Generic Punk Related Photograph of the Day



Well, I know I've been away for a bit here, but I am back, and set to blog again... Hooray. Part of the reason that I haven't been posting much is that I took some time off and took a little jaunt to British Columbia to watch some exhibition soccer. I stayed in a wonderful place on South Granville in Vancouver, with a strip joint for a pub and glue-sniffers in the parking lot. The soccer was good, and the bus trip there and back actually bearable. And, with that, not a hell of a lot else has been going on, except that we're absolutely swamped at work. However, a couple of wee things have come to my attention. First off:


Friendly fire bomber denied his final appeal
AP AND CP

NEW ORLEANS -- The Illinois National Guard pilot who mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan, killing four and wounding eight, lost his last U.S. air force appeal yesterday. The commander of Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia upheld the punishment ordered last month for Maj. Harry Schmidt - a severe reprimand and loss of a month's pay.
Schmidt, 39, who was found guilty of dereliction of duty, also has agreed that he will never fly U.S. air force jets again, although he remains in the National Guard.

As I think I've said before, for my money, the flying ban is the big part of this story. Some people up here are upset at the small size of his fine, but I couldn't care less about that. Nothing's going to bring our boys back, so all we can really ask for is reassurance that dumbass will never again be able to fly a heavily-armed aircraft.

And secondly, big and very very very late propz to these guys:



Yes, as everybody who cares is already well aware, unheralded Greece won the 2004 European soccer championship. I should also mention that Brazil defeated arch-rivals Argentina for the Copa America. Again, not news.

Looks Like I Was Wrong About This One...

U.S. 'friendly fire' pilot appealing conviction
Last Updated Wed, 07 Jul 2004 17:36:01
LANGLEY, VA. - A U.S. fighter pilot who dropped a bomb that killed four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan plans to appeal his dereliction of duty conviction, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Charles Gittins said his client, Major Harry Schmidt, gave him the instructions after a morning round of golf.

So, fuckwit decides to appeal a dereliction of duty conviction while playing golf?!?!?!?!? The irony itself is enough to choke on. Y'know, we have treaties with the States - let's get this fucker extradited. Have him face a court martial in Canada (I know, I know, extradition treaties don't cover military cases, more's the pity right now).

What stuns me is the complete lack of responsibility inherent in Major Schmidt's character. He has not said one word of contrition (although his cunt of a wife made some snide comment about one the dead Canadian's wives waking up alone, and how "bad" she felt about that - I'll find the exact quote if I can). And now, apparently, he has no shame, either. According to his lawyer, his opinion of the reprimand his commanding officer gave him is "not printable," which says it all, really. Hopefully, Maj. Schmidt will overextend himself here and get into some real trouble. Like a lengthy prison term, for example.

I must say though, that my anger over this does not extend to the U.S. military (I'm mad at it - them? - for a host of other reason, but not over their handling of this case). The U.S. higher-ups have fought diligently, as far as I can tell, to see that justice gets done for the families of the dead. I wish that some of that attitude had trickled down on Maj. Schmidt.

Since I'm apparently incoherent with rage at the moment, I'm going to put this to bed, and try to write something more coherent in the next couple of days.

Justice, More or Less, Done

U.S. 'friendly fire' pilot found guilty of dereliction of duty
Last Updated Tue, 06 Jul 2004 15:42:26

NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. fighter pilot who accidentally dropped a bomb on Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan two years ago, killing four of them, has been found guilty of dereliction of duty by the U.S Air Force.

Major Harry Schmidt will receive a written reprimand and have to forfeit $5,600 US in pay.

Well, in the end this was about all Canadians could hope for. Schmidt, who unlike his flying partner William Umbach, never admitted any resposibility for his actions nor showed any compassion for the families of his victims, has finally been called to account. While it would have been more heart-warming to see Schmidt actually do time, this will have to suffice. In my thinking, the most important sentence in this article is the penultimate one (emphasis added by me):

Schmidt will be allowed to remain in the Illinois Air National Guard, but not as a pilot.

So no other family should ever have to suffer at the hands of this idiot. At least so we can hope...

This isn't Edmonton, but a reasonable facsimile thereof. It still very very cold here, and I gather that the rest of the country is experiencing much the same thing. Here is an interesting article from the CBC on what exactly 'windchill' is, when it's at home. Anyway, it's supposed to start warming up after tomorrow, but we shall see. In the meantime, we lost another soldier in Afghanistan yesterday, to a suicide bomber. It's saddening, but I don't feel the same anger about it as I would had the soldier died in Iraq. At least in the case of Afghanistan, we know why we're there, and we should be there. Scant comfort to Cpl. Murphy's family, I suspect.