The chief U.S. commander in Baghdad, Major General Jeff Hammond, apologized for a sniper section leader who used the Muslim holy book, the Quran, for target practice. A military leader kissed a Quran as a gift to the tribal leaders. The shooting happened on May 9 and was discovered two days later by Iraqi policemen. There were several bullet holes, a target, and expletives written on several pages.

The soldier’s apology letter read: “I sincerely hope that my actions have not diminished the partnership that our two nations have developed together. … My actions were shortsighted, very reckless and irresponsible, but in my heart [the actions] were not malicious.” The soldier was found guilty and will be redeployed in the United States.

The ignorance of this soldier in the situation is outrageous. It is understandable to hate the people who are fighting against you, but to so blatantly insult millions of good people around the world is despicable. Even after this horrendous act the soldier casually leaves the riddled book behind at an Iraqi police station where surely it would be found.

He is probably happy he did it because now he gets to leave the hell the U.S. has created in Iraq. His punishment should have been to double his stay in Iraq, hoping something happens to him that teaches him a lesson rather than awards him.

Yes, we have an obesity epidemic, yet we still manage to throw out $50 billion worth of food per year. I guarantee you I throw out at least 30% of my food, and the report also claims that half the water used to grow food globally is lost.

It’s a fact there there is enough food and water to feed the world, but it’s just not getting to the right people…plus fatass Americans eat a lot and throw out whatever their gargantuan stomachs can’t handle.

In poorer countries they also waste 15-35% of their food, but it is due to preservation rather than throwing it out. Without a refrigerator people cannot hold food when they get it, and must eat it before it spoils.

This really is a cultural thing. I have noticed when I eat with the Pakistani side of my family they lick their plates clean, sometimes literally, while I eat a lot, but always manage to leave something on the plate.

If we were able to conserve the food we waste we could feed millions, but that won’t happen! Now to get lunch and eat half my plate!

Economics sophomore Justin McCelvey was arrested Saturday morning after some of his friends reported apparent Virgina-Tech style threats to UTPD. This is a third degree felony with jail time ranging from 2-10 years if convicted. McCelvey is currently suspended from the UT campus and is in the process of expulsion.

McCelvey told his friend, “College ruined my life” and “I wish I could go into a classroom and shoot everybody.” I was almost the second sniper on the Tower” and “I wish I could sit on top of a bomb and let it go off and blow up everybody.” The conversation lasted 20 to 30 minutes and the friend was obviously concerned. McCelvey does owna shotgun he uses to go hunting, but never brought it on campus. This is just a few weeks after the April 15 arrest of engineering sophomore Jason Liao, who allegedly possessed a gun on campus.

The system is obviously working, but at the same time, is it too easy to report someone. I definitely think this is a case to be investigated, but to immediately work to expel the kid without an in-depth investigation? I guess the university has to do this otherwise parents and students would be outraged, but what does it take to arrest a student? It seems that you can report a threat to the UTPD hotline and get someone arrested that you don’t like, especially during a time like now, during finals. Then the student is expelled from school without a real investigation. It seems that from the comments this was definitely a case to look into, but how often do tey turn away reports? That said, it’s really irresponsible to say something like that to that depth and detail, even if it is a joke.

Also, this brings up the controversial pursuit by some groups for guns on campus. With these two cases within just a few weeks of each other, would people react to these threats as much. Would either of these students have brought weapons on campus before or more often with such a law passed and possibly acted on their alleged threats? Luckily, we won’t have to find out.

 

At the end of World War II President Truman ordered the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. The two ctiies were almost completely destroyed by atomic boms, the only times an atomic bomb has been dropped as an attack. The bombs killed over 200,000 innocent people and lead to Japan’s surrender, officially ending World War II.

The U.S. built the first atomic bombs under the Manhattan Project, creating the most deadly man made weapon in history. Over 75% of the buildings in Hiroshima were either completely destroyed or severely damaged, and nearly every living thing was seared and destroyed. Let’s hope that nothing like this ever happens again.

A buddy of mine who works for Lionsgate recently showed me an advance copy of the script for Saw 5. The story is centered around a 73 year old man who lures his daughter into a dungeon he built in their basement, drugs her, handcuffs her, and leaves her down there to die.





Wait, nevermind, that wasn’t the movie script. That was a REAL EVENT that actually happened. The suspect, Josef Fritzl, held his daughter Elisabeth Fritzl captive at his home in Austria for TWENTY FOUR YEARS. Think that’s creepy? Try this on: he had sex with her multiple times and she ended up with 7 kids, 3 of whom stayed in the dungeon with her for their entire lives.

Actually, I think this is probably WORSE than Saw. Head on over to The New York Times for the full story.

These are pictures from the military barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A dad gave posted these on Youtube after his son sent them from Fort Bragg. Sgt. Jeff Frawley was rewarded after a 15 month deployment in Afghanistan, the future weed capital of the world, with these lovely arrangements.

The Fort is described as having lead based paint which is chipping, missing ceiling tiles, a broken sewer pipe, and another is filled with tissues to prevent gas from leaking. Frawley said he was promised new barracks upon his return, and surprisingly *sarcasm* the military forgot to keep a promise.

I don’t understand how we spend $200 million a day on the “war on terror” aka desperation for oil and we have conditions like this for our much revered soldiers. Oh yeah, we forgot to armor some of the Humvees…whoops, forgot to send body armor for the soldiers…forgot about your benefits wounded soldier…These are the things that are happening and it is disgusting and abusive.