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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! February 10, 2005 Orson Scott CardBy GreyhawkMore voices like this one need to be raised. When Condoleezza Rice's confirmation as secretary of state was opposed by 13 Democratic Senators, it did not imply that she was singularly unsuited to serve in the President's cabinet. I hope he means it - I hope he succeeds. (Via LGF. Read 'em every day.) Posted by Greyhawk / February 10, 2005 1:46 AM | Permalink 14 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 |
Brain Dead Boxer, Drunken Osama Teddy, KKK Byrd, etc got wiped out in a landslide, 32-13 by the Democratic Party.
Maybe they are right, Condi is a liar who started a war based on lies. Then, Hillary, Diane Feinstein, Barak Obama are too stupid to see what the "enlightened" see.
Orson Scott Card had the following to say in an article Slate published before the election:
"I'm a Democrat voting for Bush, even though on economic issues, from taxes to government regulation, I'm not happy with the Republican positions. But we're at war, and electing a president who is committed to losing it seems to be the most foolish thing we could do. Personal honesty is also important to me, and Kerry is obviously not in the running on that point, given that he can't keep track of the facts in his own autobiography."
http://slate.msn.com/id/2107890/
The problem isn't just that the Democrats have been hijacked by the far Left wing of the party, but that the entire leadership of the party, from grassroots to the top, is more interested in being in charge than in doing what's right for the nation. It's more important to them to win than to build. That's far more than disgusting - its destructive of everything this nation stands for. I wish Orson and the rest of the 'reasonable' Democrats good fortunte on regaining their party. It may be easier, however, to pull out and start over than to try to continue with the baggage the Democrats have accumulated in the last 20 years.
Agreed 100% Old Patriot, well put. Their motivated by hate and have sold their damned souls eager to sell out our very security. Old-time Dems would be utterly repulsed.
Ender had a better chance than a "moderate" in today's Democratic party. The reason they have gone from a 1.6:1 registration margin to 1.1:1 in 25 years is that the party has been taken over by the extreme left. Look who speaks for them: Boxer, Pelosi, Reid, JFK and Teddy. Far left "progressives" all. Zell Miller was a moderate who keynoted Bill's first convention and by 1998 he had been frozen out of the party. They could have replaced Tom with a moderate in Nov but they chose the extrremist Reid. He will need both Ender and Bean to take bace the Democratic party from the extremeist who have run it the last 30 years. Best of luck for an ex Dem.
Ex Jarehaed
Cerritos
Comments not pertaining to your post.....GREAT VALENTINES graphics. Mrs. G - I love it.
Oh, Card means it, all right. He's been pretty upfront about his disgust with the current crop of Democrats and the direction they're leading his party. Imagine if Zell Miller wrote really good science fiction (and historical fantasy fiction, for that matter.)
I second Old Patriot, too.
The pending disintegration of the Democratic party is not a good thing. While having two opposing parties encourages nasty partisanship, it also keeps each party "on its toes." Though I'm a conservative on a majority of issues, there's no way I want Republican governing without a viable opposition party.
OSC has been saying things like this for some years now. Yes, he really means it. Personally, I'd be in favor of a centrist party inhabited by the likes of Rudy and Arnold. My private theory is that about 60% of the people are close to the centrist position taken by Rudy and Arnold, with 20% left-wing fringe and 20% right-wing fringe. Take away the fringes and you are left with the middle 60%, whose similarities ought to be able to overcome their differences.
It is the extremism on all sides we must expose and oppose. The Dems are not the only ones with a far side to their party. Look at the impeachment proceedings and the expressions on the faces of Lindsey Graham and Tom Delay as they carried the articles to the Senate. They were smiling and proud and I don't think they had any right to be. I don't think it was a proud moment for our country. We must be able to disagree without rancor and rhetoric and state our positions without trying to destroy our opponents. Good debate builds concensus!
OK, I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but I keep hearing this sentiment and I honestly don't get it.
Quote:
at a time when our country is at war, and we need to show our enemies a unified and relentless determination to defeat them.
Instead, those thirteen votes had no effect except to encourage our enemies that if they just go on killing Americans long enough, there's a party in America that will vote against continuing the war.
A congressperson voting against the President does all this? How? I just don't get it. Just because we're at war we all have to vote the same way?
If anyone can explain, that'd be great.
Thanks
Here's another way to look at this:
What we have now is the political equivalent of the Cold War -- two superpower parties, full of political professionals intent on advancing their own carrers, more concerned with staying in power than in advancing the best interests of this nation.
As a result, we get multiple, independently-targeted variants of Mutually Assured Dumbness launched at us by our own government -- from pork-barrels to wide-open-borders -- and no one appears to be able to stop it.
Other voices, not beholden to an institutionalized party like the GOP or Democratic Party, could put a stop to this, but they are effectively shut out of the legislative process ... in large part because each party uses the threat of empowering "the only other viable alternative to us" to keep voters in their camp, and away from other, uncorrupted alternatives.
These two institutions --- the GOP and Democratic Party -- are like two trees that have fallen together in the forest. Each is supported only by the other pushing against it ... while both end up blocking the sunlight out below them.
How do we end the Mutually Assured Dumbness? By reducing the institutions that perpetrate it to insignificance. However, history has shown that taking both down simultaneously is virtually impossible. One, then the other, must fall.
The minority of No-rons who have hijacked the apparatus of the Democratic party are presenting us with an opportunity to take just such a course of action.
Let them take that party to self-destruction ... for when that happens, the GOP loses its ability to continue with "politics as usual" because they will no longer have the threat of the loony Left to hold over our heads. We can replace them, not with moonbats, but with people who actually give a rip about our national interest.
Do not worry about one-party rule if this happens -- for the American people will not let that last long. Frankly, my hope is that we end up with "no-party" rule -- that our Executive and Legislative branches will not be populated with Democrats, or Republicans ... or Libertarians, or Greens, or Socialists ...
... but just Americans.
Birds of a feather flock together.
It is natural for people of a like mind to gather with those of the same opinion. Who wants to hang out with people that don't think like you do? I think the problems start when people dig in their heels and close their minds to other ideas. In politics it's all about power so whoever is in power get's to impose their ideas on others. We see the problem with the 2 party system but would a third or fourth party be better or would it just make for more heel marks? Maybe the trick is to get the open minded people in power in the parties but then I wonder with the corrupting influence of power would they stay open minded for long?
What the hell do I know, maybe we're just doomed to being human!
I've had OSC linked on my sidebar almost since I started my blog. Some inteligent writing going on over there.