[Onthebarricades] On the Barricades 6 (calls to action, silly stories, and some humour...)

Tue Jan 25 14:00:00 PST 2005

CALL FOR ACTION:  

Free Iraqi Doctor jailed by America since March 2003!

http://www.petitiononline.com/freehuda/petition-sign.html?

http://uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=8565&s2=02

Support victim of stitch-up in America

http://www.petitiononline.com/KenGLett/petition.html

Support the Montana mental asylum resisters - email the new governor

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=04/12/28/1991203

Support Iranian textile workers' struggle

http://www.labournet.net/world/0501/iran1.html

Iraq peace petition

http://ga3.org/campaign/iraq_peace?rk=e7_eA351kjGcW

Petition against US cyber-warfare against dissidents

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?dodcw1

Petition to end the embargo against Cuba

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?martys

Protest threats against Colombian human rights activist

http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/mayorga?rk=YdwzzX41xu_zW

Protest political detention of peasant leader

http://www.labournet.net/world/0501/colomb1.html

Petition to persuade Canada to accept US war resisters

http://petitiononline.com/resister/petition.html

Stop WalMart from building on pyramids!

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/bangla_vision/message/4869

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/389702706

http://www.petitiononline.com/chicano1/petition.html

BOYCOTT TAMAR RIDGE WINES over SLAPP against protesters

http://www.sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=49730&group=webcast

Another Working Man Crushed By A Corporate Giant!

Still Stepping on the Little Man a year Later!
Write & Call to Complain About This Racial Injustice!

Thomas Atkins is an American Indian from the Chickahominy and Mattaponi Tribes of
Virginia.  He was an employee of Winchester Homes Inc. of Baltimore and Bethesda 
Maryland, a subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser Corp.  During the first almost two years Thomas was employed there, he never  had any problems.  In fact, He was a First Aide-First Responder for the Company and he was on the Safety Committee for 2003. As well as winning the first annual Safety Slogan contest in 2002.  The plant manager at that time was a Mr.Don Gardner.  You never heard any negative racial terms come out of anyone's mouth.  Mainly because Don Gardner would not have put up with it.

Throughout 2003  & 2004 however, while working at the Baltimore Plant  Thomas was called a variety of names and threatened with bodily harm on many occasions by fellow employees.  This in turn subjected him to a very hostile work environment. He was made to feel on edge and anxious during most of his work day.  He complained to his immediate supervisor's Edward Brooks Sr and the new plant manager Edward Duffy several  times. Only to be told by Edward Duffy, " Your Indian, I don't understand why you let these guys get you angry. After all, that's not the way of your people."
He tried to let these things go. This is when he noticed that he was being called into Mr.Duffy's office on a regular basis and told how he wasn't doing his job safely or his quality was slipping. As though he was trying to find any reason to write Thomas up. 
But daily Thomas was called "Redskin", "Pocahontas","Injun", "Coshise", "Chief", "Tonto" or "Geronimo". On a few occasions co-workers that would walk by his work station would tap their hand on their mouth and yell, "Woo Woo Woo!" like the old westerns of the 40's and 50's. Once right in front of Larry Freiert(the Baltimore Manager), Edward Duffy & Edward Brooks. When he turned around to see who did it. All three along with the employee were laughing as though it were a big joke. Even with the bosses around, Thomas was subjected to continuous and severe racial degradation at the hands of his co-workers. He recieved no assistance from those supervisors who were supposed to be his protection from any wrong doing on the job.   While others on the job were allowed to play their hip-hop and heavy-metal music as loud as they wanted. Thomas was repeatedly told by Edward Brooks Sr. or Edward Duffy ( at least three times a week) to turn his music down. Just because he played the traditional powwow music of his American Indian Ancestors is no reason why Thomas should have been singled out to turn his music down while everyone else was left alone. Thomas was made to feel less than human during much of his work hours.  On one occasion while using the restroom an employee was complaining about all the new quota's they had to make, now that
Edward Duffy had taken over as Plant Manager. Thomas  was Told, " You know how these white people are Tom, Your a Cracker just like them" by a fellow co-worker.  Thomas told him, "never call me anything other then my name". This was even witnessed by another co-worker.  Thomas reported this to Ed Duffy and was told, "Just leave it alone, if you just ignore it then they won't want to tease you.  I see you in my office more then anyone else here. Just do your job and stop complaining".   So, Thomas decided to try and not rock the boat.  Then one morning about a month later, came a series of racial insults by another fellow employee whom Thomas had complained about many times.  
Everyone was gathered by the snack machine area when the co-worker called Thomas the "ugliest version of Pocahontas" He'd ever seen and "A broke down pale face version of Tonto". This got a laugh out of the crew, including both Edward Duffy(plant manager) and Edward Brooks(floor supervisor). Only after Thomas yelled at his co-worker to never call him that again did Edward Brooks speak up to say,"Okay, that's enough of that, let's get to work".  Later that day, Thomas was being cussed out by the same co-worker from the restroom incident for supposedly making a part the wrong size for a wall. When Thomas ignored him and didn't argue, he proceeded to fill out a negative form on Thomas' quality and safety.  That was when Thomas had enough. This time instead of
going to Edward Brooks or Edward Duffy, He went to the Winchester Homes Baltimore Manager, Mr.Larry Freiert. Thomas explained everything to him. Then he called Edward Duffy in and asked him what happened.  Edward Duffy denied that Thomas had ever complained to him. Mr.Freiert told Thomas to go back to work.  They sent for the co-worker and upon his return he began yelling at Thomas, "You fat ass bitch, f**k you Pocahontas.You can suck my d**k".  Edward Brooks witnessed this but only stopped it after Thomas began yelling back at his co-worker about him being "A racist bastard".  The only time that anything was ever said by the bosses was when Thomas would verbally defend myself.  He even got written up after a co-worker and friend of
Edward Brooks failed to do his assigned work because he had been standing around talking to Mr.Brooks most of the day. Edward Brooks wanted Thomas to do extra work to make up for it. Thomas reported this to Edward Duffy. After doing so the co-worker came into Thomas' work area and threatened him saying, "If I get written up because of your Redskin ass, I'm gonna f**k you up when we get off work."  Thomas stated to
him,"Don't wait till we get off. If you want a piece of me then come get it." Edward Brooks took Thomas down to Mr.Duffy's office and wrote him up for the altercation.  Yet the co-worker was never disciplined in any way.  Then to top it all off. Thomas injured his back and left shoulder in march of 2003. After minimal care and Light Duty (cause Mr.Duffy didn't want to have any loss time injuries) ordered by the Concentra doctors they took Thomas too. Thomas was still in pain.  After telling this to  Mr.Duffy on several occasions he informed Thomas that,"You can use your  sick days, but if you take too many you can be terminated." Then in November of 2003 He hurt the same left side of his back and  shoulder again. Thomas was taken to see the Concentra doctors again(a 
company hired by employers). He was given minimal therapy and light duty (again so there would not be a loss time injury). Even after telling the doctors and Mr.Duffy that He was still hurting. The doctors released Thomas back to work and Mr.Duffy again told him that he could lose his job if he took too many sick days.  Then in February of 2004 Thomas smacked his thumb with a hammer while nailing a cross-brace. He was again taken to Concentra instead of a hospital. Where even after he requested that the nail
(which was barely hanging on) be removed. They pushed it back under the cuticle and stitched it in place and put Thomas on light duty (even though he couldn't use 
his left hand).  With the stitches still in and under doctors care.  Thomas was called into Mr.Duffy's office and fired.  Their excuse was that he was Un-safe.   Thomas found an attorney to represent him in his Workers Comp. claim.  But Winchester Homes Inc. and Weyerhaeuser Lumber Corporation has kept this case tied up in worker comp for 10 months as another way of retaliation . Then tried to say that Thomas injuries were not that extensive.  They came up with any reason they could to fire him.  This was really done because Thomas was making so many complaints to his supervisors Edward Brooks Sr.( Plant Forman), Edward Duffy (Plant Supervisor) and Larry Freiert (Winchester Homes Baltimore Manager) about the insensitive and racial harassment at the hands of
his co-workers.   Thomas Atkins was subjected to continuous, pervasive and severe racial harrassment all the way up until the day he was fired on 2-14-04 and his employer Winchester Homes and Weyerhaeuser Corp. did nothing to help.  Instead they wrote him up for small things that everyone else was doing to cover up his complaints of racial intolerance.  Thomas was fired for no other reason than complaining about the daily
racist treatment he was subjected to. 

I think that if enough people call and write to complain about the treatment of this Native American man. This company just might get the message to give this man his just due and stop the ongoing attempt to stop him from recieving compensation for his injuries and his wrongful termination.  I have called to complain and wrote emails to the
addresses below. I urge everyone who reads this to do the same. Don't let these people get away with this! After sending your emails and making your telephone calls. Please pass this on to everyone you know and to all Yahoo, MSN and AOL groups.
Sincerely,
Helen Runningwater
A Choctaw Wife & Mother

Company numbers & email addresses:
Weyerhaeuser                          Winchester Homes
1-800-525-5440                           
1-301-803-4800 or 
1-301-474-4411 or 1-301-489-1245
1-800-716-3488                           
1-410-244-8112 or 
1-410-637-1831 or 1-410-637-1837
ceo-1-253-924-2822           
steven.rogel at weyerhaeuser.com    
steven.rogel at wri-online.com 
richard.hanson at weyerhaeuser.com    
richard.hanson at wri-online.com  
ernesta.ballard at weyerhaeuser.com    
ernesta.ballard at wri-online.com  
arnfinn.giske at weyerhaeuser.com   
ralph.horner at weyerhaeuser.com  
support at weyerhaeuser.com    corporate at wri-online.com  

dcmetro at wri-online.com 
nancy.thomas at weyerhaeuser.com   
larry.burrows at whihomes.com  
larry.freiert at whihomes.com    tom.bourke at whihomes.com 

andy.warren at whihomes.com  
ed.duffy at whihomes.com   edward.duffy at whihomes.com    
ed.brooks at whihomes.com 
edward.brooks at whihomes.com  amy.fowler at whihomes.com   

News Media:  mike.adams at baltsun.com  
trif.alatzas at baltsun.com   
kevin.cowherd at baltsun.com   abramowitz at washpost.com   
barkinr at washpost.com   
benningv at washpost.com   grayp at wjz.com  
bending at wjz.com   
berry at wmar.com   
newsroom at wmar.com   info at ap.org   sam at okit.com  
letters at nypost.com   
news at baltsun.com   nationalnews at herald.com  
national at latimes.com

EnviroWatch Action: Tell Steve Jobs to  Recycle His iWaste!

January 10, 2005

EnviroWatch is Part of ActionLA  Network

URL: _www.ActionLA.org_ (http://www.ActionLA.org) 

Take Actions! Go to the Following  Link!

http://action.computertakeback.com/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10201  

Thanks to the soaring sales of its hip iPods, Apple and Steve Jobs are set to make a bundle of cash in 2005. Amidst all the celebration and excitement about the iPods, Jobs isn't revealing his dirty little secret about them. The sleek music players contain poisonous lead and other highly toxic materials that can cause damage to our brains and reproductive and nervous systems. Once the little music machines become obsolete, they are dumped into landfills or shipped overseas as electronic scrap. Their toxins leach into our air, land, and water and send poisons into our communities. Especially vulnerable are the children in developing countries who pick through the wastes to find parts to  sell.

http://action.computertakeback.com/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10201

SLOVAKIA WORKERS' APPEAL - new version in Fifth International Global

>>>SLOVAKIA: SUPPORT NEW WORKERS' MOVEMENT
http://www.workerspower.com/index.php?id=49,363,0,0,1,0

16 December 2004

UA  336/04   Fear of imminent execution

IRAN

Hajieh Esmailvand  (f)

An unnamed man (aged 17 when accused)

Amnesty International  fears that Hajieh Esmailvand is at risk

of imminent execution after her death  sentence for adultery

was upheld by the Supreme Court in November. She  could

allegedly be stoned to death as early as 21 December. Her

unnamed  co-defendant is at risk of imminent execution by

hanging.

According to  reports, Hajieh Esmailvand was sentenced to

five years imprisonment, to be  followed by execution by

stoning, for adultery with an unnamed man who at the  time

was a 17 year old minor. Although the exact date of her arrest

and  trial are not known, it is reported that she has been

imprisoned in the town  of Jolfa, in the north west of Iran,

since January 2000.

In Iran, all  death sentences must be upheld by the Supreme

Court before they can be  carried out. In November 2004, the

Supreme Court upheld the death sentence  against Hajieh

Esmailvand but changed the lower court's verdict from  'death

by hanging' to 'death by stoning'. Reports suggest that the

Supreme  Court has ordered that the remainder of Hajieh's

five year prison sentence be  annulled so that the stoning

sentence can be carried out before 21  December.

The unnamed man, with whom Hajieh had the affair, has

been  sentenced to death by hanging. It is reported that he is

awaiting official  orders to be hanged in public, suggesting that

the death sentence may have  already been upheld by the

Supreme Court.

BACKGROUND  INFORMATION

Amnesty International believes that the death penalty is  the

most extreme form of torture. It is a cruel, inhuman and

degrading  treatment, and a violation of the right to life as

proclaimed in the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights

(UDHR). It is clear that the punishment  of stoning is

designed to cause the victim grievous pain before leading  to

death. Such methods of execution specifically designed to

increase the  suffering of victims are of particular concern to

Amnesty International, as  the most extreme and cruel form

of torture.

The Iranian Penal Code is  very specific about the manner of

execution and types of stones which should  be used. Article

102 states that men will be buried up to their waists  and

women up to their breasts for the purpose of execution by

stoning.  Article 104 states, with reference to the penalty for

adultery, that the  stones used should "not be large enough to

kill the person by one or two  strikes, nor should they should

they be so small that they could not be  defined as stones".

In December 2002, the Head of the Judiciary,  Ayatollah

Shahroudi, reportedly sent a directive to judges ordering  a

moratorium on execution by stoning and for alternative

punishments to be  used instead. However, legal provision for

execution by stoning remains, and  in September 2003 a law

was passed listing regulations for the implementation  of

particular sentences, including stoning. Since the reported

moratorium,  Amnesty International is aware of at least one

case in which a sentence of  execution by stoning has

reportedly been issued. According to a report on 8  January

2004 in the Iran newspaper, a criminal court in city of  Qazvin

sentenced an unnamed man to 80 lashes and 10 years'

imprisonment to  be followed by execution by stoning. It is

not known whether this sentence  has been carried out.

As a party to the International Convention on Civil  and

Political Rights, Iran has undertaken not to execute anyone

for an  offence committed when they were under 18 years old.

The Iranian authorities  are now considering legislation (the

draft law on the Establishment of  Children's Courts) that

would prohibit the use of the death penalty for  offences

committed under the age of 18. Iran has executed at least

three  child offenders in 2004. In addition to this, at least

eleven other child  offenders are believed to have been

sentenced to death.

RECOMMENDED  ACTION: Please send appeals to

arrive as quickly as possible:

- stating  your unconditional opposition to the death penalty,

as the ultimate cruel,  inhuman and degrading punishment and

violation of the right to life;

-  expressing concern that Hajieh Esmailvand is reportedly

facing imminent  execution by stoning for adultery;

- asking for the trial details of the case  against Hajieh

Esmailvand, including details of any appeals against  her

convictions to be made public;

- urging that the death sentence  against Hajieh Esmailvand be

commuted immediately;

- seeking clarification  about the status of the moratorium on

stoning reportedly ordered by His  Excellency Ayatollah

Shahroudi in December 2002;

- expressing concern at  reports that the unnamed co-

defendant of Hajieh Esmailvand has been  sentenced to death

for an offence committed when he was a 17 year old  minor;

- asking for details of the exact charges against the  unnamed

individual, including details of any appeals against  his

convictions to be made public;

-urging that the death sentence against  him be commuted

immediately;

- expressing concern and dismay that Amnesty  International

has recorded 10 executions of child offenders in Iran  since

1990, three of them in 2004, and calling on the Iranian

authorities  to immediately halt further executions of child

offenders and to pass  legislation removing the provision for

the execution of child offenders,  thereby bringing Iran into

line with its obligations under international  law.

APPEALS TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic:

His Excellency  Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei

The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan  Intersection,

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: 011 98 21 649 5880  (please mark 'For the attention of

the Office of His Excellency, Ayatollah al  Udhma

Khamenei, Qom)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the  Judiciary:

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Ministry of  Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of

Iran

Email:  irjpr at iranjudiciary.org (mark 'Please forward to

HE Ayatollah  Shahroudi')

Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

Center for  Women's Participation:

Dr Zahra Shojaei

Head of the Center of Women's  Participation and Advisor to

the President

128 Shaheed Labbafi Nejad  Street

Tehran 13156, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: 011 98 21 640  3038

Email: cwp at women.org.ir (please mark for the

attention of Dr Zahra  Shojaei)

PROTEST AGAINST ANIMAL KILLINGS IN CROATIA

> According to a law in Croatia, any cat or dog found more than 300

> meters od towns is considered strayed and therefore can be killed.

> Cats and puppies are being killed and hung on branches of trees in

> Medijimurje area in Croatia. Also dogs and cats have been killed by

> hunters. See pictures at: http://www.apasfa.org/peti/croacia_pic.html  

> 

> 

> - office at mps.hr 

> (Mr. Nenad Matic, the spokesman for Ministry of Agriculture and

> Forestry Croatia)

> - eurobarometer at cec.eu.int 

> (EU Public Opinion e-mail:)

> - trade-A3 at cec.eu.int

> (EU Trade )

> - agri-library at cec.eu.int 

> (EU Agriculture)

Other email addresses of Croatian authorities where letters of protest can be sent.

Office of the Prseident -  <mailto:ured at predsjednik.hr> 

ured at predsjednik.hr

Parliament of Croatia -  <mailto:sabor at sabor.hr> sabor at sabor.hr

Office of the Prime Minister premijer at vlada.hr

Croatian Ministry Of Tourism  ministarstvo-turizma at zg.tel.hr

The Bakersfield Animal Control facility is starving
animals to death -  
please respond and crosspost

The Bakersfield Animal Control facility is starving
animals to death.  They are violating CA state laws and a suit has been
filed but while it is moving slowly through the system, dogs are starving slowly,  
painfully dying. We need to do something now.

Please  write to the following tourism office and tell them you will  not visit CA or  visit Kern County until Bakersfield Animal Control complies with the law.  

djaeger at bakersfieldcvb.org  

Contact the Governor's office and tell  them you are outraged that Bakersfield Animal Control is starving stray  dogs.  
governor at governor.ca.gov 

Contact the Bakersfield Chamber  of Commerce and tell them you are outraged that Bakersfield Animal Control  is starving stray dogs. 
steglia at bakersfieldchamber.org  
and  info at bakersfieldchamber.org  

Contact the elected officials  for Bakersfield and Kern County and tell them you are outraged that  Bakersfield Animal Control is starving  stray dogs.
Visit  http://www.co.kern.ca.us/contact.asp and
contact each member 
of the Kern  County Board of Supervisors. 

Email the Bakersfield mayor at: 
AdmMayor at ci.bakersfield.ca.us    
(@ci.bakersfield.ca.us)

Here are email addresses of a few others: 
billthomas at mail.house.gov   
(@mail.house.gov)

Assemblymember.McCarthy at assembly.ca.gov  
(@assembly.ca.gov)

Visit: http://www.kget.com/yourgovernment/  for a  fairly complete list.

If you want to know the details of  this case and the
lawsuit filed read it here:  http://www.shelterwatch.com

If you want to see the photos of Francis a  dog who was rescued from 
the Bakersfield Animal Control click here.  
http://eshare.hpphoto.com/start.asp?JobID=%7b39113CC4-917A-43E8-90FD-98B66416B3CC%7d&IDKey=469976724

Despite all efforts, Francis was beyond help and died.

If you write one letter or 10, please do something and do it now.

For Francis and for  all the other dogs in Bakersfield dying as you read this.  Please do it  now.
Cinnamon Muhlbauer
battydiva at comcast.net  (@comcast.net)

CALL FOR ACTION:  DUTCH GOVERNMENT PERSECUTES REFUGEES

Sri Lanka, as we all know, is struck with the tsunami disaster. Many 

communities are destroyed; many of the ten thousands of dead lie 

still rotting.

At this very time, hard line Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk 

wants to forcibly expel from The Netherlands refugees who fled Sri 

Lanka's civil war.

Please protest this human rights violation. Send a protest e-mail to 

vragenaanministerverdonk at minjus.nl

CALL FOR ACTION:  STOP THE QUARRY! (from George Chaplin, Earthfirstalert list)

Hi all,

As many of you are aware (I hope), I'm running a campaign against the 

expansion of quarrying close to Britain's largest ancient ritual 

monument - the Thornborough Henges in North Yorkshire.

The Thornborough Henges are a collection of monuments known as a 

complex, dating back to 3,500 BC. These include some monuments that 

are scheduled and others that are not, together with the land that 

these monuments sit in.

Tarmac Northern Ltd, a subsidiary of Anglo American Plc (Britain's 

4th largest conglomerate) have decided that they wish to destroy as 

much of this complex as possible - they will quarry the entire area, 

leaving those few monuments protected by law as islands surrounded by 

man-made lakes.

As a result of this development, close on to 250 cows will be 

consigned to the fattening sheds, because the quarry will destroy 100 

acres of good quality arable land. A great deal of important 

archaeology will be lost and an important habitat on the margins of a 

nature reserve will be destroyed.

Please sign my petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/Pet10001/petition.html

We can win this - one in the eye for a globalist company that 

supported apartheid.

More informatrion can be found here:

www.heritageaction.org/thornborough.html

Thanks 

George

SILLY ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

"protests need to not be disruptive, otherwise people might have to take notice, yadda yadda yadda"

http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/pageloader.php?file=2004/12/19/editorial/editorial2

And another one. Dan Clore has provided an appropriately dismissive heading for this effort:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo/message/5729

A FUNNY STORY.

A city cop was on his horse waiting to cross the street when a little 

girl named Mary stopped beside him on her new shiny bike.

"Nice bike" the cop said "did Santa bring it to you?"

"Yep," the little girl said, "he sure did!"

The cop looked the bike over and handed the girl a $20 ticket for a 

safety violation, saying "Next year tell Santa to put a reflector light on 

the back of it."

The young girl looked up at the cop and said, "Nice horse you got there 

sir, did Santa bring it to you?"

"Yes, he sure did," chuckled the cop.

The little girl looked up at the cop and said, "Next year tell Santa the dick goes underneath the horse, not on top."

(thanks to Pink Jimi Photon on stateyourcause)

THE YEAR'S BEST [ACTUAL] HEADLINES OF 2004:

(people actually get paid to write this stuff)

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over

Miners Refuse to Work after Death

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

War Dims Hope for Peace

Crack Found on Governor's Daughter

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures

Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors

And the winner is....

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

(ditto)

LET'S HOPE BUSH KNOWS HE'S BEEN IN IRAQ TOO LONG PRETTY SOON.

You Know You've Been In Iraq Too Long When...

January 10, 2005 Via Vietnam Veterans Against the War VVAWNET:

(From ambotchka, the weblog of a woman deployed in Baghdad.)

this is likely only funny for those who've been to Iraq, but i just had 

to put this out for public perview....

i picked only the best ones, and most of them apply to myself, which is 

scary..

You know you've been in Iraq too long when...

~ mortars land near your compound and you roll over in bed and think, 

"still way off, i've got another five minutes."

~ you actually volunteer for convoy security duty because you still 

haven't seen the country yet

~ driving around in SUVs with weapons pointing out the windows and 

forcing cars off the road seems normal to you

~ you see celebratory fire going over the compound at night and think, 

"wow, the tracer colors are so pretty" and want to fire back

~ you forgot there are colors other than brown that can be found in 

places other than PowerPoint slides

~ when you go on R&R, you duct tape your child to the roof of your car, 

hand him a pellet rifle, and assign him a sector of fire for the ride 

to "Olive Garden"

~ when 12 hours is a short work day

~ when, during a brief, "DIV asked MNSTC-I for the FRAGO that MNC-I was 

supposed to publish, but couldn't because MNF-I hadn't weighed in, 

since they were too inundated with MOD and MOI war-gaming the JCCs within 

the ISF to square us away!" is a valid comment and generates no 

questions

~ when you start using words like "G'day mate," "Cheers," and "bloody 

'ell" as part of your normal vocabulary

~ when the trailer next to you catches on fire and instead of helping 

to put it out you grab a bag of marshmallows and start roasting

~ when you step into any office and there are 6 Colonels, 12 Lt 

Colonels, 15 Majors, and 8 Captains supervising the work of one NCO

~ when the weapon buy-back program has become so successful that you've 

issued the same AK47 to the Iraqi Army 3 times

~ when you cant tell the difference between the sound of an exploding 

car and an exploding mortar

~ when on R&R you go to Church and wonder why no one is wearing body 

armor or carrying an automatic weapon to the service

~ you know that you need to run inside immediately after any win of an 

Iraqi sports team to keep from being hit with celebratory fire

~ you decide that for shits and grins - "lets take a run around Lost 

Lake at Camp Victory to see if we can get shot at by the sniper"

~ you never worry about oversleeping because if the morning prayer 

calls don't wake you, the 0430 rocket attack will

~ you decide it's a better course of action to pull your blankets over 

your head than put on your body armor during an attack -- the woobee 

will save you and at least you're comfortable

~ a rocket attack isn't a big deal until the crater it leaves is big 

enough to trip over in the dark on the way to the latrine

~ you go to a social gathering and intermittent gunfire doesn't cause a 

pause in the conversation

(from GI Special)
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