Discussing the Film, “Full Metal Jacket”

The following correspondence originally took place upon my Facebook wall, after I added information to the “movies I’ve watched” section of my profile…

Rayn: added Full Metal Jacket to movie’s she’s watched.

Brian J.: This is one of the more disappointing war films that I’ve seen, and it’s one of Kubrick’s weakest achievements. But it’s still a good film. The first half is a master class of filmmaking. But the second half felt like “Apocalypse Now” for stupid people. If you want great war films, I recommend “The Thin Red Line”, “Apocalypse Now”, and “Platoon.”

Rayn: There is definitely a large shift in pace between the first and second half of the film, but I still enjoy the piece as a whole, and will never turn down an opportunity to give it a watch, even over those others! 🙂

Brian J.: I just wasn’t impressed with the performances in the second half. And it felt like a lesser version of “Platoon.” But that first half is perfect.

US Marines “Accidentally” Adopt Nazi Flag

I originally posted the following information and commentary onto my Facebook wall…

It was an "accident"

It was an “accident”

SS = Scout Snipers: US Marines Adopt Nazi Goons Emblem:
http://rt.com/news/marines-nazi-flag-scandal-965/

(RT) A picture showing a US Marine scout sniper team posing in front of what appears as a flag of the notorious Nazi organization SS, has surfaced online. The Marine Corps confirmed that the embarrassing photo taken in Afghanistan is real.

(Read entire article here…)

My Commentary: It’s only fitting, since Hitler DID get all of his EUGENICIST inspiration for “RACIAL HYGIENE” from the UNITED STATES – where state-enforced sterilization was the order of the day for the “unfit” at the turn of the 20th century!

The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics:
http://hnn.us/articles/1796.html

Eugenics and the Nazis — the California Connection:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2003%2F11%2F09%2FING9C2QSKB1.DTL

Matthew Hoh Becomes First U.S. Official Yet to Resign in Protest to Afghan War!

I originally posted the following information and commentary onto my Facebook wall…

Former Foreign Service Employee and Marine, Matthew Hoh

Former Foreign Service Employee and Marine, Matthew Hoh

First U.S. Official Yet Hands in Resignation in Protest to Afghan War!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009102603447

(Karen DeYoungWashington Post) – When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.

A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.

But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

(Read entire article here…)

My Commentary: Now, this is CHANGE I can BELIEVE IN! There’s nothing like an honest-to-goodness change of heart! Especially, after some good ol’-fashioned first-hand experience!

According to the September 2009 resignation letter of Foreign Service Officer, former Marine captain, & former civilian Department of Defense employee Matthew Hoh, he has “lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan,” having “doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy.” His resignation “is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end.” He cannot “see the value or the worth in continued U.S. casualties or expenditures or resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year old civil war.”

Seeing the current Afghani administration as corrupt – seated by lawless drug lords and war criminals, bound by sweet-heart deals, and wrought with election fraud – Matthew feels that “our support for this kind of government, coupled with a misunderstanding of the insurgency’s true nature, reminds [him] horribly of our involvement with South Vietnam; an unpopular and corrupt government we backed at the expense of our Nation’s own internal peace, against an insurgency whose nationalism we arrogantly and ignorantly mistook as a rival to our own Cold War ideology.” Well put, Matthew! And, well done!

And, for those interested in reading Matthew Hoh’s full resignation letter, go here:
http://original.antiwar.com/news/2009/10/27/resignation-letter-from-us-foreign-service-officer-matthew-p-hoh/