By Koreas
- some scholarly research has proven fan death is real
- interesting interview with Korean-American pastor Douglas Shin who has been running an underground railroad for North Korean refugees out of China
- Kevin has summed up nicely the ugly reality of the Korean government’s response to the hostage crisis.
- Korean monster flik D-WAR has had an impressive opening in Korea matching the Host and Spiderman 3
- Is this a fair representation of the average male Korean teenager? You be the judge.
- Is it just me or is there something scary about this girl band? Here is somebody who is not so scary.
- Lee Hyo-li fights to solve sub-standard celebrity conditions in Africa. This is some funny stuff.
- Here is a good summary of where to look for updates on monthly events in Seoul.
Japan
- Japundit has a whole new look. I’m still deciding if I like it better than the old look, but just like any blog the content is what matters most, which Japundit excels at.
- Ampontan has a great posting about American media reaction to the recent Japanese upper house elections.
- I previously posted about Japanese defense icons and mascots, well here is by far their best mascot yet, and of course the Beloved Leader up North has already made improvements to it.
- Ever wondered who the Top 5 tanned Japanese celebrities are? Well Japan Probe has the scoop.
- Here is a Japanese series that I think Nomad would like.
China
- interesting article on Green China and Young China
- the Chinese media serves up one heck of bran scan here. LOL.
- A picture of the inside of this computer damaged from pollution in China is incredible
Milblogs
- Make sure to read Michael Totten’s latest dispatch from Baghdad. Must read stuff.
- Michael Yon has his latest posting up as well. Make sure to go and check it out.
- It’s official "Scott Thomas’" stories were fraudulent.
- Gallery of the unhinged.
- Has anyone who has deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan experienced the same thing this Marine did? I can tell you I felt exactly the same way this Marine did upon coming back from Iraq.
- CPT Jon Soltz has to be the biggest wanker in military history.
Bloggers & Blogging
- Congrats to the Fencerider for losing over a 100 pounds, incredible.
- Anyone want to start a K-blog union? According to these people we should.
- I have been tagged by Gdog to provide eight fun facts about myself so here I go:
* I am a die-hard Denver Broncos fan, which means I hate the Raiders, the Chiefs are a close second.
* I once played in the Colorado state championships the same time Chauncey Billups was in high school. The guy was a phenomenal high school basketball player. Needless to say his team won the state championship.
* My greatest Army athletic achievement was that my company level basketall team won the Uijongbu championship and finished 2nd in the overall 2ID basketball championships.
* I have never played golf or even swang a golf club before. I have had plenty of people offer to take me golfing but my philosophy is that when I’m to old to play contact sports I’ll start playing golf so it will be a fresh new sport for me.
* I attended a Price is Right show and my friend got selected and you could see me on TV yelling bidding prices to him. My first and probably last appearance on TV.
* We told our commanding officer about attending the Price is Right and a few months later he and his family went and he got selected and won the Showcase Showdown.
* I was working as a bus boy at a restaurant back in 1992 when Hillary Clinton came in with her entourage to have coffee and campaign for her husband. They were actually quite nice, but they left no tip.
* One of my hobbies besides blogging is putting jigsaw puzzles together. I blame my wife she got me into it.
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6:21 pm on August 5th, 2007 1
[...] ROK Drop Linklets – 05AUG07 at ROK Drop said “[...] for losing over a 100 pounds, incredible.- Anyone want to start a K-blog union? …” on They’ve got to be kidding [...]
7:33 am on August 5th, 2007 2
"It’s official "Scott Thomas’" stories were fraudulent."
It's "military official" but The New Republic (claims to have) verified many of the incidents before the military cut off Scott's outside contact and silenced everyone else on the issue.
We have seen that same strategy successfully used here in Korea… so I'm not exactly convinced that the case is "closed".
The most interesting thing is how his writing was used to put down our troops by the anti-military left… and quickly accused of being fake by the pro-military right. No thinking has been done by either side… just knee-jerk reactions based on ideology.
I'm kinda leaning toward believing what he wrote as I have seen GIs do or brag about similar things… as have many of you.
The real question is… is playing with a skull or screwing around in a Bradly somehow degrading to the military or is it just what young men under a lot of stress do to lighten up in an environment without the same social restrictions as back on Main Street, USA?
I'm guessing "Scott Thomas" didn't lie in what he wrote… but he needs a minor ass-kicking by his buddies to remind him not to publicly speak of things that civilians Back Home will never understand.
What do you think, GI?
J!
11:16 am on August 5th, 2007 3
He is already proven to have lied about the melted faced women in the chow hall in Iraq. No one in his entire platoon or company could substantiate any of his other claims.
Ace sums up TNR quite nicely:
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/235731.php
For example lets look at the accusation of the guy wearing a skull under his helmet. First of all you can't wear a skull under your helmet. It is not physically possible.
Secondly he is claiming this guy claims he wore the skull all day and night and went on patrol with it. I can picture one or a handful of idiots fulling around with a skull but an entire unit condoning it? It does not pass the common sense test.
It is just like the chow hall claim. The entire chow hall condoning his action laughing at some mystery women with a melted face. There are some sh**bags in the Army but there is no way an entire chow hall would be filled with these sh**bags at the same time and condone his actions. I knew it was BS when I read it and even TNR had to admit it was a lie.
TNR has "verified" their story with two phantom witnesses even though his entire unit has denied the allegations he made.
This guy is full of crap and at best he is greatly exagerating things he seen or heard in order to feed the left what they wanted to hear about how Bush's war is turning soldiers in mindless, unemotional sadists.
1:46 pm on August 5th, 2007 4
Hmmm…
Interestingly, the investigation didn’t state the claims made by Beauchamp were uncorroborated… Col. Boylan stated that Beauchamp’s allegations were FALSE.
But, here is something I find curious… the official statement as to what will happen to this guy.
"As there is no evidence of criminal conduct, he is subject to Administrative punishment as determined by his chain of command. Under the various rules and regulations, administrative actions are not releasable to the public by the military on what does or does not happen."
Presumably, when interviewed, he repeated his claims or he recanted them… in a signed statement.
If he repeated them in a signed statement, and identified the people playing with skull fragments and irritating the Iraqi public with a Bradly, his actions would be considered criminal conduct after the investigation proved his statement to be false.
If he recanted his claims, the Army surly would have not only stated the findings of the investigation but also publicized the fact that Beauchamp recanted his original statements… putting the whole thing to an rapid end… and exposing yet another case of the Left's wishful thinking.
So, true or false, something is not adding up.
Any insight into what I'm missing here?
J!
11:21 pm on August 5th, 2007 5
What the legal talk is saying is that he is going to get hit with an Article 15. What he did was a disgrace but it is not worthy of a court martial. Plus if the military court martials him he will become the martyr for the leftists. An article 15 is not something that is made public and is handled at the unit level. This guy has already been hit ban article 15 before. So this would be his second Article 15 than if I was his commander I would start the chapter paper work to get him out of the army for pattern of misconduct. This guy might even qualify for mental disorder chapter or failure to adapt.
Bottom line is they need to get this piece of trash out of the military and let him go on and pursue the leftist hero status he has been dreaming of since the day he enlisted.
12:47 am on August 6th, 2007 6
GI Korea,
I left a comment on Gypsy Scholar's post on fan death that you had linked. I wonder what he'll say about that? Give it a read if you are curious.
Tim in Angeles sendzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
6:19 am on August 6th, 2007 7
I'm with Chickenhawk on the no charges thing. That raised a minor eyebrow with me. Scooter Libby went down (as did Clinton – though not all the way) for lies under oath…
But, I agree with GI Korea that to punish the guy via crimial-type procedures makes no sense. Prosecutors do not prosecute everybody they can – and this is a good one to leave alone. If his articles had stood unchallenged and only an internal investigation had found the lies, it would be different. But, the court of public opinion has undone much of the damage he was inflicting.
I do think Chickenhawk missed the same point the TNR and the Washington Post did ——— the correction that the burnt female was (so the claim is now) in Kuwait instead of Iraq is HUGE.
As someone at Ace or elsewhere pointed out well — the whole point of that article (and the others) was how the occupation duty in Iraq had turned the soldiers into mindless sadists.
But, if he saw the woman in Kuwait, it was before he ever went into the battle zone!!
Which means he was exactly as big an asshole as the mil and conservative bloggers said they thought he was based on their experience in Iraq, the military, and/or just analyzing his claims and writing style.
One thing I haven't seen in the latest shreddings of the latest TNR claims is —— the line about the square backed bullets for the glocks that only the Iraqi police are supposed to carry…
That was a clear cut item early on that the military and other bloggers familiar with Iraq blasted.
Did the TNR get confirmation on that???
It was strangely absent in the recent verification notes on their site………
Ace and links to others that Ace provides lays out a good case for the other problems with the TNR's "verifications"…
The military hasn't done much on its end other than say the claims were false as they have checked them.
Until they or the TNR start naming other names and providing quotes to go by, it is one side saying one thing – the other saying the other —– but the TNR's ship has been rapidly sinking if not already capsized and fully torpedoed by earlier reporting. I think it has already been damaged so badly with what has come out — it is like the ship in the Poseidon Adventure….
9:34 am on August 6th, 2007 8
Tim,
I think you are taking Gypsy Scholar a little to seriously. He was being a bit tongue in cheek in his posting. Fan death is an urban legend only a Korean can believe.
usinkorea,
The no charges is court martial charges. In my opinion I don't think he did anything that would warrant a court martial if all he did was lie in a magazine article. This is something that is punishable with an Article 15 not a court martial. An Article 15 is not considered as pressing charges; it is non-judicial punishment. What he did definitely pissed a lot of people off, but a lot of people make stuff up and embellish stories, he just happened to do it in a big magazine.
The big thing is that he will have multiple Article 15s against him and probably a ton of counseling statements as well because he appears to be quite a dirtbag which should expedite him getting chaptered out the military so he can go begin his career as a leftist war hero which is why he admitedly joined the Army in the first place.
12:19 am on August 7th, 2007 9
GIKorea,
Yes, after rereading that, and other posts, on Gypsy, I was inclined to offer an "Oooops" message over there. Hehehehehe…
Tim in Angeles sendzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
1:41 am on August 7th, 2007 10
I highly recommend everyone read this posting from a jesuit priest about "Scott Thomas".
http://www.democracy-project.com/archives/003421….
A great read.
11:31 am on August 7th, 2007 11
Chickenhead,
Beauchamp has signed a sworn statement declaring he lied and exaggerated everything he wrote:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/…
2:20 pm on August 7th, 2007 12
Got it…
…and all that after going public with his identity to back up his story.
This is all very odd… but I sure can't make it out. Maybe I just can't compute this magnitude of stupid.
If the Army sat on his sworn statement to let the New Republic back themselves waaaaay out onto a limb by claiming the story was true and the facts had been checked, somebody is brilliant and deserves a step promotion.
Anyway, Beauchamp reported the truth, was forced to sign a statement claiming he lied and then was silenced by the Army so they could spin the story against him…
…or he is the absolute BIGGEST idiot that ever lived… thinking nobody would look into his story… especially after revealing his identity and inviting scrutiny.
J!
2:03 am on August 8th, 2007 13
"Maybe I just can’t compute this magnitude of stupid."
I'll go with "idiot".
I think he thought he could get away with it after the bloggers started going after the stories. He had the TNR asking a lot of questions, with his wife or soon-to-be wife still working there, and he was in Germany, far from Iraq, so he decided to continue the lie instead of clamming up or telling the truth and then just hoping it would go away.
He makes me think he is a good example of the Barney generation. Everything has been about validating his feelings most of his life in the US. Everybody gets a "A" and a gold star by their name. They are taught from cradle to grave that they are "special" and it is no wonder they become self-absorbed.
And I would bet the big purple dinasaur syndrome is what made him think he could do like Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz and just click his boots together and hope it would all go away like a bad dream.
But, I guess with the Scooter Libby trial, and Clinton before him, people have learned that it isn't the lie that gets ya…..it's the lie under oath…..
5:46 am on August 8th, 2007 14
Gents,
I wrote more about Beauchamp over at my milblog:
http://forwarddeployed.com/2007/08/07/beauchamp-c…
3:06 am on January 30th, 2008 15
[...] URL for this entry:http://haloscan.com/tb/skippysan/8390361867864813650ROK Drop Linklets-05 Aug 07Excerpt: Here is a Japanese series that I think Nomad would like.Weblog: ROK DropTracked: 08.05.07 – [...]