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Boom! Boom!

Submitted by rainy gray on Thu, 02/14/2008 - 6:51pm.

mysterious loud noises

I'm getting ready for a romantic evening with my sweetie, but I'm a little distracted by some very loud booming outside. Is Valentine's Day now being celebrated with fireworks (literally)? Or is there a more sinister explanation? (I'm on the east side, by the way.)

rainy gray's blog
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Probably Fort Lewis.

Submitted by Rick on Thu, 02/14/2008 - 7:16pm.

> It's OK to be nice. <
enpen's social contract

Yep.

Submitted by The Original Yoda on Thu, 02/14/2008 - 10:19pm.

and they sound different...

those shook my legs and skipped my beat

Submitted by enpen on Thu, 02/14/2008 - 10:24pm.

Sounds like that are seriously oppressive to me. Crappy neighbor, to my point of view.

"In principle, I am an anarchist. Kurt Vonnegut once said he was an agnostic who respects Jesus Christ. I am an anarchist who loves democracy." - Kenzaburo Oe

skipped a beat

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 11:35am.

I wonder if you could sue if it cause health problems.

You are the New Neighbor on the Block.

Submitted by Jeff Brigham on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 12:38am.

Fort Lewis has been here longer than most of us. Some times the training that these soldiers need to do is noisy and there is no way around that. They have to do the training to be ready to do their job and protect the United States.

Fort Lewis has been in this business for a lot longer than most of us have been here. In my view, if you live near a military base, you should be prepared for the occasional noise that military training causes. Sorry, but I agree with my good neighbor, Fort Lewis.

Jeff Brigham

"America’s greatest chapter is still to be written, for the best is yet to come." President Ronald Reagan

Way I see it, Jeff...

Submitted by The Original Yoda on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 12:18pm.

...We're all new 'round these here parts, cowboy!

What do you mean? Are you

Submitted by Ehver Green on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 3:19pm.

What do you mean? Are you referring to the indigenous people of North America, e.g. Native Americans?

It is exactly 15 miles from the center of Ft. Lewis to the center of Olympia (a bit more on the path of I-5). These events are *ALWAYS* announced in advanced. I've seen the announcements on The Olympian's The training, which must emulate actual conditions, is vital to the military. I can stand to lose a few nights of sleep a year if it enables our military to be prepared for a combat environment.

Obviously none of this applies if you deplore the military in general.

Yep.

Submitted by The Original Yoda on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 9:53pm.

New booms

I loved it growing up

Submitted by Norm on Thu, 02/14/2008 - 11:03pm.

I used to hear it late at night while falling asleep at my grandparents. That and the old train.

It was loud and it went really late!

Submitted by jlw on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 7:03am.

Annoying! What the heck were they doing? I've never heard anything so loud from Fort Lewis.

This world's crazy, give me the gun. -- P.J. Harvey

I'd blame it on the cats

Submitted by Anonymously Larry on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 8:51am.

LOL!

Submitted by jlw on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 11:27am.

Both of them are ready to deploy on a moment's notice, that's for sure.

This world's crazy, give me the gun. -- P.J. Harvey

From FT Lewis PIO office

Submitted by emmettoconnell on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 9:08am.

Not sure how Rangers can be this noisy. Wilson, you want to chime on this one?

U.S. Army Rangers from 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, are conducting a military exercise Feb. 11-22 here. Soldiers will use training ammunition and other training devices to make the exercise as realistic as possible. The training will be concentrated on training areas at Fort Lewis and Gray Army Airfield. To conduct this training, a number of different aircraft that belong to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) and the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) are used.

There will be periods of increased air traffic to include low-flying aircraft, both helicopters and airplanes, during hours of darkness. Increased air traffic and noise may be associated with a large airborne operation involving the Rangers, as well as training activities that does not include the Rangers, but involves the 160th SOAR and U.S. AFSOC conducting nape-of-the-earth flights (flying low to the ground) and aerial refueling. Additional aviation activities may occur over civilian communities.

This is routine training conducted periodically to maintain a high level of readiness for the military personnel involved. We are extremely sensitive to the impact such training has on local citizens and we intend to train safely and courteously. Every measure to reduce the amount of noise associated with the training will be taken. We appreciate the support of the citizens and residents in the surrounding areas during this training.

The 75th Ranger Regiment is the U.S. Army’s premier raid force. Rangers must be ready to deploy worldwide on a moment’s notice. Therefore, tough, realistic training conducted regularly gives the Rangers a decisive edge for real-world missions. Training such as this is the best method to test their readiness capabilities.

For more information about the training exercise, please contact the 75th Ranger Regiment Public Affairs Office at 706-577-5706.

Queries or comments about noise may be directed to the I Corps Public Affairs Office’s External Communication Division hot line at (253) 967-0852, daily.

Call me paranoid...

Submitted by jlw on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 11:26am.

...but it makes me wonder what they're planning: "Rangers must be ready to deploy worldwide on a moment's notice." Hmmm....

This world's crazy, give me the gun. -- P.J. Harvey

Endgame

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 11:38am.

This is from my blog

Checking the Executive

According to the authors of this article, we the people ultimately have the responsibility to hold our government, and elected officials, accountable. Rule by fear, or Rule by Law?:

by Lewis Seiler, Dan Hamburg
Monday, February 4, 2008
San Francisco Chronicle

"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."
- Winston Churchill, Nov. 21, 1943
Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of "an emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs."

Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.

According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the KBR contract is part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal the removal of "all removable aliens" and "potential terrorists." [emphasis mine]
...
...According to author Naomi Wolf, the National Counterterrorism Center holds the names of roughly 775,000 "terror suspects" with the number increasing by 20,000 per month.

What could the government be contemplating that leads it to make contingency plans to detain without recourse millions of its own citizens?

The Constitution does not allow the executive to have unchecked power under any circumstances. The people must not allow the president to use the war on terrorism to rule by fear instead of by law.
[go to original]

Thanks Emmett!

Submitted by rainy gray on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 1:53pm.

Well, it's good to know what's going on. It's pretty disconcerting, all that booming. I suppose it's even worse if they're really trying to bomb you.

Rangers...first in last out!

Submitted by Guglielmo on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 11:32am.

Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.! --John Maynard Keynes

I don't know what you're

Submitted by Merwyn Haskett on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 11:37am.

I don't know what you're doing Yogi, but the Ranger's not going to like it!
Boo Boo

we heard it too!

Submitted by epersonae on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 12:41pm.

It did seem a lot louder than I'd noticed before. chad360 & I both went outside a couple of times last night, because we weren't sure if it was something closer, and just had to shrug & assume it was the base.

It freaked my four year old

Submitted by OperaGirl on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 1:09pm.

It freaked my four year old out who was sure that it was thunder that was going to come into his room and eat him or something like that. (I'm not sure where that came from since we all love watching the rare thunder/lightning shows we get around here!) It just annoyed the rest of us!

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

malicious intent

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 1:11pm.

maybe he could sense the malicious intent behind the bombs dropping, bombs which are used to kill innocent people and destroy civilian infrastructure...

Unlike thunder, the rumbling he heard last night was a "people eating" rumble.

Yargh...

Submitted by security_six on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 7:05pm.

Let's disband the military right away then! Remind me not to have you over to my boat. I'm sure you'll make something out of the case of soviet surplus ammo I picked up for target shooting and practice.

The story so far: In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people mad and been widely regarded as a bad idea. -The Restaurant at the end of the Universe

cover your eyes

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 11:03pm.

There is not an aggressive war of conquest occurring in Iraq. Don't be bothered that our government is killing innocent people in order to suit a wrongheaded policy of global dominance. I'm sorry. I am frustrated. I do not like the thunder that eats people.

Not an aggresive war of conquest.

Submitted by Jeff Brigham on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 12:24am.

That's right. We are NOT conducting an aggressive war of conquest in Iraq. Our President's ordering of military action in Iraq is legal and was approved by elected Congressional representatives.

Jeff Brigham

"America’s greatest chapter is still to be written, for the best is yet to come." President Ronald Reagan

"We are NOT conducting an aggressive war of conquest in Iraq"

Submitted by Guglielmo on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 6:42am.

Holy smokes!! And I am not typing right now...

Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.! --John Maynard Keynes

False Pretenses

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 11:42pm.

As it stands right now, we are privy to substantial and solid evidence that the Bush Administrations made false statements in order to justify the war. The USA was led to war based on knowingly false pretenses (publicintegrity.com/WarCard/). That constitutes a Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.

The war fits in perfectly with the Project for a New American Century's manifesto of Global Dominance. It stands to reason that members of the Bush Administration have perpetrated a wrongful and illegal war of aggression, a crusade in conquest of the petroleum resource of Iraq.

I'm sure Ms. de la Vega's

Submitted by Jeff Brigham on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 1:25am.

I'm sure Ms. de la Vega's book is making her plenty of money. I am also sure that there are many people that enjoy her fantasy and really believe it. But the bottom line is that none of those people are judges in a Federal Court. That is the one place that her fantasy falls flat. That speaks volumes on the quality of her work and her grip on reality.

I do not see any reason to take her "legal" work/book seriously when not a single Federal court (let alone SCOTUS) will. Ms. de la Vega has done the equivilent of designing a boat that works perfectly everyplace except in the water!

Jeff Brigham

"America’s greatest chapter is still to be written, for the best is yet to come." President Ronald Reagan

Time will tell, Jeff...

Submitted by The Original Yoda on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 11:38am.

...time will tell.

Corruption

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 12:23pm.

Corruption is system wide, Jeff. If we had a system that truly held officials accountable, we would not be having this discussion because firstly, the Bush Administration would not have been selected by the Supreme Court when it interfered with the Florida election in 2000.

Secondly, Ms. de la Vega's analysis is not fantasy. It's an effort to sidetrack that you would attack her work rather than the issues at hand: the false pretenses, the evidence of a premeditated invasion. Ms. de la Vega served as a federal prosecutor for over 20 years.

Ms. de la Vega's prosecution would hold water if only we had a Justice Department that wasn't being overseen by a Bush Appointee Loyalist - and if the Bush Administration hadn't usurped so much power and developed itself into the unitary executive that it is.

Jeff, members of the Bush Administration are ruining the America that I love.

Just stop and listen to

Submitted by Jeff Brigham on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 1:21pm.

Just stop and listen to yourself for a minute, "bert". Everything is always a big conspiracy or a corrupt system. You still have not gotten over the fact that the disputes of the 2000 election were settled in the exact place that we are supposed to settle those disputes; Our courts!

Look, I didn't like the results of the court action in our state regarding our 2004 governor election. But we did have our day in court and it didn't work out. I'm over it and moved on. You had your day in court in 2000 and the decision did not go your way. You also should accept that and move on.

Ms. de la Vega's book remains a work of fiction because that is all it is. If her legal allegations were valid, then she would have brought them before a federal court and that court would have ruled for her. That is the test and she has failed the test. Of course, rather than realize that, it is easier to simply blame "conspiracy" and "corruption". But her book is a success for her by bringing in the $$$.

Actually, the twice elected President of the United States, President George W. Bush is taking actions to protect the United States that I love.

Jeff Brigham

"America’s greatest chapter is still to be written, for the best is yet to come." President Ronald Reagan

Bush's Man in Office

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 11:02am.

The problem here is that Bush's man is in office in the DOJ. I don't know exactly how the system works, but if you ask me, Mukasey and Gonzales before him, have shown explicit loyalty to the Bush White House to the point of conspiracy. For example, the conspiracy to use torture and other inhumane methods on prisoners.

Also, as long as he is President, Bush has immunity from prosecution, with the exception of Congressional impeachment and conviction. We can blame Congress for its delinquency in holding this White House accountable.

George W. Bush as President is harming the USA. This President and members of his Administration have used fear to rule over the Congress and the USA. There is a conspiracy amongst elite White House Decision Makers to rule the world [see Dick Cheney's Song of America].

Credible Allegations of Conspiracy

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 11:07am.

I support Ms. de la Vega's credible and legitimate allegations that members of the White House have engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the United States. Do you object to questioning the appropriateness or lawfulness of the actions of government officials? Would you rather I just leave Mr. President alone?

False Pretenses

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 12:24pm.

Do you deny that members of the Bush Administration made false claims about the threat posed by Iraq in the run-up to the invasion?

I acknowledge that some of

Submitted by Jeff Brigham on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 1:35pm.

I acknowledge that some of the intelligence information and reports on Iraq prior to the invasion turned out to be inaccurate. But that is almost always the case when dealing with both national and tactical intelligence information. It's happened in WW2, Korea, and our Civil War and not just for us.

Intelligence work is a large part estimation and guesswork. You take a number of reports and indicators and make your best estimation on what an enemy force or country plans. Sometimes those estimations are right on the mark. Sometimes they are partially correct and sometimes they are not accurate at all.

Even with the problems with pre-invasion intelligence estimates, the world is a far better place without Saddam Hussein in control of Iraq. It's been a tough road (so was our Civil War, WW2 and Korea) but in the end we will have better world because we took action.

Jeff Brigham

"America’s greatest chapter is still to be written, for the best is yet to come." President Ronald Reagan

Song of America, by Dick Cheney

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 11:09am.

Dick Cheney's Song of America

"The Plan is to Rule the World"

Is that what you want Jeff? Do you want the USA to rule the world?

Global Domination

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 9:12pm.

Jeff Brigham, do you advocate for a United States foreign policy of global full spectrum dominance?

What are we going to do today Brain?

Submitted by security_six on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 9:28pm.

"Safety is a tyrant's tool; no one can be against safety."--Unknown

the embed code is usually available on YouTube

Submitted by Rob Richards on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 9:38pm.

Just copy and paste and in moments you'll be enjoying hot, fresh video from the confines of your blog.

I tried that

Submitted by security_six on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 9:43pm.

and it wouldn't preview properly

"Safety is a tyrant's tool; no one can be against safety."--Unknown

I don't know.

Submitted by Rob Richards on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 9:51pm.

It works for me. There must be something wrong with your code, make sure you aren't leaving any carets open anywhere or anything.

It's my adblock software

Submitted by security_six on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 10:00pm.

Blocks a bit more than ads sometimes... Adblock Pro for firefox. Very nice but gives me fits with youtube. I fired up the Epiphany web browser and it worked fine.

"Safety is a tyrant's tool; no one can be against safety."--Unknown

I use ABP on Firefox also,

Submitted by Rob Richards on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 10:20pm.

You can set permissions for certain sites/content.

Sounds to me like if you copy and paste the embed code it'll look fine for us, just not for you until you get ABP figured out.

I've been tweaking it...

Submitted by security_six on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 10:25pm.

Just not important enough for me to care right now. Thanks though.

"Safety is a tyrant's tool; no one can be against safety."--Unknown

Regardless of war or not

Submitted by security_six on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 8:57pm.

They still conduct regular training. Tell me how bad things are when you live in the flight path of NAS Whidbey for 10 years. Finally got the point where I could sleep through anything. For a while even when I moved out of my parent's house I couldn't sleep without the noise..

.45/70 Government (The only Government I trust!)

Actually, it seems like the

Submitted by ctqwn on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 11:08pm.

Actually, it seems like the booming has been more of a rarity since the Iraq war began. I've lived in the Spurgeon Creek area , which is fairly close to Fort Lewis, for over 15 years and was used to their noise from time to time. I expected that to increase after 9/11, but that never really happened, and it seems like the training sessions have been more infrequent since then. Go figure.

Please tell that 4 yr old........

Submitted by Sarah on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 2:07pm.

...that "big monkey" says it is all okay. :)

Haha...I will! =)Music

Submitted by OperaGirl on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 3:56pm.

Haha...I will! =)

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

Monkey? Big? What is this primate you speak of?

Submitted by Norm on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 9:51pm.

The Empire is Noisy.

Submitted by Mike on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 8:40am.

Empires are always

Submitted by wilson on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 6:22pm.

Empires are always noisy....just be glad it is our empire

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