BlackWater: Buy Stock, Now!

Blackwater USA, perhaps the most infamous private security/private military company in the United States today, is rapidly expanding its scope and mission. Other firms have tried to do things like this before - Blackwater may be the most likely of any of them to succeed.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=102251&ran=202519&tref=po

Blackwater USA says it can supply forces for conflicts
Stepping into a potential political minefield, Blackwater USA is offering itself up as an army for hire to police the world's trouble spots.

Cofer Black, vice chairman of the Moyock, N.C.-based private military company, told an international conference in Amman, Jordan, this week that Blackwater stands ready to help keep or restore the peace anywhere it is needed.
Such a role would be a quantum leap for Blackwater and raises a host of policy questions.

Until now, the eight-year-old company has confined itself to training military and police personnel and providing security guards for government and private clients. Under Black's proposal, it would take on an overt combat role.

"We're low-cost and fast," Black was quoted as saying. "The issue is, who's going to let us play on their team?"
Unlike national and multinational armies, which tend to get bogged down by political and logistical limitations, Black said, Blackwater could have a small, nimble, brigade-size force ready to move into a troubled region on short notice.

Black's remarks were reported by Defense News, a military publisher that sponsored the conference where he spoke, the Special Operations Forces Exhibition.

Chris Taylor, a vice president at Blackwater's Moyock headquarters, confirmed the account.

"A year ago or so, we realized that we could have a significant positive impact with a small, professional force in stability operations and peacekeeping operations," Taylor said.

Blackwater is no stranger to volatile situations. As a security subcontractor escorting a convoy in Iraq in 2004, the company attracted worldwide attention when four of its workers were killed, mutilated and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

Blackwater, most of whose workers are former members of elite military units such as the Navy SEALs, now provides security for the U.S. ambassador to Iraq under a contract with the State Department.

The reconstruction of Iraq has been hampered by insurgent activity, Taylor said, and Blackwater has the expertise to quell insurgent attacks if invited by the Iraqi government.

"We clearly couldn't go into the whole country of Iraq," Taylor said. "But we might be able to go into a region or a city."

Another place where Blackwater could help restore order, Taylor said, is the Darfur region of Sudan, where millions have been killed or displaced by civil strife. The company could send troops under the control of the United Nations, NATO or the African Union, he said.

Taylor and Black said the company would undertake such a mission only with the approval of the U.S. government.

Peter Singer, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who has written a book on private military companies, said the concept of private armies engaging in counter-insurgency missions raises myriad questions about staffing standards, rules of engagement and accountability.

"No matter how you slice it, it's a private entity making decisions of a political nature," he said.

"It gets dicey."

I encourage everyone reading here to go to www.BlackwaterUSA.com and look at their capabilities and services. BlackWater has in the past year developed a fairly impressive Air division, that is capable of providing multiple types of support, and their man-power and logistics abilities are nothing to scoff at either.
Considering the people directing the company, and their experience in the political field (not just the warfighting field, a mistake seen in African debacles in the last half century) Blackwater may very well be the first company in recent, modern, history to make a success out of private military services. The current political climate, the privatization of many services and the nature of globalization, and simply the pay difference between government militiaries and private militaries are all factors that create a ripe environment for Blackwater to be successful at this venture.
I dont know if Blackwater has made an IPO - I dont think they have. When they do, buy stock.

Its the second oldest profession - Someone will make a go of it as just that, a paying profession, sooner or later. My bet for the moment is on Blackwater to at least pave the road.

Vivre la mort!
Vivre la guerre!
Vivre la sacre mercenaire!

That Others May Live

I believe, in my heart, that every man and woman who believes in, or hopes for, their nation has a duty to serve it somehow. In the community, in the state or at the national level it does not matter so long as it is done: Volunteer librarians and fire-fighters to combat hardened Marines.
I am also a strong believer in fighting - Not that I want to glorify violence or propose it as the solution to every problem, it is most certainly not that, but I think it is a poor sort of person who will not fight for something, who does not believe in something enough to fight for it if necessary.
Show me a conscientious objector and I will claim to show you a cowardly and weak human being. Most of the time my claim will be right - Today I would be wrong.
On Thursday 87 year old Desmond T. Doss Sr. passed away surrounded by family and his pastor in Piedmont, Alabama. He was a Medal of Honor winner and a conscientious objector.
Doss won the MoH for his actions under fire as a medic on Okinawa during World War II. His Medal of Honor Citation is as follows:

The President of the United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor
to

DOSS, DESMOND T.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April-21 May 1945. Entered service at: Lynchburg, Va. Birth: Lynchburg, Va. G.O. No.: 97, 1 November 1945.
Citation: He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.

What that doesnt say is that Doss was, in his words, a "conscientious cooperator" because of his faith. As a Seventh-Day Adventist Doss did not believe in killing or harming others, but he still felt the duty to serve his country and the fighting men of the United States Armed Forces.
I do not agree with Mr. Doss's morals, and I have much evidence against them, but unlike many people who are pacifist Desmond Doss did not cower in fear, did not stay at home and fire cheap shots in the press, did not use pacifism as a reason to avoid doing what was right. He stood up and took pride in his nation and his belief at the same time.
For a pacifist he did one hell of a job of fighting, in his own way, for what he believed in and what he knew was right. For that he has my infinite respect.

When I was younger I saw a custom knife made for a member of the United States AirForce elite ParaRescue - It was a deeply hot-blued blade, with an engraving of a pararescueman and the pararescue creed "That Others May Live". It was the most profound of small experiences, and moved me very deeply.
I am not a "people person", I do not like people on whole (the great collected teeming and screaming mass) and I find very little redeeming about them, however in my mind every individual has the chance to prove themselves and to be a positive contribution to their species. The individuals who choose to hold strongly to their goals and dreams, who find something to believe in strong enough to fight for it, who live the human experience for the pleasure of the journey, those individuals are worth putting up with the whole damn lot of people. Everyone has that chance, and that chance, above all else, is worth preserving. That chance, that opportunity, must be given its due in all people. That is a fight all its own, a thread through every battle and every war that has ever been fought.
There is no greater calling in life than that of helping others, working to preserve and encourage that opportunity under the harshest of conditions in the face of the most brutal of failures.
"No greater gift hath a man than this, that he would lay down his life for his brother." John 15:13

To Desmond T. Doss, A Healer, A Warrior - My respect.

A Great Day

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11943967/?GT1=7850

This is a great victory for horny 14-year olds and hot slutty manic teachers everywhere.

I cannot honestly believe this kid has suffered emotional trauma from any of this. Maybe a little embaressment at getting his sexual misadventues plastered all over the national news - when I was 14 I was worried people might think I was jerking off - but real emotional trauma, deep psychological damage? No way in hell.
If I was this kids father I would buy that young man a fucking beer!

Sure, La Fave has problems - no one in their right mind sleeps with an underage student like that - at the same time, its not like she held him down and raped him. Both parties agreed to it, both parties enjoyed it. Its a case of really bad judgement for an adult, and dumb luck aided by immaturity for the young man - But a criminal case? Nope.

And no, this opinion isnt at all biased by the fact that I'd bang La Fave like a retard with a drum set... not in the slightest.

Luck

Luck is simply being fortunate enough that the universe doesn’t notice what you're getting away with.

The Difference

Eugene Manlove Rhodes reminded me today of the great and vast difference between the United States before the Civil War and after it.
Gramattically, before the Civil War it was proper to say "The government of the United States are planning to do this".
After it was proper to say "The government of the United States is planning to do this".

Some will, no doubt, not understand this. Still others will simply think that the educated Yankees brought good English to the backwoods uneducated Southerners.
A few, a very few, will understand this, and the fundamental difference it is indicative of. And of those few, even less will probably be as moved by it as I am.

That war was about Freedom - but not for the slaves. And freedom lost.

This Modern Life

Fifty years ago the world was a bigger place.
The size of the actual ball of mud, rock and water wasn’t any different than it is today (give or take a few tons of ore that have been hurled into space never to return since 1956, a truly insignificant thing to a planet), but it was a bigger place. And fifty years before that I was even bigger still.
So, you're probably asking, if it wasn’t bigger in physical size, then how was it bigger?
It was bigger in solely one fashion; The room a man had to live in it was bigger.
People could come and go as they pleased. They could live in the city next to their neighbors and with the immediate convenience of the close urban quarters, or they could live in the country and see no one for miles and miles around and spend days and days alone pursuing their interests. A person could make a living, living out - Be it off the land or off their works which they took into town once in awhile and sold, one could make a good living and remain as far from neighbors and the supposed "convenience" of the city as they liked.
Today the world is a much smaller place, and the universal consciousness is turned more inwards, into the city and the close knit urban vibe of it all. In the heads of most people is an idea, so subconscious it’s actually more just a sense, a feeling, that unless they are surrounded by others they are in dangerous territory. They want to have neighbors, they want the hubbub of modern living all mashed together right on top of their subdivisions and washing around their minivans.
You see this in how people drive when they get out on the interstate in between cities and towns. I live in a state with a, thankfully, fairly low population density, and there is a lot of wide open country between places, I do a lot of driving. And I see it. People coming from the city get onto the interstate and instead of finding a nice open stretch and maintaining their solidarity for a casual drive they get right up behind someone else, who is in turn right up behind another someone else, and they keep it up until you get these little undulating conglomerations of five to ten vehicles moving down the interstate, constantly jockeying for new but in no way superior positions within the herd.
They cannot, possibly, be alone. If you happen to come along one of these poor helpless creatures when they are alone, they will inevitably be driving quite slowly fearfully looking about or talking on their cell phones to someone back in the city about how "awful" and "empty" open country and open road are. Then, you will pass them in an attempt to leave their slow moving wagon of banality and despair behind, to maintain your oneness, your solitary leisurely place on the road. Suddenly they will speed up and will drop right in behind you, and stick there like they've harpooned you until they decide to pass, only to be in front where they can slow down lest they leave the "safety zone" of another human presence.
These people are "the people" anymore, they live, work, play and function as the baseline of society. Everyone else is a statistical anomaly. The mass consciousness, the one that drives marketing, trends in entertainment, fashion and everything else, the consciousness that writes the unwritten rules and guidelines of society that PTA's use to write rules and guidelines for the next generations and that are used to win (and lose) elections, is the consciousness of these "baseline" individuals. These people who cannot bring themselves to be alone on the open road are the society in America.
They want all the service, all the convenience, all the pleasure and most certainly all the profit and none of the responsibility. They go to work, they pay their taxes, and they want everything else to be guaranteed, insured and immediately available day and night.
They want someone to save them from fire, burglars, kiddy diddlers and flat tires. They want someone to insure that new laws are made to better "protect" them from fires, burglars, kiddy diddlers and yes flat tires. They want the supermarket shelves to be full, they want their skies to be blue, they want their neighbors to have nice lawns that compliment the Norman Rockwell picture perfect essence of their own front yard. They want it all, and they want none of the responsibility of getting it, maintaining it or protecting it. That is someone else’s job. The kind of person who would suggest differently is most certainly the same sort of horrible individual who would drive by themselves along those long open stretches of road.
But they are conflicted - The urban lifestyle with traffic and stoplights and fire departments and cable television and lawn care specialists and a gas station on the corner has them demanding and wanting, of course. This is the life they know, it is the life the consciousness of the nation is telling them is the good life and they believe in that message, and why not? It’s hard not to when it grows just a little stronger every day.
But there is another message, another signal from the universal consciousness, that is slowly being pushed out, its bandwidth decreasing - It is in fact dying, as all old things must. It carries the idea that land is a good thing to have, and that open spaces aren’t so bad, and the good life is having the land to enjoy the open spaces and be away from the maddening roar of it all. It is an idea kept alive by an older generation still working, and by a few rebels and radicals who, the urban dweller must admit when alone and contemplative, have some positive characteristics, a certain charm to their ideas of independence.
These two signals meet, and in a violent cataclysm the newer, stronger, signal tears asunder much of the older one and in the friction of such the ideas fuse. Out of this confusion comes the idea "We will live out of town, out in the country, but we will bring all of our friends with it and they can live out there too, and along with us we will bring all the conveniences of town". So they do, and pretty soon, "out there" has grown and meets up with town, and becomes just another neighborhood. Some developments, further out back of beyond, will take longer to do so, and some may become towns of their own, but in the end it is all still the same.
Those of us who drive alone on the interstate, we anomalies, who have lived out there since before there was anywhere else to live, are simply left to watch in horror as people who do not belong come and fill up our world, surrounding us and smothering us with their way of life.

There are places in the world where most people do not belong. Most people, and that probably means most of you who will read this, do not belong way out back of beyond. You don’t understand it, and cannot truly appreciate it, and you certainly can’t conserve it.
Such people are the teeming, screaming, masses who choose to live in the city, who choose not to break free of the disease of the mind that lifestyle promotes, and they are mentally incapable of doing good for the places where they settle when they move out of the city.
There is no equality between those people and people like me, people who understand and appreciate the land, and want the space and freedom it affords and are willing to live without the supposed "necessities" of city living to have those things.
In the end those whose blood burns for freedom (in the bigger sense than just what that old song with the bits about the bombs bursting in air talks about), and those whose mind is polluted with the fundamental ideas of the current social consciousness are mortal enemies.
But it is a losing war. There are too many people, and despite the ravages of disease, disaster and human destruction they are never going to go away. People will keep consuming, and destroying, and in the end yes the planet, that ancient organism of smaller organisms chained together in symbiosis, that old god we barely understand, will sneeze use off like dust in a cosmic nostril, but before we reach that end what hope is there for the man of freedom and wide open spaces?
He is an antique, a creature of the past, a reverse Neanderthal too smart and too capable for the "good" of society as society has deemed.

Comfort Zone

I avoid the personal here - I did the blog about my emotional highs and lows, ups and downs in my life, for a long time and in the end was unhappy and disgusted with it. It was an exercise in wallowing in my bad moods and depressions.
Unfortunately, tonight, I'm not so high minded.
The world is fucked up - its probably beyond repair but theres a lot of sorry fucking fuckers who could make it somewhat better who refuse to do a fucking thing, leaving everything even more fucked up. No amount of my writing about it, certainly not tonight, will make that any different.

Tonight my wants are simple - I want to be myself, and I want to spend tonight with one person who I can be openly and honestly myself around.
I am tired of walking on eggshells, I am tired of having to support the tender feelings of people around me, I am tired of being both intentionally and unintentionally party to their lies and secrets.
The hell with the world, the hell with the future. I would give it all up tonight, every single thing, to have one person to be with who I dont have to walk on eggshells around, who I can connect with on a real level free of bullshit. I would lay it all down, and walk away, to have her.
And the more I want that, the farther away from it I get.