Politics As Usual

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
I'm betting the people who have ever done any kind of genealogical research of military records in America would find the absence unusual.

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?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
True. I believe the Slovakians only sent a volleyball team.

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

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Yes. there are probably records of any general type going way back. Complete records for everyone, and for just the one guy you're interested in? please. you don't expect gaps? Sidd's the only honest one.

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.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
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?

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.

[sgtclub]

from opinion journal:

A story by Annie Jacobsen, published on WomensWallStreet.com, has been making the rounds on the blogosphere. Jacobsen reports that when she flew from Detroit to Los Angeles last month, she witnessed a group of 14 men, flying on Syrian passports, conducting what appeared to be a "dry run" for a plan to build a bomb in flight--a terror scenario about which the FBI has warned.

It's quite a chilling story, albeit with some comforting elements. A stewardess tells Jacobsen that there are air marshals on board--though it's not clear if they just happened to be there or were put on the flight because the Syrians raised alarm bells. When the flight lands in Los Angeles it is greeted by a bevy of law-enforcement officers, who take the Syrians aside for interrogation.

Less confidence-inspiring, however, is this postflight conversation Jacobsen describes with Dave Adams, spokesman for the Federal Air Marshals Service:

I asked Adams why, based on the FBI's credible information that terrorists may try to assemble bombs on planes, the air marshals or the flight attendants didn't do anything about the bizarre behavior and frequent trips to the lavatory. "Our FAM agents have to have an event to arrest somebody. Our agents aren't going to deploy until there is an actual event," Adams explained.

Jacobsen says this happened on June 29--the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that noncitizen terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay have the right to sue in American courts.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
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.

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?

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
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.

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.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

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

Is Al Sharpton behind this?

[Replaced_Texan]

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.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
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?

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

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
True. I believe the Slovakians only sent a volleyball team.

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

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
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.

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, .

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
BTW, did I miss the discussion of the story that the anti-semitic attack in Paris was entirely fabricated?

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.

[SlaveNoMore]

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

Have you ever seen the Slovakian volleyball team?

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Have you ever seen the Slovakian volleyball team?

Yeah, but they sent the men.