May 29, 1453

On May 29, 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell as its capital, Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Turks.
A history dork like me would remember this...LOL.  Nonetheless, the last emperor, Constantinos Paleologos (spelled a bunch of different ways), fought the Turks to the end.  He probably died with his men but no one knows for sure. The Turks found someone with purple boots, thought he was the Emperor and chopped his head off.  As they paraded it around, the Turks noticed no one recognized the severed head....

The last Roman Emperor and King of the Greeks was probably interred in a mass grave with a lot of Byzantine, Italian, and Turkish soldiers but we don't really know. One legend is that an angel swooped out of the heavens and took him to an underground cave and turned him to marble to awaken on day to retake the city back from the Turks.

Or maybe he is running a liqour store in South Philly....

When you look down at the picture of the final siege of Constantinople, does it not look a little like the siege of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings? Maybe the great Tolkien took some inspirtation from that terrible mid fifteenth century Tuesday?

If that is the case, he did a great job with it!

Closing Gitmo

Back during the 2008 presidential campaign,candidate Obama promised to close down the prison camp, Camp X-Ray, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Five years later, the issue has risen its head again,which of course, prompts many to ask this scandal-ridden administration "why now?"  Especially since all it would take is an executive order which could have been issued any time in the last five years.  Naturally, the first thought that comes to mind is this is an attempt to pull attention away from the scandals enveloping the administration.

There are other issues.  One, does Camp X-Ray create more jihadists?  Many of those released, oddly mostly Yemeni, have returned to their homeland and immediately joined al-Qeida.  So what are we supposed to do with them?

One idea is to toss them out of the back of an airplane over the North Atlantic but I don't see that happening or at least not enjoying  any open endorsement.  Neither the Bush or Obama administrations seem to trust the Justice Department to handle them because if they did, Camp X-Ray would not exist in the first place.  Besides, Eric Holder can't seem to do anything right and he is contempt of Congress, which leads to the question of "why is he still Attorney General?".

Back to Gitmo.

If the judicial system cannot be trusted, maybe America is doomed to lose the so-called "war on terror."  The "war on terror", if the attacks in Boston, London, and Paris, are any indication, is entering a "lone wolf" stage so the authorities better get their ducks in a row.  Given our goverment's level of competence, it does not look good.

Time to close it down.  It's run its course, costs $450 million a year to operate and does not seem to have any useful purpose other than to serve as propaganda for Islamic terrorists.

I would be scared to look at the Vegas odds on the West vs Islamic terrorists.....

Running off the rails...

Between the IRS scandal, the return of the Benghazi controversy, and an ill conceived and probably illegal secret raid on the Associated Press' records, it has turned out to be a bad week for the Obama administration.  Everyone at the head of every institution has tried the "I did not know about it" line but it rings hollow and everyone sees through it. It is pretty obvious to everyone that the emperor has no clothes.  I am not sure if it is merely abuse of power or simple incompetence but many, many Americans, even those of the liberal persuasion, are washing their hands of this administration.  Add in the coming trainwreak of Obamacare and the continued economic mess and you can see a rerun of the 2010 midterm elections coming up. 

I have the feeling that the White House liquor cabinet will need to be restocked on Monday morning...and probably Tuesday morning...

Anyone seen any Hope and Change?

May 12

May 12 is another big day on the Haas calender!

That is the day I graduated from the The Citadel and won the final victory over the insidious evil that polluted the place.  No, they don't get any money from me....

May 12 is the day freedom triumphed.  It is a day we celebrate freedom from tyranny and freedom to decide our own destiny.  Crushing any attempts at intimidation and pushing arbitray obstacles, we move forward.  You don't always win the first round but you will win the last and eventually emerge victorious.

Life is not a sprint, it is a marathon.

May 12....kind of what the Fourth of July used to be....

Another struggle there looming...get ready for it....

...and remember the 12th of May!

Happy Greek Orthodox Easter!

The Western Easter was on March 31, so I wasn't able to get Easter candy at half price this year....LOL

Looking at Syria...

If the US wants some advice on Syria, here is some---Don't.

Don't get involved, don't intervene, don't even comment on it.

Let events in Syria run its course.

No need to re-experience Libya where we arm and intervene on the side of "rebels" who later turn around and attack us.

The problem with Middle Eastern revolutions is that they are often not revolutions at all. Too often the "revolutionaries" are often indistinguishable from the people they overthrew.....can you say "Egypt"?  Middle Eastern "revolutions" are often battles between armed bands of psychotics.

Senator Lindsey Graham (or is it Graham Lindsey?) wants the US to launch cruise missiles at Syrian military emplacements or even launch air raids.  Naturally, this is the first step toward getting mixed up in another Middle Eastern war...like we have not seen enough of that (Afghanistan 2001,  Iraq 2003) not to mention the ongoing, never ending "crisis" with Iran that has been going on since at least 2005.

The Israelis should not open fire on the border either.  Remember the miscalculation Saddam Hussein made in 1980 thinking he could defeat Iran when it was in the middle of the Islamic Revolution.  An Israeli attack will unite all of the Syrian factions and push the country towards Iran.  The nightmare of an Iran with influence extending to the Med is a nightmare no one wants to see either. It might be the Persian Empire reborn and while many say intervention will prevent this from happening, it seems more like it would,

The Middle East has been in chaos since 3500 BC if not longer.  We are not going to change that.  Keeping it contained is one thing.  Wading in is nothing anyone sane wants to do....except maybe Haliburton.

Boston Marathon Bombing

Some sick mind conceived of a plan to detonate two bombs at the Boston Marathon yesterday and even worse, carried it out, killing at least three people and wounding hundreds more.  Making the story worse is that two more bombs were discovered.  Fortunately, they were disarmed.

There is a lot of speculation as to who is behind this.  Islamic terrorists, right-wing or left-wing extremists, or even a false flag operation have been mentioned but it does not matter.  People are hurt and need help. 

Internal bickering also does not help.  All that does is make the situation even worse.

Prayers for Boston and do what you can to help.