JamesSavik

James is my name and Savik is a common surname of Swedish origin in the South Mississippi county where my father's family came from. We are actually cousins. Those of us with dominate Swedish genes are much better looking and hung than the wicked Anglish. I spell it slightly differently than the original surname. It is unique and I can have account and email addresses without ridiculous extraneous numbers even on yahoo.

That's called CONGRESS _____________________________________________ The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the republic. -Tacticus

That looks wonderful.

Ugh... I knew I shouldn't have eaten those last three chihuahuas. *Urp*

Aug. 9, 1942 The United States and her Allies are on their heels in the Pacific. Japan is beginning to look invincible. From December until June, Japanese forces had over run Wake, Guam, the Philippines, Java, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands and has landed in strength on New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Everything had been going Japan's way up until they were turned back at the Battle of the Coral Sea and were defeated soundly at Midway on Jun 4th. The United States and her allies Great Britain and Australia decided on a time and place to launch their first offensive. The time: August, 1942. The place was an island that no one had ever heard of in the Solomon Island chain called Guadalcanal. Nimitz staff called it Operation Watchtower. The men of the 1st Marine Division called it Operation Shoestring: everything was a mixture of WWI leftovers, troops and specialists gathered from as far away as British Isle and a collection of aircraft that were overdue for retirement for the most part. The navy put together the best cruiser/destroyer force that it could and gathered up as many transports as they could find. On August 7th, the Marines landed on Guadalcanal. They surprised a small Japanese advanced force of engineers that had already landed on the island and were preparing an airfield. The land battle for the island was joined. The Marines were equipped with old WWI era Enfield rifles and were under-strength in machine guns. Guadalcanal, like most of the Solomon Islands is a rugged and dominated by thick jungle, miserable swamps and malaria carrying mosquitoes. Over the years it had been home to an aborted sugar plantation, a way station, a mission, a trading post and finally an Australian cattle ranch. When the Marines landed they found themselves in a fast moving fire fight with an enemy that was not prepared or dug in. Both sides found themselves short on supplies. They raided the barbed wire fences of the cattle plantation for materials to build their perimeter with. In a series of actions, the Marines and the Japanese fought a number of small unit battles- and one that both sides had to call off because of a cattle stampede. Over the next day the Marines continued landing troops, supplies, artillery and combat engineers. They established a firm bridgehead and formed a firm perimeter around the unfinished airfield. The Japanese were not sitting on their hands. The same day of the invasion, area commander Admiral Mikawa dispatched two fast transports with crack Naval Special Landing Force but recalled them when reconnaissance determined the scale of the allied incursion. Frustrated, he had to wait a day to fuel his ships and gather his forces to attempt to repel the invasion. At Guadalcanal the US Navy continued with support activities and continued to unload transports onto the beachhead. At night on August 8th, Admiral Turner's Task Force 62 and Australian Rear-Admiral Victor A.C. Crutchley's combined support/escort force broke into three groups: a Northern force to cover the pass north of Savo Island, A Southern force to cover the pass south of Savo island and a pair of destroyers to cover to Weatern approaches. Northern Force: cruisers USS Vincennes, USS Astoria and USS Quincy, and destroyers USS Helm and USS Wilson Southern Force: cruisers HMAS Australia and HMAS Canberra, cruiser USS Chicago, and destroyers USS Patterson and USS Bagley Western Screen: destroyers USS Talbot and Blue Mikawa set sail from Rabaul with his flag on the heavy cruiser Chokai, light cruisers Tenryu and Yubari and the destroyer Yunagi. They rendezvoused with Admiral Goto's Cruiser Division 6 composed of heavy cruisers Aboa, Kinugasa, Kako and Furutaka. Their goal: to take on the US Navy in a night action. Mikawa's Approach. The US Navy was just deploying radar on their ships but the first generation sets were unreliable and there were few technicians and no experienced operators. Mikawa's run down the body of water that would come to be known as "the Slot" was undetected- or at least unreported. Australian seaplanes spotted the ships as did the US sub S-38 but this information did not make it to Admiral Turner's staff. US Navy identification page for Mikawa's flagship the Chokai. The Japanese arrived just before midnight and slipped past the destroyer Blue and savaged the Southern Force, turned North and savaged the Northern force and left the area the way that they arrived. The Battle of Savo Island Japanese long-lance torpedoes destroyed the USS Vincennes, USS Astoria and USS Quincy and damaged the HMAS Canberra so severely, she had to be scuttled. The Chicago was severely damaged but she would fight again. The USS Quincy (CA-39) days before the battle. The submarine S-44 exacted a bit of payback sinking the cruiser Kako as she retired to her home base at Kavieng. It was the worst defeat in US Navy history in a stand up fight. The Navy lost 1,207 men: more men than than the Marines lost during the entire 6 month campaign for Guadalcanal. This battle was the beginning of a six month long air, land and sea campaign that turned out to be a meat grinder for both sides. The body of water around Savo Island was nicknamed "Ironbottom sound" and would be the scene of several pitched naval battles. The Guadalcanal campaign became a battle of attrition and by the time Japan gave up on recapturing the island in early '43, much of her naval power, best commanders and army units had been expended. In 1943 the US Navy held a court of inquiry called the Hepburn Investigation to get to the bottom of the shocking defeat. Only one officer was singled out for official censure- the captain of one of the cruisers. He killed himself when he learned of the boards results. The board stopped short of calling for action against Admirals Fletcher, Turner, McCain, and Crutchley who went on to perform brilliantly later in the war. The board of inquiry determined that US ships required more training in night fighting and training and standardization of radar equipment. Both radar picket ships (radar range about 10 miles) were at the extreme ends of their patrols sailing away from the Japanese fleet. San Juan had modern search radar, but was at the other end of the Sound. After the war, Admiral Turner wrote: The (U.S.) Navy was still obsessed with a strong feeling of technical and mental superiority over the enemy. In spite of ample evidence as to enemy capabilities, most of our officers and men despised the enemy and felt themselves sure victors in all encounters under any circumstances. The net result of all this was a fatal lethargy of mind which induced a confidence without readiness, and a routine acceptance of outworn peacetime standards of conduct. I believe that this psychological factor, as a cause of our defeat, was even more important than the element of surprise. __________________________________________________________ The Battle of Savo Island, Wikipedia entry. Guadalcanal Frank, Richard B., Penguin, 1993. 0140165614 The Two Ocean War Morrison, Samuel Eliot US Naval Institute, 1963. 1591145244 History of US Naval Operations in World War II: Volume V. The Struggle for Guadalcanal Morrison, Samuel Eliot US Naval Institute, 1949. 0785813063

I'm meaner in person.

Just don't be this guy: < 12 is too old

Vote for A Rider on a Pale Horse. I have an awesome outline for that one.

*Sniffs* You kids are a sweet couple. Maybe I can cry at the wedding someday.

This is a dog. This is a yappy little dust mop with dog breath.

Don't want a boy toy. Nobody can afford them. You'll end up with maxed out credit cards and the "boi toy" with the far-away-eyes will be off with the nearest truck driver that he can find.

I'm no fan of dogs. They are fine in other peoples yards under control but that's not what I see every day. I see aggressive dog packs wandering the neighborhoods. This year two small children have been mauled to death. A pit bull is every bit as dangerous as a .44 magnum so why don't we license them? Why isn't insurance required? A few nights ago I saw a cat torn to pieces by one of these dog packs. Last year I killed a pit that was after my 80 year old mother. Sooner or later it is going to be another kid or elderly person. Dogs are what they are. I don't blame them. I blame the son of a bitches that get them as status symbols, train them to be mean and then handle them irresponsibly. They are the ones that need to be neutered.

Bingo. I think that gay marriage is so important for some gay people because for generations we've been told that our relationships are immoral and have no worth. Having that official state sanctioned piece of paper probably means more to us than str8s because they take it for granted.

What does gay marriage mean to you? When... If gay marriage comes to pass, what would it mean to you? Is this a game changer? Or is gay marriage in the absence of protections against discrimination problematic?

These kids and their consoles! Why in my day we played text based games like Wizardry and Tradewars on our MS-DOS based PCs AND WE LIKED IT.

Purgatory It's a whole lot of nothing Messing with your head. It sure ain't living, But it's not quite dead. Your world is shattered, All your dreams are dust. You go through the motions, But all things precious have turned to rust. You want to die but you still live. You pray for death with nothing left to give. Nothing sacred, nothing lasts, Nothing to hold on to present or past. From this desolate place You must find a reason to rejoin the human race To rise and live again Or die once more.

Ribar is right. Phelps particular brand of insanity is fueled by the desperate need for attention. Ignore him and he will go to ever more frantic and maniacal means to get attention. Ignore him long enough and he'll do something over the top and he can be shut down for good. You are right though. When he dies, I want to feed a goat ex-lax and tie him to Phelps tombstone so that Phelps can see what it feels like to have a dumb animal shitting all over you for no apparent reason.

AH the mommy state- always looking out for children. *vomits*

high and tight

LOL @ the 70s psychedelic scene. A weird time by any calendar. It was the golden age of drugs and it shows up in all of the pop culture. Except it wasn't thugs and murder. It was just about fun. Drugs, sex and rock & roll and WE LIKED IT! I did my first acid in 8th grade and it was freaking AWESOME. Jeez I miss acid. We used to call tripping going to cartoon-land.

I'm so glad that things are coming together for you. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Happy Birthday!

That depends. I like Italian but I also like 1000 Islands. I guess its a mood thing. With croûtons, salad peppers, olives, tomatoes...

GSA == Goat Services Administration Not really but they've been called a lot worse.