The problem is that snakes find food by smell and heat signature, if the dead mice are not warm, the snakes aren't likely to eat them. I feed my python prekilled rodents, but heat them up in hot water first.

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?list=~\news\lists\recent&id=735069 has her withdrawal.

She's no longer a candidate for Congress, she withdrew from the race almost a month ago.

The objective COULDN'T have been to trace the guns once they crossed the border because they KEPT THE BATFE AGENTS IN MEXICO OUT OF THE LOOP. They also didn't do any coordination with the Mexican authorities. Yet there were meetings about this between the DEA, BATFE, ICE, and at least one Assistant US Attorney, yet AG Holder claims he didn't know?

Remember, they start at 0600 today and finish around 1500 on Sunday with few opportunities for sleep between now and then. The competitors won't have been told exactly which events were included this year until about a week ago, and even then, might not have been told the order (although the ruck march is typically on Friday night). They specifically tailor the ruck march to weed out 50% of the Ranger buddy teams, they have at least one decision point where they decide how long the entire march will be, based on how many teams have already dropped out of the competition (usually due to injury) and the condition of the competitors. My brother competed two years ago, his partner had passed out from dehydration the previous year, but they finished that year, the first time in several years that a team from their battalion had finished (I think two out of three of their teams finished that year).

The unintended consequence of this decision is that it means victims of the Phelp's bile no longer have recourse through the courts... Kick a man when he's down and remove any legal forum for him to respond and what you're left with is someone whose only options are accept the abuse or respond in an extra-legal manner (I won't call it illegal because the law has removed his legal options). I personally would have no sympathy or regrets if I woke up one morning to the news that every adult member of that church had been killed overnight and the authorities were unable to trace the killers... I've always said the gun control crowd is either lying or insane: if gun owners are as dangerous as they claim, why on Earth would they deliberately antagonize us? The Phelp's crowd is deliberately antagonizing people who are trained in the management and execution of violence, trusting that the discipline our troops hold to will protect them from serious consequence. What happens when you get some troops who are pushed too far? Especially from specialties trained in avoiding detection behind hostile lines?

Later updates on the story are that a vial of VX was stored in a mislabeled container, the lockdown was initiated when an accountability inventory came up short due to the vial being in the wrong location.

We need to clean up the general officer ranks, if you count active duty and Navy Reserves, the Navy probably has more admirals than it does ships (authorized 160 active duty Admirals) while it has fewer than 300 ships. The other services have similar officer bloat, jobs that prior to WW2 were done by Lieutenant Colonels or Colonels frequently are flag positions now (such as leading evaluation boards for weapons or equipment).

Tom - police departments learned from the LA shootout, many departments have patrol carbines these days, usually some variant of AR-15, although I know at least one department in the Atlanta metro area issues Mini-14's for the task (because they were cheaper), or at least did a decade ago when I ran into one of their department snipers test-firing them at a range. Look at the lessons learned from Columbine, most departments now train on active-shooter responses where instead of establishing a perimeter and waiting for SWAT and the negotiators to show up, the first three or four officers to arrive form and move in (and the training is standardized so the officers don't need to be from the same department). A number of the school shootings ended early because there were people armed nearby who intervened, sometimes it was school officials getting guns from cars, sometimes it was armed students or bystanders. Heck, one attempted school shooting recently ended because construction workers ran the shooter over with a pickup truck. Particularly since 9/11 there is an attitude that you don't wait for the government to act, you take on the terrorists as early as possible.

Btw, MAJ Gries' name just came out on the promotion list...

Sadly, the CoC for the VTT's ordered them to remove all blogs several months ago after they posted memorials to a fallen member of one of the teams (after his family had created a Facebook memorial for him), so updates on their activities have been sparse.

Apparently Russia decided there was some kind of legal issue with trying them in Russia for the piracy, so they let the hijackers go. At sea. With no navigation aids. In their small boats.

GEN Petraeus may support blogging, but a number of officers below him still resist it. Several people I know, including a field grade officer, were ordered to take down their blogs after posting memorials to a team mate who was KIA in Afghanistan (AFTER all notifications had gone out, in fact the family has a FaceBook page up memorializing the dead soldier).

My brother is a company grade officer in the Army, he knows an officer who was initially awarded a Silver Star for his actions in one of those engagements but is now facing a letter of reprimand over the same engagement.

At least during that time frame, promotions to 1LT and CPT were automatic after 18 months in grade in the Army, my brother was commissioned in 2004 and made Captain in 2007. A buddy who was commissioned in 1992 made Captain two weeks before ETSing in 1996.

As a former Army ROTC cadet, when the Army decided that my academic performance, combined with the post-Cold War draw down, did not merit continued enrollment in Army ROTC, I was given two options, either report for basic training within thirty days of leaving school or repay my scholarship benefits (there was also an option for an Article 32 investigation if the officer assigned to review my situation had felt I had deliberately broken my contract). I don't remember if there was an option for the Army to mandate that I take the enlistment option. I know I was kept on the IRR rolls until it was paid back, and I received a monthly bill from DFAS (it was amusing getting professional discount offers from _Army Times_).

Shines the name, shines the name... Contrary to those who stated they didn't understand his final message, that it didn't explain who Andrew Olmsted was, the sad part is that they can't see that Andrew Olmsted DID tell us who he was. It's just that the answer doesn't fit into a nice neat label. He was a leader. He was an officer who wasn't afraid to have his own opinion, or to discuss that opinion, while not only upholding his oath as an officer, but understanding WHY that oath was important. He clearly wasn't a sycophant, he wasn't carefully managing his career to ensure he made general officer, he wasn't one to unquestioningly follow the herd. He was what an officer SHOULD BE. Sadly, too many aren't, and the ranks of the good ones are further depleted. Lay me down in the cold cold ground Where before many more have gone Lay me down in the cold cold ground Where before many more have gone When they come I will stand my ground Stand my ground I’ll not be afraid Thoughts of home take away my fear Sweat and blood hide my veil of tears Once a year say a prayer for me Close your eyes and remember me Never more shall I see the sun For I fell to a Germans gun Lay me down in the cold cold ground Where before many more have gone Lay me down in the cold cold ground Where before many more have gone Where before many more have gone -- Joe Kilna MacKenzie Absent companions! *smash*