Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Horses and Bayonets

During Monday night's debate, the third in the Presidential series, there became some controversy over horses and bayonets.

Mitt Romney stated that we had the smallest Navy, in nearly a hundred years.

To that, President Obama responded that we also have fewer bayonets and horses.

Obama's supporters have used it to suggest we no longer have either in our military forces.

Various memes have popped up, for either side, as well as pictures of US military forces showing bayonets in battle.

I for one, will simply point out the United States Military Academy, at West Point.

The first picture shows cadets marching at acceptance day, in 2012.

The second is a still from West Point's official Gangnam style video.

Seems we still use both horses and bayonets, Mr. President.

O, and for the record, we actually have more bayonets now, around three times as many, in service, than we did back then. Horses, maybe not.

Georgia Becomes Seventeenth State With Meningitis Case

The meningitis outbreak has now hit seventeen states, as Georgia reports it's first case.

Three hundred and four cases of the deadly disease have now been reported and another four people are ill for infections in joints.

The death toll stayed steady at twenty-three.

All of the illnesses and deaths were caused by a contamination in anti inflammatory steroid shots.

Seventy-six locations, in twenty-three states, were sent the shots, which were given to as many as fourteen thousand people.

New England Compounding Center made the shots, and has complied completely with government officials who are conducting the investigation.

Officials are investigating at least two other drugs, made by NECC, for possibilities that they too may have been contaminated.

Meningitis can take forty-two days to surface, leading to the still growing epidemic. 

Two Teenagers Arrested for Pasquale's Murder

Two teenage boys have been arrested and charged with the murder of Autumn Pasquale.

Their mother turned them into police after she over heard something to make her suspect them.

One of the brothers traded in bicycle parts, and Autumn was an avid BMX rider.

Police believe that she was strangled after refusing to sell, trade, or give up her bike.

Her body, bike, and belongings were found in and around the boy's home.

Remembering: Barracks Bombings in Beirut

In 1983, an international force of peacekeepers entered Lebanon in hopes of creating a peace between Christian and Muslim factions.

Barracks were set up in buildings near the Beirut International Airport.

On October 23, 1983 a truck loaded with at least one thousand pounds of explosives drove straight into the US barracks and exploded.

That blast killed two hundred and twenty Marines, eighteen Navy sailors, and three Army soldiers.

Moments later, another vehicle slammed into the French barracks, killing fifty-eight paratroopers.

Evidence pointed to Hezbollah being responsible for the attacks, but no retaliation was ever made.

A few months later international forces had left Lebanon.

Preview: Iron Man 3

The first trailer for Iron Man 3, has come out.

In the third part of the movie series, Tony Stark is dealing with some personal issues saying, "I've got a lot of apologies to make. Nothing's been the same since New York. You experience things, and then they're over. I can't sleep, and when I do, I have nightmares."

And Iron Man faces a new enemy, The Mandarin. Clearly, from what we see in the trailer, The Mandarin has some major issues with Iron Man, and any heroes.

As we see him blowing up Stark's home he states, "Ladies, children, sheep. Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. Lesson No. 1: Heroes. There is no such thing."

Robert Downey Jr. returns as Iron Man and Ben Kingsley joins the cast, as The Mandarin.

Iron Man 3 hits theaters, May 13, 2013.

Romney Ryan at Red Rocks Amphitheater Tuesday With Kid Rock and Rodney Atkins

Tuesday, the Romney Ryan campaign comes through Denver, again.

Red Rocks Amphitheater will be the scene this time.

They will be joined by musical artists Kid Rock and Rodney Atkins.

Doors open at 4pm MDT, and festivities begin at 6:30.

Possibly best of all, the event is free, as long you register before hand.

From the Mouth of Matuszak: Debate Analysis Romney v Obama #3

Last night, October 22, 2012, hosted the third and final presidential debate of the 2012 presidential election year. The debate was set to cover foreign policy, national defense, and international relations.

On both sides of the aisle, pundits awaited, with bated anticipation, for more body blows delivered by Romney into Obama's still bruised ribs over the terrorist attacks in Libya that killed our ambassador and four others.

However, Romney seemed reluctant to beat that dead horse into glue, thereby demonstrating a level of class and decorum. Obama, on the other hand, seemed to use issues more sensitive to his campaign and his failed policy of apologizing as a platform to conduct personal attacks, off-issue, towards Romney. Obama achieved little to nothing in doing so except to assist in dragging the debate off-topic and to effectively distract from the topics at hand.

Disappointingly, the debate did not seem to cover many of the important topics we, as a republic of free individuals, face on the world stage. Among those topics avoided are, most importantly, items such as our the authority of the UN and their role in dictating our sovereignty, proposed treaties concerning disarmament, and the tyrannic Agenda-21 treaties. If brought into the debate, Obama would have likely lost the debate, hands down. 

Again, we have a virtual tie with, perhaps, a slight edge given to Obama despite the fact that I disagree with most of his policies. However, an incumbent president always has an edge in foreign policy debates since they have better intelligence and are actively engaged in conducting foreign policy. 

In debate scoring, distracting off topic actually earns negative points, as does following that rabbit down the hole. In that scoring, both candidates earned negative points throughout the debate. The debate seemed to head more into domestic economic issues and how they relate to international trade more than to cover actual foreign policy.

I counted fifteen total questions and graded each on a ten point scale, granting negatives to personal attacks that had no statements of fact or data to support them. Both candidates were abysmal in their scores with Romney scoring 41/150 and Obama ending up with 26/150.

In many policies, both had similar ideas, making it a difficult topic to debate. The largest diversity between the two seemed to be in pacing, relations with out allies, definition of a global threat as something other than a military threat, military strategy, national defense, and negotiating from a position of strength.

Fact checking is ongoing. So far, the facts state that Obama did not go on an "apology tour", since it took him several trips over the course of two years to do his apologizing.

Despite the results my objective scoring system showed, there are other factors to consider. First, an incumbent president usually has an edge coming into such a debate due to already being in the position of highest diplomat for our great republic. Obama's record on foreign policy is not great. On the other hand, unlike domestic issues and the economy, he isn't as much of an obvious failure in this arena.

For my full commentary and a blow-by-blow dissection of the debate, please read the full article at Mental Aikido.

2 Dead in Officer Involved Shooting on Long Island

Two are dead in Nassau County, New York, after an officer involved shooting.

Officers pulled over a vehicle involved in a hit and run accident.

When they did so, the occupants of the car opened fire, killing one officer.

At least one other officer opened fire, killing one of the suspects.

The other suspect is on the run, on foot, and a hunt has begun for him.

No description has been released yet, nor have identities of either of the dead.

Just last week another Nassau County officer was killed, when he was struck by a car, as he made a traffic stop.

New Jersey Police Find Body of Missing 12 Year Old

Police in Clayton, New Jersey have confirmed that a body found Monday night, is that of Autumn Pasquale.

The body was found in an enclosed recycling bin, that was due to be picked up by an automated truck, early Tuesday morning.

At this point, no arrests have been made, and police have not announced any suspects, nor have they said what led them to that house or recycling bin.

Pasquale, twelve, was last heard from, via texts, Saturday afternoon, after she rode her bike to a nearby park.

Since then, police and hundreds of volunteers have searched for the girl.

Her body was found just a few blocks from her home.

Aurora Police Seeking Attempted Kidnappers

Aurora, Colorado police are looking for two men who attempted to kidnap an eight year old, Monday morning.

One of the men ordered the child into their SUV, the girl ran away from, towards other children, and the vehicle sped off.

The incident happened at East Louisiana Avenue and South Idalia Street around 8:30am.

Witnesses described the men as a fortyish year old black male, who was wearing a green baseball hat and black shirt at the time, and a white male thirty-five to forty years of age with brown hair, clean shaven, and standing five foot eight to six feet tall.

They were driving a green SUV, that one witness said was a Blazer.

Anyone with information should contact Sergeant Joe Young at 303-739-6093.

Wesminster Police Announce Link in Ridgeway Case

Police in Westminster, Colorado are saying that they have a link in the Jessica Ridgeway case.

According to a spokesman there is a direct link between her murder and an attempted abduction.

The attempted abduction happened on Memorial Day, at Ketner Lake.

A woman was running the trail there, when an assailant came from behind and tried to subdue her with a chemical soaked cloth.

The woman was able to fight off her attacker and called the police.

Westminster Police have not released what connection they've made between the two cases.

Car Bombs Kill 9 in Baghdad

Nine people were killed and twenty-eight injured, in Baghdad Tuesday, when a series of car bombs exploded.

All three explosions took place inside a Shi'ite district, causing blame to be put on Sunni groups and Al Qaeda.

Residents say that the three explosions occurred almost simultaneously.

Since US troops withdrew, in December, each month has seen a wave of attacks.

September saw 365 deaths, the largest number in several years.

Car bombs are the favorite tool of the terrorists, in Iraq.

Friday is the beginning of the Islamic Eid al-Adha festival and it is considered likely that attacks will pick up, during the celebrations.

Twelve Killed in Taiwan Hospital Fire

Twelve people were killed, and sixty injured, in a Taiwan fire early Tuesday morning.

Thirty fire engines fought the blaze, extinguishing it in under fifty minutes.

The fire took place inside a nursing home hospital.

Many of the residents were on respirators and could not escape the smoke, on their own.

Doctors were mostly dealing with cases of smoke inhalation, as luckily the flames did not spread too quickly.

One of the patients has been arrested, by police, under charges of arson.

Syria Shells Bakery, Offers Amnesty

Syrian forces continued their targeting of bakeries, on Tuesday.

According to rebel reports the shelling of this bakery killed dozens who had lined up to buy bread.

The national government says that bakeries are specifically being used to house "terrorist forces".

Various international reports combine to show at least a dozen bakeries have been targeted over the last couple months, ones in the Aleppo area are specifically being targeted.

Meanwhile President Assad announced an amnesty for all crimes committed before October 23, except for those of "terrorists".

The regime considers all rebels to be nothing other than terrorists, so the offer is actually for no one.