Bloviations

And, just to be dramatic, the Congressman bit will be last.

They say May is Bicycle to Work month. Since I’m a good little lemming that always follows, I’m going to commute the entire month of May by bike (I will add a caveat here. If there is a position interview, I may drive.)

Remember Justin Schoenberger? It seems that a female driver in New Bern tried to run over him. What’s worse about this particular incident is that it very may well have been (and probably was) quite intentional.

She made eye contact with me before she made the turn. Then, when I kept going as if she hadn’t just failed to pay tribute to my existence on the road, she proceeded to give me a dirty look.

I’ve never been driven at while bicycling in Jacksonville, but I have had things thrown at me from moving vehicles. That’s quite enough to scare the crap out of me…I can’t imagine what nearly being hit would feel like.

It seems that young Mr. Patrick McHenry just can’t keep from doing stupid stuff. This time, though, instead of ridiculing and marginalizing a group of Americans, he’s insulting Iraqis, and worse, causing the deaths of three American military members.

The insulting (courtesy Firedoglake):

We spent the night in the Green Zone, in the poolhouse of one of Saddam’s palaces. A little weird, I got to be honest with you. But I felt safe. And so in the morning, I got up early — not that I make this a great habit — but I went to the gym because I just couldn’t sleep and everything else. Well, sure enough, the guard wouldn’t let me in. Said I didn’t have the correct credentials.

It’s 5:00 in the morning. I haven’t had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard. So you know, I said, “I want to see your supervisor.” Thirty minutes later, the supervisor wasn’t happy with me, they escort me back to my room. It happens. I guess I didn’t need to work out anyway.

Then, the killing (also courtesy Firedoglake):

McHenry’s faux pas in Iraq went beyond insults into recklessness. Last week, on his official website, McHenry posted a video that clearly violates operational security (OPSEC) considerations, putting into public information about where insurgent weapons struck inside the Green Zone. While a stretch to connect the dots, it does bear mentioning that

Unfortunately, only two days after the bellicose, yet clueless, Congressman McHenry posted the video, more rockets rained down on the Green Zone–this time killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding 17 in the most damaging attack on U.S. forces in the Green Zone since last year.

His actions directly lead to the dissemination of information used by Iraqi militias to attack the Green Zone in Baghdad. This Congressman caused the deaths of three members of the American Armed Forces.

Why hasn’t he been charged? Why isn’t he in jail? Why is he still “The Gentlemen from North Carolina”?