9. Camp Pendleton Armed Services YMCA 10K Mud Run
o
21-Oct-1999 Thursday
Johnny Surprise is a sports marketing manager. He wears a
business suit and
drives a black BMW. He's married and owns a cat. He likes to run to stay in
shape, and plans to participate in the California Iron Man next year.
But Surprise, 31, has added a twist to his workout regime -- mud.
Lots and lots of mud.
The eighth annual Camp Pendleton Armed Services YMCA 10K Mud Run will take
place Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Race registration begins at 7.
"After that last part there is mud in every orifice known to man," said
Surprise. "I always have to try and identify my partners because you have
to cross the finish line together to be eligible for the prizes."
It was thought that the Navy SEALs, who are used to performing under
extreme conditions, would win the race every year. That hasn't proved to be
true.
"The San Diego Fire Department beat the SEALs last year," said Spratt.
"We're finding that there are all sorts of incredible athletes out there.
They're not all in the armed services.
To register, up until race day, call Spratt at the Armed Services
YMCA at
(760) 385-4921. Race-day registration can be done at the event itself. Cost
is $22 for individuals and $110 for teams of five. Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
10. SEAL finds parallel world as
Astronaut/ Set for mission as commander of space station
James W. Crawley
STAFF WRITER
12-Aug-1999 Thursday
William Shepherd
The Navy's SEALs are known for operating in most
any environment -- sea,
air and land.
But SEAL Capt. William Shepherd has gone higher and farther than any other
Navy commando -- to space.
Shepherd is set to make a fourth trip to the final frontier next spring
when he will rocket into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and become
the commander of the first crew to man the International Space Station.
Shepherd visited here this week speaking to a special warfare forum on
future concepts.
His SEAL training and experience have come in handy for his work in space.
"I realized that being an astronaut was a lot like being a diver," Shepherd
said, recalling his decision to make a career change.
Both must work in a harsh environment that requires self-contained
breathing apparatus and protection.
Also, he said, SEALs perform at the same very high tempo, endure hardships
and work well as a team, just as astronauts do while performing spacewalks
and working long hours in the confined living space aboard the shuttle or
station.
"I think it will serve me well in this situation," Shepherd said, referring
to his 13 years as a SEAL.
So far, Shepherd has flown three times on space shuttles as a mission
specialist. And, although it has been nearly seven years since his last
mission, the captain has been busy the past six years working full time on
the space station project and with NASA management.
In March 2000, Shepherd is scheduled to be launched aboard a Russian rocket
from Baikonur, Kazakstan, with two Russian cosmonauts. They will rendezvous
with the station, which is orbiting 237 miles high and traveling at 17,180
mph.
The trio will be Expedition 1 -- the first station crew -- and stay aboard
the partially completed station for about 4 1/2 months. They will test the
station's components, conduct two spacewalks to install equipment and make
connections between modules. They also will be visited by three shuttles,
bringing the first large solar power arrays, an American-built laboratory
module, supplies and, finally, a replacement crew.
For several years, the SEAL has been training in the United States and
Russia, learning the Russian language and spacecraft procedures.
One part of his training has become a family affair. His wife of three
years, Beth Stringham-Shepherd, is a NASA exercise physiologist and is in
charge of the Expedition 1 physical fitness training.
For the first time in their marriage, the couple are spending a lot of time
together, albeit in the gym, she said.
"I'm the mission commander, but she's the boss," her husband said.
Shepherd's flight could be delayed.
Original plans called for Shepherd's mission to fly two years ago. The
Russian space program, stymied by chronic money problems, has been late
delivering station units.
Before Expedition 1 can blast off, the Russian-built Zvezda module, in
which the trio will live, must be launched. Then, two shuttle flights are
set to bring the station's stabilizing gyroscopes and supplies. But those
launches could be delayed.
An unexpected problem also has cropped up.
The atmosphere aboard the first two station modules has been contaminated
by "off-gassing" of materials inside. This caused a recent shuttle crew to
become sick.
Likening it to a "new-car smell," Shepherd said the problem is more serious
in space because the station is self-contained and confined.
"It's part of the growing pains," he said, noting that the problem will be
solved with filters.
While Shepherd has his eyes on the stars, back on Earth part of his job is
telling the public why the space station is important.
"It's really hard to walk up to the man in the street and say (the space
station) will create all this new technology. And, he'll say, `What is it
going to do?' "
"I have to answer `No one knows,' " Shepherd said.
But, as with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions of the 1960s and
1970s, Shepherd said, no one can predict the technological advances.
"No one really knows what that golden egg will be to pay the freight," he
said. "But if we don't have the space station we won't find those answers."
Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
>
11. Jessie Ventura Governor of
Minnesota
Jesse Ventura |
Governor of Minnesota 
08-Aug-1999 Sunday
Governor Jesse Ventura
Question: Your visit here for Fleet Week events reminds us of
your San
Diego ties. Would you describe them?
Answer: I lived here from 1969 to 1973. I went to boot camp at what was
then the Naval Training Center. From there I went to 32nd street and went
to Storekeeper A school and from there I got on the big blue bridge and
went to the Amphibious Base. And so I spent 17 months overseas with two
deployments but all the while that I wasn't overseas, I lived here in San
Diego.
Q: I'm guessing you didn't have anybody like Demi Moore in your Navy SEAL
unit?
A: No, we didn't. As far as that goes, I'm not saying that a woman couldn't
do it. There are certainly triathletes out there who are in phenomenal
shape. They certainly could handle pain because giving birth is no walk in
the park. But I think before anything like that could ever happen, you have
to change the male thinking. The males are the ones who need to change
their frame of mind because the male has a natural response to protect the
female and in a situation like that, it could ruin the integrity of your
platoon.
Q: Do you think you've changed the political state of mind in this country
with your upset victory in Minnesota?
A: Maybe. I hope that I have awakened the people to what these two parties
really stand for. Themselves. They stand for the people only when it's time
to get elected and then as soon as they are through getting elected, it's a
power trip. Between fighting to get the power and how to keep it, the
people are left as chips in a poker game.
Q: What do you think is the reason for your popularity outside of
Minnesota?
A: I think initially because I accomplished what they said couldn't be
done: Defeating two prominent Democrat and Republican candidates. I think
people naturally are attracted to the underdog, the Rocky Balboa syndrome.
And I think that because I'm not a career politician and therefore I can
speak my mind without any fear of worrying about `Gee, what do I have to
say to gain re-election.' If I'm not in office four years from now, whether
by vote or my choice not to be, I'll be happily back in the private sector
doing what I believe this country was founded upon. I believe this country
was founded upon people serving and then going back to what they used to
do.
Q: Would you consider running for the presidency?
A: At this time, no.
Q: Weren't a lot of your Reform Party members in Michigan last week touting
you as a presidential standard bearer for the party?
A: Well, they are touting me naturally as the leader of the party now and I
think I have to accept some responsibility for that because I'm the Reform
Party person who has won the highest elective office. But I don't want to
lead the national party. My job is to govern the state. My job is not to
build the party.
Q: But Governor, were the party to be successful in drafting someone like
John McCain, whom you mentioned as someone you'd like to see be in the
Reform Party and running for president, would you accept being drafted as a
vice presidential candidate?
A: At this time no, I don't think so, because one of my big criticisms of
the Republican candidate that I faced in Minnesota was the fact that he had
just gotten elected to his second term as mayor and in less than six months
he ran for governor. If he desired to run for governor, why did he run for
mayor? And that bothers me because, why do they do it? Well, first of all,
they do it because if they get beat they have something they can fall back
on. Second of all, they do it so they can collect a paycheck while they run
for governor even though they're not performing mayoral duties. And one of
the initiatives I'm going to try to do, I'm going to try to make it illegal
for a seated politician to campaign between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday unless they take an unpaid leave of absence. They have been
elected to do a job and that job is not to seek higher office. They should
be campaigning on their own time, not on the people's time.
Q: In the 2000 campaign, do you intend to play a role in recruiting a
presidential candidate?
A: I'm sure I probably will without choice. They consult me on different
candidates. I hope that we don't even bother to name our candidate until
our convention next summer. I think it's really pathetic that we already
have two candidates running two years ahead of time and that we're going to
be inundated with television ads for what, the next year and a half? I mean
to me, getting it three months before the election is plenty. I hope and I
believe very strongly that a strong third party candidate, if he or she
were to enter the race, say next July, would have a good chance of winning
that election.
Q: Where is the Reform Party going in terms of what it stands for?
A: Well, we have to have a little patience from the media and the people.
We're a baby. We haven't even been around 10 years. If you're not aware of
it, the two parties will combine to keep down the third party. When I ran
for mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minn., which is the sixth largest city in
Minnesota, it's a nonpartisan election and I took on a 20-year incumbent.
Both of the two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, sent a letter
to every citizen of Brooklyn Park saying they were dropping party
differences in support of the 20-year incumbent and called me the most
dangerous man in the city. That's fine, that's democracy, that's America.
But when the election was over, they then both independently came courting
me. Well, it showed me first of all that there's no real integrity in
either party. If you win, they want you, they don't care what you stand
for, it's back to the power struggle. It was at that point I started
looking at the Reform Party.
Q: How much of your election do you think is attributed to, not the
frustration with the other parties, but the kind of guy you are and
whatever you bring to the table?
A: Well, the Reform Party allows me to be that way. We have some rules
written in stone, like campaign finance. We don't allow PAC money, we don't
allow the taking of special interest money, the buying and selling of the
elected official. That you cannot do. And I agree with that. But as far as
anything else, we have both pro-life and pro-choice in the Reform Party
because we believe it's a personal issue of whatever one believes in. And
they allow me to be me.
Q: What does the Reform Party stand for beyond your sort of capsule
description and especially with Ross Perot seemingly fading from the scene?
A: I think we stand for people who are tired of the system's status quo of
the campaign finances and the way it's set up. I believe the Reform Party
carries a little integrity, that we won't do whatever it takes to win an
election.
Q: What is your position on public financing or public subsidies for the
building of stadiums for professional franchises?
A: Not in the current state of pro sports, no. I can't see where a new
stadium is going to somehow make a smaller market team viable in the state
that baseball is in right now where there's no revenue sharing. In the case
of Minnesota, what bothers me is that the Metrodome is only 17 years old.
The high school that I graduated from Minneapolis Roosevelt is now 77 years
old. So I've told them, when I see a new Roosevelt High School, I'll think
about it.
Q: It doesn't sound like you're saying you're philosophically opposed to
public subsidies, you're just opposed to the particular circumstances in
your state right now?
A: Yeah, other than that, it's up to the people of a community whether they
feel that that's the right way to spend their money. I think we have a
bigger duty to spend it on education of our young people than to spend it
on multibillion dollar owners and multimillion dollar players.
Q: What was the biggest surprise when you became governor?
A: I think my biggest surprise was watching the legislature work, that I
realized that if these people worked this way in the private sector, they'd
fail miserably. But because they have an unlimited monetary source and they
don't have to compete . . . I've been a believer in you go in and you do
the work and you get the job done quickly. In the legislature, it's play
poker, be arrogant and pompous like bantam roosters and kick your feet
around and puff your chest out and do nothing until there's a week to go
and then make decisions where you haven't really thought them through
because you're under the gun to get finished. And I told them unequivocally
they would not see a special session. I got these Democrats and Republicans
back in line and made them finish their work on time like they should have.
Q: How would you describe your political philosophy?
A: I'm fiscally conservative and I'm socially liberal. I think mainstream
America fits with me.
Q: Well define what that is.
A: That's fiscally conservative. I have a simple philosophy. Government
should only do what you can't do as an individual. If you can't accomplish
it as an individual, then, from that point on there's government and common
good. I don't want government overregulating. I don't want them in our
lives to the point where they become everything to us. Yet I'm socially
liberal. I don't care what people do in the privacy of their own home. As
long as they're not harming their fellow man, it's not my business what
someone does.
Q: What is your position on drug laws?
A: They can't work. Absolutely not. No, I don't agree with drugs. I agree
you fight drugs. But you fight it on the demand side, not the supply side.
You take away the demand, supply will disappear. This war on drugs is no
different than the war on alcohol back in Prohibition. Who becomes
powerful? The dealers. Because there's a demand, the dealers supply, the
price goes up. They don't pay any taxes and they become rich and powerful
because money is power.
Q: Does that mean we should legalize drugs?
A: I don't know if we should legalize them, but I don't think we should
imprison addicts.
Q: You've had some rather colorful things to say about the news media over
the last few months.
A: What's wrong with the news media is they've started to editorialize
rather than simply report the news. Now I understand on the editorial page,
that's the proper place for it. But they're doing it in articles now.
Q: What about the whole wrestling phenomenon? None of that stuff is fake,
is it?
A: No. What's fake? Is Nureyev fake? I'm saying when I get body slammed . .
. it's entertainment. All pro sports are entertainment. You're just paying
to see the finest perform at what they do.
Q: How do you hope your state will be different at the end of your first
term?
A: Well, I hope that I can get unicameral (one-house) legislation in. It
eliminates conference committees where all the dirty work's done. Then,
each legislator has to vote things up or down on the floor and has to stand
by it. They can't sit back knowing that the other house and committees are
going to kill it so they can come out and vote for it. Now, federally we
need two houses. Otherwise a populous state like California would become
too powerful. But, in a state government, you don't need two houses. They
have unicameral in Nebraska, it works terrifically there.
Q: Minnesota was one of the pace setters of charter schools. What is your
position on education?
A: I'm a big supporter of public schools. I come from public schools. Our
state constitution says we will provide public schools and so that's my job
in following the constitution is to support public education. The schools
can be improved . . . I chose a lieutenant governor who had no political
experience at all, she's a 36-year teacher and I chose here because I
wanted her to be able to focus with my director of education to do the best
that they could possibly do.
Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
12. SEAL hero, Rear Adm. Eric
Olsen takes over the special warfare command
James W. Crawley STAFF WRITER 22-Sep-1999
Wednesday
Rear Adm. Eric T. Olson
CORONADO -- The streets of this city are a lot tamer than the
streets of
Mogadishu, Somalia, where then-Capt. Eric Olson fought to rescue trapped
American soldiers during a pitched battle with a local warlord.
He and four other Navy SEALs earned Silver Stars for gallantry for their
part in the October 1993 mission.
He led a small ad hoc force into battle then, but now-Rear Adm. Olson took
command yesterday of a much larger force -- about 5,000, including SEALs
and other personnel -- when he became the new commander of the Naval
Special Warfare Command.
Olson is likely to build on the plans and progress made by his predecessor,
Rear Adm. Tom Richards, who has taken several steps to reorganize the SEAL
force for the next century.
Richards will retire next month, after leading the Navy's special
operations forces since April 1996. Olson becomes the fifth commander of
the special warfare headquarters, which was created in 1987.
The Coronado headquarters oversees 2,300 SEALs, 600 special warfare combat
crewmen who operate watercraft, and other Navy and civilian personnel.
The
staff is in charge of Navy special warfare training, personnel and
logistics worldwide. When deployed, the SEALs report to the Special
Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., and local commanders.
Richards recently discussed the efforts he and his staff have taken toward
reorganizing the Navy's special operations units during a period of
Navy-wide drawdowns and retention woes.
If the Navy and Pentagon brass approve the reorganization plan, Richards
said during an interview last week, "We'll have an organization that can
better respond to the crises around the
world."
The admiral acknowledged that a crisis, such as in Kosovo, requires
stateside SEAL units to fly overseas to assist units already in the area.
But, with reorganization, Richards predicted, forward-deployed special
operations units will be more robust.
"In the world of tomorrow, I feel there will be a lot of small
instantaneous crises," he added.
"But, it's a balancing act. It costs a lot of money to be
forward-deployed."
The plan, Richards said, would give lower-ranking officers greater
responsibility and opportunity, which would boost retention. Increasing pay
and bonuses next year should also help alleviate the retention problem
among officers and enlisted personnel, he said.
The SEALs have been receiving a lot of new equipment, including high-speed
boats and a soon-to-be finished prototype minisubmarine. For the first
time, SEAL units are deploying with laptop computers, in addition to guns
and diving gear.
"SEALs with carpal tunnel syndrome are just around the corner," Richards
joked during the interview.
While Richards will not be in charge during the hoped-for changes, he said
Olson backs the plan.
Olson was described as "a seasoned operator" and "combat hero" by Adm.
Don
Pilling, the vice chief of naval operations, the Navy's No. 2 admiral,
who
spoke at yesterday's ceremony.
The new commanding officer is a Mideast expert who speaks Arabic and has
been posted to Saudi Arabia and Tunisia; he participated in the Persian
Gulf War as commanding officer of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One and has
served with U,N. peacekeepers in Israel, Lebanon and Egypt.
He has commanded Special Boat Squadron Two and the Naval Special Warfare
Development Group.
Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Water is the home of all Frogmen/SEALs!!
13. Terminology and the Gun
Control Debate
from the Washington Times Oct 99
The ability to control the terminology in a debate conveys a powerful advantage. In the
national gun control debate, this principle has been expertly exploited by gun control
advocates. The emotionally charged, but technically meaningless term, "assault
weapon," is a case in point.
The term "assault rifle" dates from WWII Germany, where it was intended to be
lighter, cheaper and less powerful than a normal rifle so that soldiers could more easily
employ it in battle and carry more rounds of the smaller ammunition. These guns started
life with the unimposing, but technically correct name, "machine carbine."
These fully automatic rifles of reduced power were not favored by Adolf Hitler, because
his experience in WWI convinced him that rifles must fire powerful, long range ammunition.
Only after the rifles had been produced without his permission, did he angrily sanction
the project, assigning the more heroic title, "assault rifle" (sturmgewehr). It
was a sensationalist name, chosen for propagandistic reasons. It is not known for sure if
Hitler invented the term himself or if it was offered by his officers to appease the
propaganda loving dictator. It is ironic that anti-gun groups have appropriated Hitler's
dramatic term for their own purposes today.
This less-powerful, fully automatic rifle concept was adopted by the Soviets immediately
after the war. They virtually copied the German sturmgewehr in making the AK-47 (the '47'
stands for 1947). The U.S. and other countries followed suit after military theorists
decided that a less lethal weapon could actually be an asset on the battlefield, since a
wounded soldier actually weakened the enemy forces more than one who was killed.
Civilian ownership of assault rifles has been extremely rare in the Unites States, since
they are capable of fully automatic fire and have therefore been regulated to near
non-existence by the National Firearms Act of 1934. Unfortunately, weapons that look even
vaguely like AK-47's are now labeled as "assault weapons" by journalists and gun
control advocates, implying that a ban is needed to stop an epidemic of automatic weapons,
when such a ban has already been around for over six decades.
Semi-automatic variants of the AK-47 and other assault rifles are properly called
carbines. They are sold and used for a variety of legitimate civilian purposes, including
hunting. In fact, they are functionally similar to many common hunting rifles, except that
they fire a less powerful cartridge. When gun control advocates call for a ban on
"powerful assault weapons," hunters are justifiably concerned about their right
to own their even more powerful hunting rifles and shotguns.
Although many experts have pointed out that "assault weapon" is a confusing and
illegitimate term, it lends drama to media stories.
Therefore, sound bites from gun control organizations are heavily laced with such
misleading terms. Emboldened by their media victories with the term "assault
weapon," anti-gun groups fabricated another new oxymoron, ""semi-automatic
assault weapon," to aid their attacks on other types of weapons. The new term was
quickly adopted by the media, since this sinister description plays well on news programs.
One reporter for NPR recently made up an even more outlandish term, "large caliber
urban assault rifle."
Where will this blatant misuse of terminology stop? Even some handguns are now miscast as
"semi-automatic assault weapons." One example is the Tec-9, which is a rather
low-tech pistol that fires a low-powered cartridge (the 9mm). The 9mm cartridge,
exaggerated in the press as a deadly high-tech bullet, was put in service in 1898, but the
media often specifies this cartridge by name, implying that it is especially modern and
deadly, or worse, "high powered." Media reports now routinely mention the fact
that a particular crime was committed with a semi-automatic handgun to increase the sense
of drama.
Gun control advocates and poorly educated journalists have mis-labeled many very old and
ordinary firearms with intimidating, technical-sounding, multi-syllable terms. The result
is that the public has been led to believe that a wave of high-tech, military arms and
machine guns are flooding the streets, when these weapons have been heavily restricted for
decades and very rarely involved in crimes.
Anti-gun groups use these misleading messages to frighten the general public and dupe
unsuspecting journalists into promoting their real agenda, which is to ban guns one class
at a time rather than all at once.
Since most Americans do not support total gun prohibition, the deliberate misuse of
terminology is a brilliant tactic to both promote and obscure the ultimate goal.
Michael S. Brown
Vancouver, :Washington
Number of physicians in the U.S ....... 700,000
Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year.... 120,000
Accidental deaths per physician ........... 0.171
Number of gun owners in the U.S ...... 80,000,000
Number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) .. 1,500
Accidental deaths per gun owner. ..... .0000188
Therefore, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun ownners
In Mexico Medical Community circles we call them "Los Mata Sanos"
14. SEAL Team TWO Shooters
Long live the ST-2 shooters from the '60's: Bob Thomas, Fred
Miller, Erasmo Riojas, Jack Lynch, Kenny Estok, and all the others whose names I cannot
bring to present memory. this photo by Fred Miller.
15. Discovery of ExtraSolar Planets:
Upsilon
Andromedae
