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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! August 22, 2004 Sunday FunniesBy GreyhawkNoted previously: America has one last chance to piss on it's Vietnam veterans. Get in line behind Pat Oliphant.  Maybe this guy is in your local paper? Update: More "funny" stuff (caution, these are censored, originals not): 
The greatest evidence of this new jokey spirit on the left can be found on the Internet, which is home to hundreds if not thousands of independent sites put up by random people who happen to have a political grudge and a sense of humor. Shortly after 9/11, David Rees launched a cartoon strip called "Get Your War On" (www.mnftiu.cc /mnftiu.cc/war.html). While the mainstream media were still waving flags and speaking in hushed tones, Mr. Rees was attracting a devoted following for his devastatingly sarcastic take on the news. That rousing endorsement is from the New York Times, of course. The article praises the "new jokey spirit of the left" in great detail. Update 2: There actually is still some decent political humor around though, if not mentioned in the Times article. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-MA, does not pose an immediate threat to the security of the American homeland and he should be allowed to board commercial airliners, according to a statement from Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge.And Democrat presidential candidate John Forbes Kerry today charged President George Bush with using surrogates to "do his dirty work" by distributing excerpts from the Congressional Record which chronicle Sen. Kerry's accomplishments in the Senate.And Civil rights activists nationwide celebrated today's announcement by New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey that he is "a gay adulterous American."ScrappleFace, of course. But you'll likely never find mention in the Times of the guy that wrote these. But wouldn't it be great to see Scott Ott's forthcoming book on the bestseller list?  The table of contents is funnier than the stuff linked from the Times story. Posted by Greyhawk / August 22, 2004 2:28 PM | Permalink 20 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
This cartoon is pointing out that the people who are criticising Kerry were elsewhere: like in the latrine, or working as clerk-typists, or, like Bush, not in the War at all.
Thanks for clearing that up Dave. Humor is always better after a careful explanation.
Also, Dave, you might not have realized the cartoon was created by applying ink to paper, though it's current version contains no ink or paper. Unless you print it out.
Please Dave, we eagerly await your keen insight on every post on this blog.
Actually, Dave, at least two of the men criticizing Kerry were in a different 'elsewhere' - North Vietnamese prisoner of war camps. Over two hundred men who served on the same craft as Kerry - making him as much of a clerk typist as them - are questioning his truthfulness on Vietnam. You shoe also know, Dave, that most latrine diggers were infantrymen, you know the guys with rifles, out in the jungle finding Charlie's presents. And if you think clerk typists never saw action in Vietnam, you should not read about Hue or Khe San.
Dave, your knowledge about the men questioning Kerry, and about Vietnam in general, appears to be about as deep and broad as a puddle in Death Valley in July. So excuse me if I value your opinion on this matter slightly less than the dog crap on the bottom of my shoe.
Don't you people know that John Kerry is the only one out of millions of veterans that fought?
No clerk typists ever died in mortar or rocket attacks. No mechanics ever sat in the bunkers on the wire. Certainly there was never once a cook that grabbed a rifle. Those things never occured. During Tet of '68 no normally rear-area Marines got formed up into provisional platoons and took some thirty percent KIA.
Only Swift Boat people lost limbs at Khe Sanh, no supply room types were hurt when the NVA artillery got the ammo dump. Cerainly those Air Force C-130 crews that landed under fire at Khe Sanh and puched ammo pallets off the ramps while still moving and then stopped, under fire while those non-existent casualties were loaded on board.
No nurses or lab techs ever were hurt in rear area hospitals. Battallion headquarters were never mortar magnets.
And most certainly, every enlistee or draftee had an absolute choice as to where he was sent and what MOS he was assigned. Everyone who didn't like his orders, actually suggestions, got to go home.
I assume Pat Oliphant must not leave his house much. I mean, he's still got working hands and all. And folks who like to draw obscenely hateful and smug partisan ed cartoons really do need to stay where the general public can't get to them.
But I can't help having this fantasy. A locked room containing: Pat Oliphant; this cartoon blown up and plastered on the walls; a dozen or so middle-aged guys coin-flipping for dibs to show him a few little tricks they picked up as POWs; thousands of other vets lined up outside to get a shot at the dogmeat resulting.
" Only Swift Boat people lost limbs at Khe Sanh"
...but only if they went to the John Kerry School of Map Reading.
(but I do get your point; and agree)
Rather amazing that after all these years, despite what he says, nearly everyone around J. F*ing Kerry finds a reason to continually despise and denigrate virtually all veterans and most particularly combat veterans and POW's.
Ted Rall, Oliphant, Moqtada al Moore.
Really impressive people, with a really consistent message. This is 1971, instant replay.
Well I guess all this crap about Kerry has led me to conclude the next time I see a guy with a bronze star or a purple heart I will have to question whether or not he really deserved that medal. I guess the medals the army and navy hand out aren't worth much, according to the vets who were there.
Way to miss the point Natz. They mean a hell of a lot, which is why so many are pissed at anyone who would claim them falsely or disgrace them by throwing them away over a fence.
natz
you should amend your comment to the next time you see a guy with a bronze star or purple heart who keeps talking them up, pushing them in your face and inflating his exploits so you don't pay attention to his senate record of being weak on defense and intelligence. Another good rule of thumb would be to never trust the integrity of a "decorated" vet who lacks humility about his role in warfare.
natz
especially for a "decorated" vet who tossed medals or ribbons away, met with the enemy's diplomats while still in the active reserves, and made numerous statements that gave aid and comfort to the enemy and disparaged his band of brothers, even while some of them were being tortured by the enemy in prison camps.
You see, by going down the path you have chosen, every single person who claims to have served in the armed forces with honor will now be subject to similar scrutiny, fair or unfair, and anyone with an axe to grind against a particular individual will have a podium in the media.
Partisans like you like that smear game, but most of us in the middle despise it. Don't think your trumped up personal attacks on a candidate will give you an advantage with average folk. We see it for what it is: desparate attempts to change the subject away from the President's record.
But hey, even ignoring the law is okay, so long as it helps win, right? I thought so.
ROANOKE, Virginia (CNN) -- A volunteer adviser has quit President Bush's re-election campaign after appearing in a veterans group's television commercial blasting Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's involvement in the Vietnam-era antiwar movement.
A Bush campaign statement said it did not know that retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier had appeared in an ad by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The Kerry campaign has accused the group of illegally working with the Bush campaign.
As a so-called 527 group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is barred from coordinating efforts with an election campaign.
Wrong comment thread, Natz. The attack Cordier thread is here:
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/001203.html
Cordier broke the law? Let's throw the bum in prison!!!!
In Vietnam!!!!
Hmmm.
"natz"
That is really amusing. It's telling when Kerryites cannot refute the allegations but rather have to come up with really lame rhetorical tricks.
Frankly those cartoons really show the true inner feelings of the Democrats towards veterans. All this pro-military bullshit is exactly that. If Kerry wins in November, expect to see all that quickly repudiated.
And veterans, yet again, will get screwed by the Democrats.
sorry my nickname was given, can't change it.
Here ya go. See how you like it. I think Mr. Dole is a hero, but, if you wanna play in the mud, then there are those willing to play. Enjoy!
***********************************
"Today Bob Dole suggested that one or more of John Kerry's Purple Hearts may have been fraudulent in some way because they were for "superficial wounds."
Dole knows better.
In a 1988 campaign-trail autobiography, here's how Dole described the incident that earned him his first Purple Heart: "As we approached the enemy, there was a brief exchange of gunfire. I took a grenade in hand, pulled the pin, and tossed it in the direction of the farmhouse. It wasn't a very good pitch (remember, I was used to catching passes, not throwing them). In the darkness, the grenade must have struck a tree and bounced off. It exploded nearby, sending a sliver of metal into my leg--the sort of injury the Army patched up with Mercurochrome and a Purple Heart."---TalkingPointsMemo.com
Lot's of questions for those SBVFLiars. Since they put themselves in the public eye voluntarily, why don't they also send out all of their resumes so we all can get to know them "up close and personal." I wonder if they could stand the heat from the scutiny they deserve and should be subjected to. So far, several of they have turned out to be liars, out of their own mouths. What else will be found when they are subjected to intense scrutiny?
Where are all those affidavts the SBVFLiars say they have signed under oath? I have not found one posted on the Net in whole.
I get a laugh out of the name SBVFTruth, a self-made description. Only the gullible would believe a self-chosen name like that would convince people to believe the group is committed totruth seeking and telling. Those guys are so stupid and incompetent, they fit in just right with Herr Dunce, die Fuhrer. I thought all bright families in the US taught their children not to believe the claims of self-promoters. Hell, if you didn't learn it at home, and you were anyone but a anti-social kid, you would have learned it on the playground. Those SBVs guys just suck.
Another issue I have with the SBVFLiars is that Kerry did not say he saw the atrocities he talked about before the Senate committee in 1971. Having read the transcript recently, I understand him to say he heard those claims from other soldiers. He made it very clear he was not saying he had personal knowledge of those activites such as My Ly and Tiger Force and other such occurrances. Again, the claimed SBV officers and gentlemen and sailors are to a large extent lying. It is sad that the U.S. militay will have to endure blowback of these deceptions and outright lies of this group for generations to come. That must make real warriors pissed for SBVs using lies to degrade a hero and a outstanding officer and a gentleman and, BTW the next President of our United States of America, I am proud to say.
Every.single.blog.I.read.about.SwiftGate.on,has.ONE.guy.like.natz
Every one. You know, a guy who makes outrageous statements, intentionally trolls. And I DO wonder: Did they get assignments from Moby for blogs to clog? Did the MoveOn/George Soros smeinars give each attendee one blog to make an ass of himself at, just to interfere, to distract, to obstruct the free passing of new Kerry-in-Wonderland info as it comes in every few hours?
There is PLENTY of stuff going on in the blogosphere than engaging a smug little troll.