So I had finally gotten to where I was supposed to be for work, and am stuck staying on an Air Force base out here…
There I was, enjoying an adult beverage or three in the O club last night in the stag bar, deep in conversation with some Marine F-18 drivers; when all of a sudden somebody called TEN-HUT!
That immediately stopped all the conversations and everybody started looking around to see who had walked in. Then one of the folks at the bar yelled, “Hey, y’all gotta see this s**t, you’re not gonna believe what just happened!”
There was a mass movement toward the TV over the corner of the bar, and suddenly all the TVs were changing to CNN, and there it was…
Obama wins Nobel Prize for Peace…
I honestly have NEVER seen a bar get quieter in my life than then…
And as CNN started putting out the details; nominated in February (with a total of 2 weeks in office), and absolutely NOTHING in the way of actual accomplishments, but oh, how great this was for the Lightbringer, and he’s going to stop the war in Iraq, and stop the war in Afghanistan, etc. etc…
I can honestly say the general sentiment in the club was alternating between WTF and YGTBSM, coupled with howstupidarethesepeople. People were literally stunned and looking at each other with glazed expressions of those who just could not process what had just happened.
Some desultory conversations started back up, but most were just shaking their heads and wondering what this will bode for their futures (and many don’t think it bodes well)…
I finished my drink and headed back to billeting, interested to see what else was being said, only to find out that Fox News is NOT an available channel on the base AFRTS. CNN and HLN are up all the time, so I switched over to the Pentagon channel, only to find the Fox program that was supposed to be on was not available…
So, I go jump on the wireless to see what is being said, and lo and behold; all usenet, newsnet, rss feeds, and blogs are BLOCKED!
So lets try my favorite gun forums- nope; Remington- nope; Glock- nope; Brady bunch- Yep! Facebook- Yep; YouTube- Yep…
WTF???
So I go over to Billeting and ask what is going on. The answer? “Oh, command policy to limit the amount of bandwidth used.” Huh???
Sigh…
You may be asking, well how are you posting now? I drove down to the Marine Base, that’s how 🙂
And the Nobel prize is STILL the subject of discussion at breakfast, with no different comments than those heard last night…
Oh yeah, Crucis, this ISN’T your Air Force anymore…
::sigh:: ISUN
Its been a mentally exhausting day fighting with all my sheeple friends.
AH it took me a few minutes of running through all the old military acronyms before ygtbsm finally clicked!
I am just plain disgusted that those asswipes that award the prize included this loser with the good ones. I listed a few of obamessiah’s best friends and “peers?” over at my puny attempt at blogging! Please feel free to add to the list. Ooops, have to run outside and puke! Again!
The Nobel has been rendered totally irrelevant.
Sir I remember hearing from elders when Carter was a Nobel recipient: Many felt then that the Nobel committee truly had watered down the meaning (and therefore the prestige) as well as the “eligibility requirements” for even making the short list.
I extend the bet offer that Oblama will appear, at some point in his presidential term, as Time’s “Man Of The Year” – regardless how ineffective his presidency actually is. Sorta like Arafat.
I note however that as printed media becomes irrelevant in the shadow of the blogosphere, Time, Newsweek et. al., are well on their way to obscurity. Some already see them as nothing more than a marketing frame for drug companies who pander directly to patients.
peedee- and losing, right? sigh…
Ev- Yeah, I read it and agree with you… dammit…
Lorimor- Between Arafat, algore, and now Obama, I’ve got to agree. I’d have given it to Clinton first, at least he DID something positive…
RWL- Good point, I’d forgotten about Carter. And yeah the print media is on it’s way out.
i’ve just returned from a few days “bush” and am TOTALLY STUNNED to find out that he was awarded the “peace prize” … {{shakes head}} … totally stunned and speechless …
I agree the Nobel news is mind boggling and proves once again it is a joke.
More disturbing to me is the communication restrictions on the Air Base!
I had long suspected that the Army would make sure only proper news would get to the troops – so I carried a short wave radio and extra batteries on my deployments, then I could listen to everyone that broadcast in English, German or Spanish to find out what wasn’t in our filtered news, best extra weight I ever carried – it was great in Desert Shield and Storm.
wv this morning heedit (he did it?)
Out with Logic, on with lunacy!
(With apologies to the OWL Party)
I can’t believe they used the “limited bandwidth” excuse! All air bases are served with fiber sonet rings. They have bandwidth to burn!
It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on an air base. I helped install sat up/down links for some O/NCO clubs to provide comm links that wouldn’t impact official channels. If some websites/channels are blocked, they have to be programmed to do that.
I just can’t believe the AF has been so wussified.
I’m still recovering from hearing the news. They use to have such high standards for winning. Now I guess they let anyone.
News just in: Obama is named the new Pope and starting pitcher in the World Series.
Gerry
Who gives a crap? It’s their money, they can do with it what they will.
They’ve just cheapened the prize to the point where it’s little better than a lottery, but it’s theirs to give away.
Julie- You think YOU were??? 🙁
Anon- You and me both…
Earl- It is disturbing and I’m lucky I can sneak over to the Marine Base, they don’t have any filtering on their network. We cheated, we used to go fire up the airplane and listen to the news over the HFs…
And he didn’t, THAT is the problem…
WSF- Agree!
Crucis- I know, that is just plain weird… I almost think they are using Barracuda unmodified, as what I’m seeing is the classic defaults for that system.
EL- yep… sigh…
Gerry- Don’t even joke about that, hell THOSE might be next… sigh…
I was speechless for most of an hour trying to get all the info on how he won.. still don’t care for the turn my stomach has taken…………….
This is no more than the international community pandering to their leader. It’s not about peace or prospects or intentions. It’s about kissing some ass. Peace is elusive and never will be found–
Paw- Good point!
Gia- I STILL am…
Jeff- You may have hit the nail on the head…