Grumpy Editor

Spirit Airlines adds to long list of fees for passengers

Spirit Airlines’ Web site spotlights a new service between Atlanta and Atlantic City with a fare from $28.79 each way based on round trip purchase, but passengers these days --- as with flying on other carriers ---  have to factor in other fees and charges, observes Grumpy Editor. 

Spirit this week is in the forefront with a new charge it labels “Department of Transportation unintended consequences fee.”  (Say that fast a few times.) 

That DOT fee tacks on $2 each way to the Spirit ticket price. 

The airline with “ultra low fares” blames that on a new DOT regulation that allows passengers to change flights within 24 hours of booking without paying a penalty. 

The added fee joins a long list of “optional” charges beyond ticket price. 

Among them: 

Carry-on bag fee, $30 at booking or $35 at check-in.

Customer-requested seat assignments, $1 to $50 per seat.

Unaccompanied minors fee, $100 each way.

Pet transport fee, $100 per container each way.

Onboard snacks, $1 to $10.

  

See the full list here.

 

Marines urinating on militants' bodies stirs media, D.C.

The video, making the rounds yesterday showing four combat-equipped U.S. Marines urinating on three dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, triggered much broadcast and print coverage along with immediate condemnations from the Obama administration and some Pentagon brass --- but “shocked” media, some military and politicians overlooked a main element, reminds Grumpy Editor. 

Unlike wars of the past, U.S. military forces in Afghanistan are in contact with terrorists who are not part of an organized army.

The deceased enemy fighters were not part of a regular army.  The hostiles did not wear uniforms, held no rank, wore no stripes or bars or stars or other military insignia, did not possess serial numbers or “dog tags,” and didn’t report to captains, majors, colonels or generals.

Some in Washington and others also have forgotten military history.  U.S. Marines during World War II on Iwo Jima, for example, used flamethrowers to flush out and kill uniformed enemy troops in a declared war.

Media and Washington did not frown on that action.

Negative reaction to the videoed Afghanistan incident illustrated “the cowardly world we live in,” stated coast-to-coast talk show host Michael Savage yesterday, in questioning why Washington was not supporting the Marines.

Some callers --- including former military personnel --- to Savage’s program said the Marines should be given medals rather than face talk of harsh legal action.

The Marine Corps issued a statement immediately after learning of the video, saying a full investigation was under way.

The New York Times reported Pentagon officials said the video was made between last March and September when a Marine battalion was deployed to Helmand Province, a strategic Taliban heartland and a center of the opium poppy trade.

Officials said the video likely was made in the northern part of the province where the battalion had operated, The Times said, adding “seven out of some 1,000 Marines in the battalion were killed during the seven-month deployment.”

 

13 illegals wearing Marine uniforms captured, then...

The arrest of 13 illegal aliens wearing U.S. Marine uniforms, being transported in a “hot” van with a phony U.S. government license plate, took eight days to surface --- and even then, major newspapers ignored the story, notes Grumpy Editor.

Fox News on its Web site and London’s Daily Mail were leaders in revealing the apprehensions by Border Patrol agents on March 14 at a checkpoint near Pine Valley, an unincorporated community in southeastern San Diego County.

Two U.S. citizens, one the driver, also were arrested.  They, too, wore U.S. Marine uniforms.

Some editors apparently weren’t too concerned about bringing to attention of readers that the illegals were clad in camouflaged Marine uniforms, complete with caps, and all 13 carried the same name --- Perez --- emblazoned on the backsides.

Also, the involved “U.S. government” vehicle turned out to be a privately-owned white van registered in Yucca Valley, Calif.  It bore a stolen government plate (one with the line, “For Official Use Only”) that was altered, including changing the center digit --- 0 --- to read as an 8.

It was determined that the license plate belonged to a one-ton cargo van, registered to the U.S. Marine Corps. 

Wearing U.S. military uniforms illegally --- especially by foreigners --- is enough to put those involved in the slammer for a long time.  And a private van impersonating a U.S. government vehicle usually gets those in such a caper a long term behind bars.

It wasn’t known if Homeland Security was concerned about the incident.

So what happened to the illegals garbed as Marines?

Not much.

A Border Patrol spokesman said they were returned to Mexico, their country of origin.

Maybe they will give a push into the U.S. another try --- perhaps wearing U.S. Navy uniforms.

Restrictive rules hamper U.S. troops in Afghanistan

Restrictive rules of engagement are making things difficult for U.S. Army troops and Marines in Afghanistan --- resulting in a solid blow to morale --- and not much is being reported about that in media, finds Grumpy Editor.

Being handcuffed by restrictive procedures makes it difficult to grab a foothold and gain ground in a combat area.

If such strict regulations in combat with bad guys existed in the 1941-1945 period, the U.S. would still be involved in World War II, with no end in sight.

One wonders what is going on at the Pentagon.

So it was interesting to note the observations and quotes from U.S. combat troops in Afghanistan contained in a Washington Examiner article yesterday, written by Sara A. Carter, the newspaper’s national security correspondent.

With a Kandahar, Afghanistan, dateline, Carter gathered morale-jarring quotes from the frustrated troops.

Keep in mind, enemy combatants wear no uniforms or dog tags in that strange war zone.  They hold no rank like corporal, sergeant or captain and bear no serial numbers. 

Their garb blends in with what civilians wear.

But the enemy carries weapons, fires mortars, plants bombs and maims or kills U.S. personnel.

Among quotes Carter obtained from U.S. troops in the area:

•  "If they (the enemy) use rockets to hit the (forward operating base) we can't shoot back because they were within 500 meters of the village.  If they shoot at us and drop their weapon in the process we can't shoot back.”

•  “We have to take down our (watch) towers because it offends them and now the Taliban can set up mortars and we can't see them.”  (Watch towers surrounding the base were going to be dismantled because Afghan village elders, some sympathetic to the Taliban, complained they were invading their village privacy, explained Carter.)

•  "I'm sick of people trying to cover up what's really going on over here.  They won't let us do our job.  I don't care if they try to kick me out for what I'm saying --- war is war and this is no war.  I don't know what this is."

•  "Everyone dies for their own reasons but it's sad to think that our friends, the troops, have given their lives for something we're not going to see through."