The AP fights on
 

Sure, but are you saying the explanation doesn't hold water? That in 1997 (or whatever), they were destroyed in the process of trying to save them?

Philippine troop withdrawal
 

Was just at a page that listed them. UK send 9000, and there are a few dozen that sent 200-300 troops.

The AP fights on
 

Don't count me among the surprised if someone's individual file (i.e., "Lt. George W. Bush") is gone after thirty years. But "no records" is a different thing, and harder to accomplish accidentally. Units maintain records of service and pay for a reason; it's not the same as a personnel file in a private company, where you do it for payroll tax purposes. For example, the existence of a person's service might become relevant to their pension or burial rights. These things don't often get destroyed as a matter of course.

I have an ancestor who got a widow's pension because her husband was "engaged in throwing tea overboard in the harbor Boston". The affidavit she filed in 1838 is still on file. Of course, she was probably full of shit --- we're notorious liars, we Grinches.

The AP fights on
 

No, I'm an agnostic when it comes to government claims of accidental incompetence. It could have happened that way. But Hank's point was that we should not be surprised that 1970 records are missing because our experiences of the private sector are that it's recockulous to keep things that long. When it comes to military service records, not so.

Other family story: my grandmother had to find evidence of my great-grandfather's enlistment, as an Ellis Island immigrant, in the Navy in 1905 (TR's Great White Fleet) because she had to prove he obtained his citizenship through that service. No problem finding the docs in the 1970s, well before computer archiving.

Damn
 

from opinion journal:

The AP fights on
 

Being ethnic, I don't have any good revolutionary war storys. did your family enjoy the crossing on the Mayflower?
I do have this......
I can go to Ellisisland.org and see when my Granpa entered the country from Calabria, ship's manifest on the net. I told someone else about it, but their grandpa wasn't on it. That's government right?

The AP fights on
 

Doesn't it depend on the records? It's not like you need all of them. It's plenty easy to have records that someone was employed from time a to time b. It's another to retain their actual time cards proving that they worked 8.25 hours on July 3, 1973.

Cheese eaters
 

BTW, did I miss the discussion of the story that the anti-semitic attack in Paris was entirely fabricated?

Is Al Sharpton behind this?

libertarian party/polls
 

Does anyone know anything about the Michael Badnarik campaign for the Libertarian Party? http://www.electoral-vote.com/ is saying that he's polling at about 1% in the midwest. "Its support is coming almost entirely from disgruntled Republicans who like Bush's stand on taxes but dislike his approach to social issues." Not quite Nader's 3-6%, but this is one of those "hey you never know" sort of elections.

Also, apparently the Mason/Dixon poll has North Carolina at a 3% Bush advantage. That's a significant difference from the Gallup poll that had Bush/Cheney comfortably ahead by 15 points.

The AP fights on
 

I think my great-aunt has a copy of the land grant somewhere. I probably should ask her about that before she dies.

Philippine troop withdrawal
 

Slave, will you tell us again about the greatest coalition ever assembled? Please! Please! We're not ready to go to bed yet.

libertarian party/polls
 

I watched the Libertarian convention on C-SPAN. They are morons, rotely applying a knee-jerk "libertarian" responses with with shallow rational for each issue of the day, .

Cheese eaters
 

Yup. Highlights included Sidd and Hank yelling, crying, and someone's suggestion of a grudge fuck.

The suggestion did not include a hoo-ha, so I doubt it was acted upon.

Philippine troop withdrawal
 

Have you ever seen the Slovakian volleyball team?

Philippine troop withdrawal
 

Yeah, but they sent the men.