FROM THE EDITOR
February 6, 2006Cartoon in the Washington Post
29 January 2006
On December 15, 1791, our Bill of Rights was ratified, and it guaranteed four basic freedoms; speech, press, religion, and assembly. In the 216 years that have followed, the Bill of Rights has been argued and debated, and brave men and women in the service of our Nation have died for it. In the January 29, 2006 Sunday Edition of the Washington Post that right was exercised in the form of a cartoon by Tom Toles where he depicted a quadruple-amputee serviceman in a hospital bed being diagnosed by "Dr. Rumsfeld" as battle hardened. Notwithstanding the obvious, this egregious lack of respect for the courageous men and women who have gone before, serve now, and who will serve is reprehensible. Mr. Toles and the editors at the Washington Post, while observing their right to freedom of the press, have without remorse or apology defended the cartoon and their right to print it, but they have clearly misjudged the tolerance the American people may show the press, especially when it so disrespects American servicemen and servicewomen. Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor was quoted as saying, "I can understand the strong feelings, but I took it (the cartoon) to be about the state of the Army, and not one mean to demean wounded soldiers." Are you kidding me? If Tom Toles, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist can draw a cartoon like that and editors can proof it and say, "Yeah, that's about the state of the Army..." then the quality assurance and "reasonable man" process at the Washington Post is so beyond repair that all involved should be sacked. To me, this cartoon is really about courage, or the lack thereof; Tom Toles and Fred Hiatt knew what they were drawing and publishing and knew how it would be interpreted, but now they hide behind the Bill of Rights to mask their true intentions, defend their poor judgment, and show a clear lack of respect for those who have sacrificed in the service of our Nation. While such a lack of moral courage is nothing new in Washington, this time, it goes beyond the pale. Thankfully, our Joint Chiefs, all 24 stars of them, wrote a letter to the editor in the February 2 Washington Post condemning their use of a cartoon that had as its focus a quadruple amputee depicted as being injured in war. They do our Armed Forces proud for immediately acting on this disgusting cartoon. As Voltaire said, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." How often we ask those who defend that right to endure such disregard for their service. How easy it is for Mr. Toles and Mr. Hiatt to act as voyeurs looking through the glass of freedom and protection provided by our Armed Forces and others. Perhaps if they spent some time at a Fisher House, Bethesda Naval Hospital, Walter Reed Army Hospital, or at any of our VA hospitals they would think twice before creating and publishing a cartoon that denigrates the very service that allows them the freedom to publish such rubbish. "For those who fight for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know" particularly rings true here. The Bill of Rights is the cornerstone of our freedom and those who have fought for that freedom sometimes wish that those who enjoy it would use it more responsibly. Mr. Toles and the Washington Post are free to publish what they want, but so too are the American people free to boycott the Washington Post and any other newspaper in the country that printed and defended it. Moreover, if America decided to, it could boycott any advertiser and vendor who is associated with any newspaper who printed the cartoon. Freedom of choice. Your move, America.
Chris Taylor
VP of Strategic Initiatives
Blackwater
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes.
---Benjamin Disraeli
PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES, EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS
Nepal braces for more bloodshed in run-up to controversial polls
From our friends at the Terrorism Research Center (http://www.terrorism.com) Nepal is bracing for increased violence, one day after 10 guerrillas were killed in the deadliest clashes between Maoist rebels and security forces since the end of the ceasefire earlier this month. Controversial municipal polls set for February 8 and the first anniversary of King Gyanendra's seizure of power on February 1 were fanning fears of more bloodshed in the impoverished Himalayan nation, analysts said on Friday.
http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=WarReports&file=index&view=923
Crime Scene Response for the Patrol Officer
by David SpraggsThe actions you take as a first responder can determine the value of crime scene evidence for investigators and prosecutors.
Crime scene response is one of the most important and most difficult to master aspects of patrol work. The reason for this is that crime scenes are complex: They can vary in size from a single room to a couple of acres. And almost anything at a crime scene can be a piece of physical evidence. ..full story»
http://www.policemag.com/t_cipick.cfm?rank=92220
Palestinian Issues Guide
A guide to the issues behind the parliamentary elections in the Palestinian Authority (PA) with background analysis and expert interviews from cfr.org. http://www.cfr.org/publication/9670/palestinian_issues_guide.htmlBREAKING NEWS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL
Homeland Security Tries New 3-D Technology At Super Bowl XL
Hidden from public view at Super Bowl XL, live-action 3-D holograms created from signals streaming in from networks of electronic eyes will help Homeland Security Agency officials detect people and objects suspected of endangering the 65 thousand ticket holders crowding into Ford Field, and the thousands more celebrating in downtown Detroit.
While officials may not go public with the details, the surveillance effort is likely to include:
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/sports/6630181/detail.html
Intel Chiefs Say Disclosures Damage Work
U.S. intelligence officials told Congress on Thursday that disclosure of once-classified projects like President Bush's no-warrant eavesdropping program have undermined their work.
"The damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission," CIA Director Porter Goss told the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing disclosures about a variety of CIA programs that he suggested may have been compromised.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060202/D8FH7II89.html
Nearly 2,000 Inmates Riot in Calif. Jail
Nearly 2,000 inmates rioted at a Southern California jail, throwing mattresses and banging heads against bunk beds, in an uproar that officials said stemmed from racial tensions. One inmate was killed.
More than 100 inmates were wounded and 20 were hospitalized with serious injuries from the nearly hour-long melee on Saturday, authorities said. Smaller fights broke out for at least four hours after the main brawling ended.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060205/D8FIUAHO3.html
Exclusive: Can the President Order a Killing on U.S. Soil?
In the latest twist in the debate over presidential powers, a Justice Department official suggested that in certain circumstances, the president might have the power to order the killing of terrorist suspects inside the United States. Steven Bradbury, acting head of the department's Office of Legal Counsel, went to a closed-door Senate intelligence committee meeting last week to defend President George W. Bush's surveillance program. During the briefing, said administration and Capitol Hill officials (who declined to be identified because the session was private), California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked Bradbury questions about the extent of presidential powers to fight Al Qaeda; could Bush, for instance, order the killing of a Qaeda suspect known to be on U.S. soil? Bradbury replied that he believed Bush could indeed do this, at least in certain circumstances.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11180519/site/newsweek
JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL
SECURITY OPPORTUNITIESBlackwater is providing qualified and trained Protective Security Specialists (PSS) for the purpose of conducting protective security operations in Iraq. These positions currently include:
TO FILL OUT AN APPLICATION AND SUBMIT YOUR RESUME AND DD-214 CLICK HERE https://secure.blackwaterusa.com/
SECURITY FOR THE PROFESSIONAL
U.S. Intel Chief Issues Warning Over Iran
National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress on Thursday that Iran probably does not yet have nuclear weapons, nor has it obtained the material central to producing them.
Still, Negroponte called Iran's nuclear program a matter of "highest concern." In prepared testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, he said that Iran and North Korea are both major threats to U.S. security.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060202/D8FH2GM08.html
Rumsfeld Says Terror Threat My Be Greater
WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite progress in fighting terrorism, the threat today may be greater than ever before because the available weapons are far more dangerous, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday.
"The enemy - while weakened and under great pressure - is still capable of global reach, still possesses the determination to kill more Americans - and still trying to do so with increasingly powerful weapons," Rumsfeld said at the National Press Club.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060202/D8FH7HVG0.html
USS Cole attack mastermind escapes prison
A man considered a mastermind of the USS Cole bombing that killed 17 sailors in a Yemeni port in 2000 was among 23 people who escaped from a Yemen prison last week, Interpol said Sunday.
The international police agency issued an “urgent global security alert” for those who escaped Friday from the prison via a tunnel. It called the escapees “dangerous individuals.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11172994/
Iran ends voluntary cooperation with IAEA
Iran said Sunday it has ended all voluntary cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog but would still hold talks with Moscow on a proposal to enrich Iranian uranium in Russia, reversing an earlier decision to abandon those talks.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran had implemented the president’s orders to end voluntary cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11105378/
FRANKS REVIEW
Service Equipment Review:
Millennium Sensor Mobile Remote Sensing System
One of Borelli Consulting's protocols for testing products is that we actually have to have the product to test. We don't perform reviews based on something we've been told by someone else, and only once in the history of our evaluations have we written up a product without beating it up (The Neil Roberts Warrior Knife #1 & Prototype knives). This becomes sometimes problematic when a company requests that we test and evaluate a product that is more costly. After all, do you think a company really wants to send us a $30,000 piece of equipment for us to try to break? Not usually. Millennium Sensor, however, sent us a demo unit to test specifically because they were interested in the feedback on performance. This week's review is on the Millennium Sensor Mobile Remote Sensing System.A few decades ago, and today to some extent, setting up a perimeter in an open field or wooded area was relatively easy. In the last twenty years though, our primary mission (for the military) has been peacekeeping, and those missions are being performed in urban areas. Sure, the desert is pretty open, but cities are where we seem to be seeing most of the action. That city is a 360 degree environment two ways: horizontally and vertically. You have to secure your position from the left and right, forward and backward and up and down. Now introduce the Millennium Sensor Mobile Remote Sensing System (MRSS from here forward) and you have an easily deployed, easily monitored, multi-directional security system that you can use for your own security or to limit the mobility of someone else you form a perimeter around.
The Rest of the story: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/evals/other/msmrss.htm
Recreational Equipment Review:
SOG Power Plier
As faithful readers know, I'm fond of being prepared - even when it borders on paranoia. If I'm going fishing for a couple of hours down by the riverside, I still take drinking water to support me for an eight hour trip, some food items, basic first-aid necessities, etc. One of the things that I seem to always either strap on my belt or drop into my knife sheath's utility pouch, is a multi-tool. These condensed toolkits offer a versatility-to-size ratio that is hard to beat. As a police officer, and before that as a soldier, I always appreciated the convenience of having at least a pair of pliers, a flathead screwdriver and a philips head screwdriver on my person. I couldn't count the number of times I used that multitool on the street. Still, how often do I use it when I'm hiking, camping, fishing, etc?As I prepped for this review, I found multitools in my hiking backpack, my camping backpack, my emergency pack, on my camp knife sheath, on my gunbelt, in my scuba bag, and more. I have an assortment of tools but the most common one I found was the SOG Power Plier. The SOG Power Plier seems (to me) to combine some of the best features of a multitool in a well-engineered package.
The rest of the story: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/recevals/toolknife/sogpowerplier.htm
CHAPLAINS CORNER
LIFE...
1. a. The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead
organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism,
growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment
originating from within the organism.
b. The characteristic state or condition of a living organism.
2. A living being, especially a person.
3. The physical, mental, and spiritual experiences that constitute existence.
4. The interval of time between one's birth and the present.
5. Human existence, relationships, or activity in general.
If you are reading this message you have life... you are alive.
Work:
1. Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or
accomplishment of something.
2. A job; employment; a trade, profession, or other means of livelihood.
3. Something that one is doing, making, or performing, especially as an
occupation or undertaking; a duty or task.
Stress: (Physics)
1. a. An applied force or system of forces that tends to strain or deform a body.
b. The internal resistance of a body to such an applied force or system of forces.
2. A mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response
to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually
characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension,
irritability, and depression.
b. A stimulus or circumstance causing such a condition.
3. A state of extreme difficulty, pressure, or strain:
Overload: To load too heavily; An excessive load; fill to excess so that function is
impaired.
http://blackwaterusa.com/btw2006/articles/020606chaplain.html
Be Blessed(a condition to be envied by the world).
Be Successful. Be SAFE.
VSP ALUMNI 757-431-2190
Chaplain D.R.Staton, VBPD (Don, C1)
chpln1@verizon.net
BUMPER STICKER
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Blackwater USA (the "Company"), provides this Newsletter as a source of diverse information to its readers. The Company does not warrant or endorse the products or services advertised in or reviewed in the Newsletter. The views and statements of the reviewers and commentators presented in the Newsletter are entirely their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Company or its affiliates. The Company does not monitor or warrant the accuracy or reliability of the material provided in this Newsletter or presented at any of the third-party websites to which links are provided in this Newsletter. WARNING: Use of certain of the products and services discussed or reviewed in this Newsletter can lead to personal injury or death. It is critical to follow manufacturers' instructions in using such products or services. The Company will not accept any liability for damages, injuries, or death resulting from the use or misuse of any such products or services.SPONSORS
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