Iran: Iran as you may have noticed in previous posts is on my shit list. Hey they’ve been there a long time. So reading lately that the US has a plan to take out the Iranian military and or their nuclear program doesn’t bother me much. The fact that this information has surfaced does. If it were true would the administration really let it slip? So, I’m forced to wonder if it’s true, if it’s a trial balloon to gage reaction or just speculation.
More reports this weekend indicate that the US may step up the pressure on Iran after September 11th. The problem is that when you decide to take action do it, don’t talk about it, don’t wonder about it and don’t have surrogates suggest it to see how it flies. Just do it.
Iraq: With GEN. Patreaus about to report to Congress on the progress of the surge and the Iraqi government the left has gone on the attack. The problem is they don’t know which way to jump. If they knock the GEN too much and his report isn’t glowing they will look silly (as usual), but if they don’t start now and his report is generally upbeat they will be behind the curve. That’s something the left hates to be.
Is the surge a success? Well I suppose that will depend on your expectations going into this campaign. If anyone thought in a few months everything would be rosy, they were deceiving themselves. The current battle we are in is not one of weeks but years.
It appears to me that Al-Qaeda in Iraq is it’s own worst enemy. It’s hard to get the population on your side when you continually kill them. In a zeal to keep momentum AQ has stirred up chaos but it’s turning on them not the US. We’ll see how it goes in a the upcoming months.
Venessa: On a less serious note. Seems teen star Venessa Hudgens had some nude photo’s taken of her at some point. Now here career at least with Disney in jeopardy. Frankly the shame should be on those that take advantage of a young women just being normal. It’s one thing to make a porn then try to deny it while completely another to take some pictures with your boy friend and have them used against you. The thing that angers me is that it’s so damn hard to find those images….. Just kidding.
GI Joe: Ok. Maybe of you have already heard that a GI Joe movie is in the works and of course GI Joe won’t represent a US Soldier but rather an international group that fights terror. This should not be a surprise since that has been the GI line for quiet a few years now. Do I like it? Hell no. Joe is a “Real American “hero”, not some international commando group. I stopped buying GI Joe stuff long ago but I do have a young son and he loves anything militaristic. I have found the new GI Joe team in his box of toys. What to do? I guess that’s better than transformers which I don’t understand at all.
September 10, 2007 at 10:36 am
They need to call the new G.I. Joe movie…”UN Person”…just to make everyone feel good.
Lets not offend our enemies.
September 14, 2007 at 8:28 am
I might be confused, but I don’t much remember GI Joe being about “America”. Sure, when the original doll came out, but then very early on there were tweaks because of the effect Vietnam had on sales. GI Joe went from being a basic American Soldier/Marine to being “adventure” man.
I remember my first GI Joe being a scuba guy. Sure, he was cool, but he was not an American Soldier/Marine anymore.
Then they re-released them as a 6″ action figure. At that point, in the early 80’s, he was all about the GI Joe organization fighting COBRA. I don’t really recall any of the data, back stories, comics, or cartoons putting GI Joe out front as an “American” fighting force. I think at that point the goal was generic country of organization just to keep the story simple. All of the “characters” were from all over the world and the world’s militaries.
Like I said, I could be confused, but being a big fan of the figures as a kid in the 80’s, and an avid watcher of the cartoons, I don’t “remember” there being a pro-American stance before. So I am not sure why this is an issue now. GI Joe has been for the last 30+ years been distance from “America”.
Should it be? Not my call. It doesn’t bother me because I don’t remember other wise. I would rather a real move towards GI Joe based patriotism than either a forced or immoral turn based on “advertising” or “marketing” to the pro-military/conservative base.
cl
September 14, 2007 at 9:51 am
cl you have to go back further. In the 60s when the “action figures” were first released (I think this is the first) GI Joe was based on WWII American soldiers. GI Joe changed nearly each decade as the 70’s saw the adventure team and the 80’s was the GI Joe fighting Cobra as you’ve said. When the first comics came out the title was GI Joe A Real American Hero.
September 14, 2007 at 7:28 pm
I guess that’s better than transformers which I don’t understand at all.
There’s a certain mobility to be had from being able to transform to a helicopter, jet, artillery cannon, tank, jeep, etc. I liked transformers cause it had some weird tactical scenarios. Back then I hadn’t been exposed to much military stuff, but what I did encounter was very intriguing. The various different Transformer line/generations weren’t developed to anything near Sun Tzu/Clausewitz standards, yet they gave the tantalizing possibility in the imagination of wars fought over land, sea, air, and space as well with the later Transformers digitally animated as animals.