify their birds all the time to be as stealthed as possible. The tech’s classified because they don’t want the Reds or the Yellahs getting their grubby paws on their fine work; not because it was dug out of the Antarctic and carbon dated to over 7000 years ago – er, actually strike that last comment from the record will you?”

One must now wonder if the only technology we are getting from extra-terrestrials is weapons? What does it say about the aliens, or more importantly: What does it say about us?

This article originally appeared in yesterday’s web edition of Conspiracy Theory Weekly and is reposted with kind permission of the editor, Ricardo E. Cenna.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Just before lighting the cigars....

The White House released a photo on Monday which was reprinted almost everywhere yesterday. It shows POTUS, VPOTUS, SECDEF, SECSTATE, CJCS, other individuals from DHS, NSA and those with responcibilities for National Security and Counter-Terrorism.

For security reasons I was photoshopped out from the original but it's safe to post here [and yes the White House vending machine was out of Chilli Heatwave Doritos - damn you Biden!]

Fun fact: General Webb assistant CG of JSOC, beside the president is updating his Facebook status to "I've got butterflies."

Monday, May 02, 2011

JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE! Bin Laden Terminated


"We will not tire. We will not falter, and we will not fail."
-
George W. Bush, September 11th, 2001.

While indeed Bush never wavered in his resolve to locate and capture Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive", it was President Obama who ordered a “detailed operation plan” in 2009 for finding and capturing bin Laden from CIA Director Leon Panetta. It would be another two years before there was enough intelligence in place to pinpoint Bin Laden's location prompting a special operation last night undertaken by a Navy SEAL team to fulfill President Bush's promise and eliminate Osama Bin Laden.

While obviously I was involved in operational planning for some time, I was absent all last week to iron out the final stages of the mission. I can say it was a period of high tension and anxiousness. People at the highest levels of government and military were on edge as the hours counted down during the preparation for this extraordinary operation, the culmination of years of work to either capture of kill the world's most wanted man.

The celebrations last night and today are certainly warranted. It's a great day for the USA.

My favourite headline today :)