Staff Sgt. Charles McDaniel / YouTube
Staff Sgt. Charles McDaniel
This may be the first time the word “cervix” has been used in a rap song. The man behind the rap “heeheehoohoo,” Air Force Staff Sgt. Charles McDaniel, came up with the catchy tune while waiting for his wife LaQuita to have her baby at Aviano Air Base hospital in Italy last December.
According to what McDaniel wrote on YouTube:
So we chillin in the labor and delivery room in Aviano Italy AB waiting for my baby boy to be born when the heart monitoring machine kept acting up. Well, after a while that same redundant noise began to sound like music.
McDaniel was videotaping the experience, all the while rapping to keep LaQuita calm (and from the looks of it, amused).
The Stars and Stripes reports the couple celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary yesterday, and their new healthy baby boy Kingston is their fifth child.
And if we’re talking numbers, McDaniel’s rap video has more than 200,000 hits. Take a look (and a listen):
timnmeg33 / YouTube
Capt. Owen Honors in racy video
The former skipper and commanding officer of the USS Enterprise who lost his job after raunchy videos he made came to light will retire from the Navy. The Virginian-Pilot reports Capt. Owen Honors will leave the Navy on April 1st, after almost 30 years in the service. According to the newspaper, Honors shot and aired the racy videos on the USS Enterprise in 2006 and 2007:
Among other things, they contained anti-gay jokes, shots of a subordinate dressed in drag, and scenes of sailors pretending to shower together, masturbate and perform rectal exams on each other.
In addition to being fired from his position on the USS Enterprise, Honors was also issued a letter of censure – but he was allowed to stay in the Navy. According to the Virginian-Pilot, at roughly the same time, the Navy selected Honors for consideration for early retirement. The two events were unrelated.
U.S. Army / Flickr
Military voting
A majority of states have done a good job of passing laws to protect the voting rights of our military, according to a new report by The Pew Center on the States.
David Becker, director of Election Initiatives at the Pew Center on the States, says:
“For far too long, those serving and protecting our democracy were unable to fully participate in elections back at home. Now, the vast majority of states have greatly improved the ability of millions of military personnel and civilians overseas to cast a ballot and ensure it counts.”
According to Pew, the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act prompted 47 states and the District of Columbia to pass laws that removed hurdles to voting many overseas servicemembers faced.
Here are some of the positive changes states made, according to Pew:
- [M]eeting or exceeding federal requirements to send ballots to military and overseas voters at least 45 days before an election.
- [A]llow(ing) military and overseas voters to receive blank ballots electronically.
- Eliminating requirements for notarization or witnesses.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Westboro Baptist Church protesters
The California Senate has unanimously approved a measure that would require military funeral protesters to stay 500 feet away from funeral services within an hour of those services taking place.
Reuters reports a similar bill made it to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk last year, but he vetoed it. Brown said it violated protesters’ free speech rights – rights that were protected by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. That decision declared the Westboro Baptist Church (which protested military funerals because of its belief wars were God’s punishment for America’s “acceptance” of gays and lesbians) had the First Amendment right to picket the funerals of fallen servicemembers.
In this year’s bill, Senator Ted Lieu cut down the buffer zone required in the measure by half, from 1000 to 500 feet, with hopes of getting Brown’s signature. Lieu said in a statement:
“Since time immemorial, society has respected the dignity and sacredness of putting the dead to rest. This bill recognizes the sanctity of funerals by placing reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on disruptive protesters.”
New drone has no pilot anywhere, so who’s accountable? – Navy – Stripes “The X-47B marks a paradigm shift in warfare, one that is likely to have far-reaching consequences. With the drone’s ability to be flown autonomously by onboard computers, it could usher in an era when death and destruction can be dealt by machines operating semi-independently.” (Stars and Stripes)
US Military Personnel To Return To North Korea In Hunt For Missing Servicemen | Fox News “U.S. military personnel are due to travel to North Korea in March to restart efforts to recover thousands of servicemen missing from the 1950-53 Korean War, the Defense Department said Thursday.” (FOX News)
Rescued American’s dad “proud” of the U.S. – CBS News “The father of Jessica Buchanan, the American rescued by Navy SEALs in Somalia along with a Danish colleague this weekend, described in an interview with CBS News the two most amazing phone calls he said he has ever received.” (CBS News)
Navy Announces 2012 Navy Week Schedule “Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s flagship outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, with 148 Navy Weeks being held in 62 different U.S. cities. In 2012, the Navy Week cities are Phoenix, New Orleans, Nashville, Tenn., Spokane, Wash., Baltimore, Boston, Sacramento, Calif., Sioux Falls, S.D., Milwaukee, Chicago, Toledo, Ohio, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, N.Y. and Houston.” (navy.mil)
San Clemente Times – Bomb Scare Suspect Pleads Guilty Sentenced to Four Months in Brig “The Navy Hospitalman whose notebook ramblings about bombing San Clemente High prompted an evacuation on the first day of school will serve four months in the brig, must forfeit $3,976 of pay and was demoted to the lowest pay grade during his special court martial hearing.” (sanclementetimes.com)
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