can of worms blog

Southpinellas: Dead soldier posts farewell note on MySpace

MySpace is a great way to find people you went to school with etc.

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It is also a very efficient way to leave a suicide note.

***Update***

Dylan’s Last words were:

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Jesus, I don’t know if any of you have heard what has happened to me yet, but I just want to remind you not to be sad. Laugh, that’s what lifes about. When it is all said and done, and all the bull shit is cleared away, it is the ones you love who you will remember. There is nothing that poisons life more than arguing about religion, politics, gay straight, white black. Oh, and if you fall in love, hold on to it no matter what it takesnot everyone is so lucky, ya know? This song on my myspace says it all, dry your eyes. My dads number is . If some one could get that to christina, that would be awesome. Dad, or mom, contact Elliot Hunt at . I left him a safe. The combo is dads address followed by *. Love everyone. Peace out, and film for life.

His Mom posted a note on Dylan’s MySpace page, here it is:

THIS IS DYLAN’S MOM I cannot let my sons death go without question. The military wants it to be forgotten…… Dylan was making plans for the future something a person considering suicide does not do. There is more to this………….We as a people cannot let this happen, there has to be other soldiers who feel the same as Dylan. Dylan made his choice, he also wanted his treatment to be known. if we can save one other soldier then Dylan’s death will not be in vain. If anyone knows anything about Dylan’s treatment or other ill treated soldiers within his command. Please let me know through Mexicant85@hotmail.com I Love you Dylan for your courage, Mom………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………How am I in Dylans My Space? My son gave me his password a year ago when he went to basic training because he would be out of pocket for so long. He trusted me, I want to assure all of you that any correspondence I receive will be totally confidential. This I swear in my sons honor.

he made about a boring weekend at Fort Gordon with a message telling young people go to go college and “not make the same mistake I did.”
His mother is no doubt grieving and distraught. The fact is every nine hours a soldier dies of non-combat causes. Some are vehicle accident’s etc. Many, however, are suicides. I suppose the reason why I am so interested in this is because Fort Gordon is the place where Mike, the other contributor to this website met. So I have a connection and I identify with Dylan. I remember days when I was in the Army where I felt as though my life was totally out of my hands and that I had made an incredible mistake by joining. My despair never came to the point where I seriously thought about taking my life, 4 years is a long time but not that long.

Based on what his mother said it appeared as though she believes there was some mistreatment by his command.
If you combine the angst that many people who are Dylan’s age with the stress and pressures of the Army life there are certain to be those who are unable to deal with it. That is what happened here.

While tragic, this suicide is the rule not the exception.

You can scroll the comments on his page and it is as if his friends are speaking to him at his headstone in the cemetary. Words that are usually spoken in private while friends and family grieve are available, in black and white for all the world to see.

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MySpace is built on the premise of social networking, and suicide is the result of an inablity to adapt socially (among other things), to leave your last words on MySpace and then kill yourself is sadly ironic. Hopefully it won’t move from being simply ironic to cliche`.

These disturbing new photographs really show the U.S. in a good light don’t they. Is there anyone else who still believes that these were acts committed by a “few bad apples?” Not safe for work.

Tampabay: Senator changes mind on Schiavo No kidding Mel. Even though it isn’t your election year, many other facists are up for election/re-election and now you have to back peddle. I get it. My question is, was it a change in heart, maybe a realization that thousands of Americans each day decide that they don’t want to see their loved ones kept artificially alive? Or was it those incredible poll numbers that showed more agreement by Americans than on any other issue that the government has no authority to intervene in personal medical decisions. I have a hunch that in this election year, you and many other members of the flying monkey right will attempt to appear more centrist. And you even blame a staff member…just like Clear Channel fired Bubba the Love Sponge for being “dirty” even though that is what made them so much money over the years. Here is an idea Mel, maybe the government should stay out of all personal medical decisions, i.e. abortion, right to die, etc. This way you don’t have to run around with egg on your face. As a former Betty Castor campaign staff member, I can say with certainty that Floridians would have recieved a better deal with Betty, too bad you’re not up for re-election.

Michael Brown, the now well known former horse judge who masqueraded around as the head of F.E.M.A. during one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the country, has decided that he may tell everything there is to tell about what happened with himself at the helm during Katrina. He’s now a private citizen and said he wants all the facts to be public. He wrote a letter to Harriet Myers (Remember her? The very qualified supreme court candidate) stating that he ‘continues to respect Bush and his “presidential prerogative” to get candid and confidential advice from top aides.’

“Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president, including an assurance the president will provide a legal defense to Mr. Brown if he refuses to testify as to these matters, Mr. Brown will testify if asked about particular communications,” the lawyer wrote.

He’s now been removed from the inner ring of protection. Will we finally learn about the official correspondence between the horse judge and the prez? I’m willing to bet that it won’t be very pretty if the truth comes out. That is, unless the prez backs him to keep quiet. We’ll see.

I don’t have a lot of friends that I could call up and say, “Let’s go to a movie.” In fact I was given three $150.00 lightning tickets at work and it took me three hours to find someone who could fit in the Stanley Cup champs, and even then he brought someone else because I could think of no one else and I had gone through my cell phone, everyone was either busy or unreachable. I said all that to say this, I go out alone. Tonight I went to see Capote at Channelside. It wasn’t a bad movie, but certainly not something that I would file under artistically important. It had that art cinema feel to it that I like, but Hoffman’s character had an annoying nasal voice and it made me cringe at some points. The movie ended and I remembered that I hadn’t eaten since lunchtime (this was about 10:00 pm at this point). I went down the stairs and then up the escalator (have you noticed that Channelside doesn’t have down escalators) to Bennigan’s. I hopped up to the bar and ordered the baked potato soup. It wasn’t bad but I made a soup 10 times better just last week at home. I don’t know why I even bother eating out, since I started applying myself in the kitchen I have been disappointed in restaurant food. Anyway, I was trying to stomach the soup and up to the microphone walks this guy who looks like he stepped out of an Abercrombie ad. He must have needed some liquid courage because he walked to the bar and asked for a Jaeger Bomb and the annoyed bartender gave it to him. From there you had a group of people (and elsewhere in Bennigan’s) who were happy just talking to each other over the dull roar of other people who were happy to talk to each other who now had to compete with comically bad one man cover of Matchbox 20’s 3 Am. I paid for the soup and left. I had my parking stub validated at the movies and it only cost $0.50 for parking for the whole time. When I got to the little booth where you pay, I realized that I don’t have change because I NEVER carry cash. So I had to deal with the look of death from the parking attendant when I handed her my checkcard. I don’t give a fuck, if she knew anything she wouldn’t be a parking attendant now would she? It is now 10:58 and I am right back where I should have just stayed the whole night. My apartment. It is where I have my new dish chair from Urban Outfitters, my fridge, my food and most importantly what I don’t have, some trendy dude singing a song that was bad when the original artist performed it. I have him to thank though, because of him, I wasn’t the most pathetic person out and about tonight.

Seminole Heights: Cable TV Franchise I can’t say that I agree with your assessment of the issue. I am a Bright House Networks employee. The way that the issue was described to me is that BHN is not trying to kill any existing PEG channel. In fact they are offering to keep these existing channels and add an on demand channel. This is more than local government even deserves considering that polls I have seen show that 80 percent of cable subscribers don’t even know what channel their PEG channels are on and wouldn’t care if they were gone tommorow. What someone who is outside of the industry would not know is how limited bandwidth is for cable providers. The current three channels is worth millions more than it currently produces yet BHN is not trying to remove them. Additionally, with the assumption that an On Demand format would marginalize content, I disagree. On demand would allow viewers to choose what particular program, meeting, etc that they would like to watch and they can watch it at their leasure with no need to tune into live meetings. The main issue is not only would this cost cable customers more whether they use the PEG channels or not, but it would require getting rid of channels that actually do have viewers. Hillsborough County, and City of Tampa cable customers are simply not willing to allow their bills to go higher. The same basic cable service in Pinellas County is roughly $10 less per month simply because of a better franchise agreement. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize the value of having access to local government, but not at the expense of people who are not even going to utilize these services. BHN has made a very generous offer with the On Demand channel and the county would be wise to accept this innovative format and recognize it for what it is, the future.

Thanks to Mike Pusatera for the heads up on this topic. A column was written by Joel Stein in which he states that he doesn’t support the troops. To many this will be the end of the dialoge, those of you who choose to read the actual context of his remarks may not agree with what he says, but I sure do. Stein’s comments on why he doesn’t support the troops illustrate a point that I have been convey for some time:.n

“Blindly lending support to our soldiers, I fear, will keep them overseas longer by giving soft acquiescence to the hawks who sent them there — and who might one day want to send them somewhere else. Trust me, a guy who thought 50.7% was a mandate isn’t going to pick up on the subtleties of a parade for just service in an unjust war. He’s going to be looking for funnel cake.”

.nI posted this comment on Mike Pusatera’s blog:.n

As an OIF vet, I have tried to make that point to many people but it has blown them away that anyone would ever admit to not supporting the troops. If you indeed think that this fake support for the real people that are fighting in a fake war is contributing to their untimely deaths, why would you support them? In that context I don’t support the troops either. I actually used to get a bad feeling in my stomach when I would read of people destroying Dixie Chicks CD’s or attending Pro-war rallies in the Stars and Stripes. I believe that the mistreatments and lack of respect for the military during the Vietnam era ultimatly led to the end of the war. Hail Hail free speech!

It is very irritating as an Atmospheric Scientist to watch newscasts. Global warming is blamed for everything from the shrinking of the Pika’s habitat to the recent increased hurricane activity. Granted, industrialization has and will continue to cause changes in the world’s atmosphere. The question is whether every change is related to industrialization or the natural long-term cycle of warming and cooling of the earth. Some changes are related; the ozone hole over the poles, increased carbon dioxide levels in the troposphere. Some changes are not, in my opinion, related. One of these is the increased hurricane activity over the past two years. The increased hurricane activity is related to the natural cycle of the earth. Hurricane paths and formation are correlated to the location of upper tropospheric systems in the tropics. For a tropical depression to form, ideal conditions are required. Very limited vertical wind shear and warm ocean temperatures are two of these conditions. Vertical wind shear is defined as the difference in wind direction and speed as you go from the surface up into the atmosphere. For instance, if you have winds coming from the east at the surface and winds from the west above the surface, you are in a sheared environment. Where do you find limited amounts of vertical wind shear? It is highly dependant on the locations of the upper tropospheric high and low pressure systems over the Atlantic Ocean. If there is a pattern that moves the upper level high pressure over 500 miles west, then (theoretically) you will move the ideal formation zone for hurricanes 500 miles west. So that helps to explain one aspect of the recent hurricanes; the tracks. Now for the increased number. The Director of the National Hurricane Center, Max Mayfield, says it better than I can: “The increased activity since 1995 is due to natural fluctuations (and) cycles of hurricane activity driven by the Atlantic Ocean itself along with the atmosphere above it and not enhanced substantially by global warming.” This was part of Max Mayfield’s testimony in front of Congress. Basically it boils down to this. We have had satellite technology since roughly the 1960s. That’s 40 years of observing the weather over the oceans (where hurricanes come from). The natural cycles of the earth operate on much more than 40 year cycles. Prior to satellite technology, reports of hurricanes relied upon ships intersecting the storms, surviving through them to get the report out, and accurately relaying the information. We have very little data on hurricanes, their frequency and intensity prior to 1960. It may seem like we are suddenly being besieged by hurricanes, but in reality we are observing a natural cycle.

This is a repost something I did on an old Live Journal blog a couple years ago. It may be old news, but it still disgusts me. My updates to the post will be in Italics Well Golly! When are these high ranking elected officials going to learn to stop keeping such great records that eventually incriminate them, or in the very least catch them in a lie. We have no reason to believe that charges for the invasion of Iraq will not be pursued in a future attempt to bring justice to the perpetrators of the liberties taking with constitutional interpretation. I am of course referring to the secret White House audio recording system that led to the explosion of the Watergate scandle many years ago, and to the recently (not so recently since this was from 2003 when I was still pissed (and I guess I still am) about having to go to a bullshit war) uncovered e-mail that details the cozyness between Vice-President Chaney and his corporate alma mater, Halliburton. In a nutshell, Chaney was the CEO of Halliburton for about five years before he decided to join Bush for the Republican presidential ticket in 2000. (If you don’t know this, there are things you should be reading instead of this blog, you know, to catch up with the rest of America) While I am not sure if it is actually a legal requirement that one sell one’s stock and cut ties with a former employer before accepting such a high office, it certainly seems like a good idea, you know in the interest of how things look and all. Well, despite what was said, it appears that not only did Chaney not dissolve his involvement with Halliburton as he has claimed to, but he was orchestrating (illegally) no bid contracts to be granted to his former employer that would greatly benefit him (the increase in the value of his stock) and his old cronies. As of today, the value of Chaney’s 433,333 shares of Halliburton stock have a value of $12,488,657.06. For the record, in the fall of 2000, the value of his shares was about $6,066,662. (That was the amount in 2003, the current price per share of HAL is $75.50, which makes his holdings worth $32,716,642, assuming he has not gotten rid of any, and I have found nothing that says he has, and why would he, it is a fucking great ROI (Return on Investment for you non-business school types) .Those of us who have taken elementary math can see that those numbers represent an astronomical gain! They also show us that the lives of 800 American military personal (that too was in 2003, the loss of life is now at 2225) are worth about $6 million (about $26 million now). Keep in mind that this all happened before the country was told of the intention of going to war in the first place. If Bush were to be believed, which is a laughable concept in itself, one would think that they were trying to resolve the bone that the U.S. had to pick with Iraq diplomatically. But this was in the fall of 2002. So, in conclusion, we have yet another high ranking government leader, you know, the 2nd in control of the entire U.S. Govt., who has decided that the laws that are designed to prevent exactly what he has done to prevent despicable war profiteering (profiting off of dead soldiers) weren’t acceptable to him so he thought he would just ignore them. What a schmuck. For your viewing pleasure, I am including links to articles where I gleamed my information. Article Highlighting the existence of the e-mail that proves Chaney’s intent to profit on dead soldiers Chaney’s finances…

“Don’t Try To Lose Weight if You Can’t Afford New Pants”. Subtitle: Ben [my last name here] textually Comments?