Category Archives: Emergency

sign o’ the times; the time at the end of all things, when the Great Old Ones will return and clear off the Earth, to gibber in madness and ecstasy forever

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this doesn't look good. Click for more IF YOU DARE

There hath he lain for ages and will lie,

Battening on huge seaworms in his sleep;

Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;

Then once by man and angels to be seen,

In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

And here we at the ol’ raincoaster blog thought we were the only ones who were on this Cthulhu thing around WordPress. Live and learn, and point and gibber in helpless panic at the ultrasound from sobek’s Innocent Bystanders blog.

There are other signs.

This came via Fark, as we have always known news of the End Days would arrive. Pass the whiskey. I have no intention of dying sober.

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn

IT IS RISEN!

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A new volcanic island has risen from the South Pacific near Tonga, according to reports from two vessels that passed the area.

The crew of the Maiken, a yacht that left the northern Tongan islands group of Vava’u in August, reported on their Web log on August 12 that they saw streaks of light, porous pumice stone floating in the water — then “sailed into a vast, many-miles-wide belt of densely packed pumice.”

They posted photos of huge “pumice rafts” that they encountered after passing Tonga’s Late island while sailing toward Fiji.

“We were so fascinated and busy taking pictures that we plowed a couple of hundred meters into this surreal floating stone field before we realized that we had to turn back,” wrote a crewman identified only as Haken.

The next day they spotted an active volcanic island, Haken wrote.

He said they could see the volcanic island clearly. “One mile in diameter and with four peaks and a central crater smoking with steam and once in a while an outburst high in the sky with lava and ashes. I think we’re the first ones out here,” he reported.

Oh no, far from it. But Johansen can no longer speak; he no longer has that which could serve as a tongue, nor that which could string together thoughts enough to guide it. God has been merciful to Johansen; may he be so to us as well.

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid isle of ignorance amidst black seas of chaos, and it is not meant that we should voyage far.

Iraq: how to cut and run, by Lt. Gen. WILLIAM E. ODOM

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This was linked by idlex over on the Bojo blog, and a very interesting read it is, too. The current situation in Iraq is morally, fiscally, and militarily unsupportable, and now that the election is over it can’t even be explained away by the need to pimp the vote. Surely Bush can’t hope to keep this horrible, blood-sucking, pointless conflict going long enough to have an impact on the next federal election…he’s not a complete microcephalic moron.

Oh, right.

In any case, the descent of Iraq into civil war is at this point inevitable, as it may indeed have been from the outset. When you remove a dictator and fail to replace him immediately with at least a bureaucracy that will make the trains run on time, you doom yourself to the futile and deadly task of attempting to keep an order that simply does not exist to be kept.

Here is the step by step instruction manual on How to Cut and Run, by someone who knows what he’s talking about, unlike those chickenhawks in the White House Cabal.

We could lead the Mideast to peace, but only if we stop refusing to do the right thing

By William E. Odom
Lt. Gen. WILLIAM E. ODOM (Ret.) is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a professor at Yale University.

October 31, 2006

THE UNITED STATES upset the regional balance in the Middle East when it invaded Iraq. Restoring it requires bold initiatives, but “cutting and running” must precede them all. Only a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops — within six months and with no preconditions — can break the paralysis that now enfeebles our diplomacy. And the greatest obstacles to cutting and running are the psychological inhibitions of our leaders and the public.

Our leaders do not act because their reputations are at stake. The public does not force them to act because it is blinded by the president’s conjured set of illusions: that we are reducing terrorism by fighting in Iraq; creating democracy there; preventing the spread of nuclear weapons; making Israel more secure; not allowing our fallen soldiers to have died in vain; and others.

But reality can no longer be avoided. It is beyond U.S. power to prevent bloody sectarian violence in Iraq, the growing influence of Iran throughout the region, the probable spread of Sunni-Shiite strife to neighboring Arab states, the eventual rise to power of the anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr or some other anti-American leader in Baghdad, and the spread of instability beyond Iraq. All of these things and more became unavoidable the day that U.S. forces invaded.

These realities get worse every day that our forces remain in Iraq. They can’t be wished away by clever diplomacy or by leaving our forces in Iraq for several more years…

Freedom, 2006

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Liberated in the name of the people from Gawker, and just in time for the election.

the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines call for Rumsfeld’s resignation

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Rumsfeld and Saddam, together again for the first time 

Sometimes it’s best to let things speak for themselves. This is from the Ross Report, which I got via Fark.

An editorial scheduled to appear on Monday in Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times, calls for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld…

Time for Rumsfeld to go

“So long as our government requires the backing of an aroused and informed public opinion … it is necessary to tell the hard bruising truth.”

That statement was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Marguerite Higgins more than a half-century ago during the Korean War.

But until recently, the “hard bruising” truth about the Iraq war has been difficult to come by from leaders in Washington. One rosy reassurance after another has been handed down by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “mission accomplished,” the insurgency is “in its last throes,” and “back off,” we know what we’re doing, are a few choice examples.

Military leaders generally toed the line, although a few retired generals eventually spoke out from the safety of the sidelines, inciting criticism equally from anti-war types, who thought they should have spoken out while still in uniform, and pro-war foes, who thought the generals should have kept their critiques behind closed doors.

Now, however, a new chorus of criticism is beginning to resonate. Active-duty military leaders are starting to voice misgivings about the war’s planning, execution and dimming prospects for success.

Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, told a Senate Armed Services Committee in September: “I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I’ve seen it … and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war.”

Last week, someone leaked to The New York Times a Central Command briefing slide showing an assessment that the civil conflict in Iraq now borders on “critical” and has been sliding toward “chaos” for most of the past year. The strategy in Iraq has been to train an Iraqi army and police force that could gradually take over for U.S. troops in providing for the security of their new government and their nation.

But despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition.

For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don’t show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money.

And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand.

Now, the president says he’ll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House.

This is a mistake…

I urge you to read the whole thing. Everyone who claims to appreciate the sacrifice that military personnel make heading into combat under conditions like this owes it to them, to their country, and to his or her individual soul to read this editorial.

Rumsfeld. That sorta says it all, doesn't it?

terror alert warnings: brown people edition

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They all need a good scrubbingWell, to be fair let’s open it right up to everybody brown, black, or off-white. Affleck, you’re lucky you’re off the Mystic Tan, that’s all I’m saying.

We here at the ol’ raincoaster blog are constantly scanning the pixelsphere, looking for the most relevant and important stories to bring you. In the absence of breaking Giant Squid news, we offer this, even though we live in Vancouver and the only persons of melanin ’round these parts have (as we have noted) been fighting terrorists since 1492. Still, on the Internet nobody can tell you’re an octoroon.

From McSweeney’s.Terror Ist Is Lamb

Whatever the case may be, you probably have the same worries that any other good American has in these troubled times. Such as “How do I properly show my love for my country?” and “How do I assure people that I don’t want to kill them?”

With these questions in mind, the Department of Homeland Security has formulated the following guidelines for you and your people based on the United States Terror Alert Levels. If you follow the simple advice below, you will significantly decrease your chances of being arrested or deported.

Terror Alert Level: Low (Green)

To be honest, this level is really just a placeholder. We needed to have a “low” level in order to have the higher levels. If we ever do hit the green level, be aware that this probably means the rest of the world has been destroyed by man-made (e.g., nuclear) or supernatural (e.g., meteor or alien death ray) forces. Whatever the case may be, take the opportunity to live it up, because as soon as Mexico gets repopulated we’ll be back up to the blue level.

and so on…