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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! November 3, 2005 Open PostBy GreyhawkThere was a problem with trackbacks - but I think it's fixed. Don't forget to Support Valour-IT!!Posted by Greyhawk / November 3, 2005 10:51 PM | Permalink 23 TrackBacksToday's dose of NIF - News, Interesting & Funny ... It's Stop the ACLU Thursday (+ OpenTrackbacks) Read More Morbid predictions regarding the deadly potential of the Avian Flu Virus have begun to come true in the formerly tranquil north of France. The disease appears to have taken a foothold right in the heart of Paris itself, with new Read More Senator Joseph Biden today slammed Republicans for their support of a $100B Food and Farm Bill which, he said, “contains an outrageous lack of funding for nutritional rosaries.”... Read More I support the troops, she said reflexively, ...but...we all know that the people that join the military are the type that want to kill people. It is not as if there are artists, writers or thinkers in the military. Thus began my conversation with X. I ... Read More Washington Times editor Tony Blankley calls the successful opposition to the Miers nomination a Rosa Parks moment for the conservative opposition. He explains why. Blankley's always good reading. And I agree with most, but not all, of what he say... Read More Over at All Things Beautiful, Alexandra asks if its possible for liberals and conservatives to have a civil debate over the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. After thinking about the issue, my own opinion is that while such a civ... Read More Michelle Malkin has recently launched her book, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild. She was interviewed recently about the book on Bill O'Reilly's show. One thing I find very intriguing about her book is that, rather than put quotes on the Read More
VDH: Read More This bit of amazing judicial flatulence discharged by that friend of the ACLU the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has begun making the rounds of the blogosphere. A couple of things stand out to me: Read More The plain simple fact is that Alito voted in favor of partial birth abortion as a fundamental right. We don’t need to go any further than that. It doesn’t matter why or how. There can be and is no good excuse or reason for doing so. Ever. And ther... Read More In cases such as these, it is clear that for many, the notion of multiculturalism has effectively caused a rejection of the notion of universal human rights that came out of the Enlightenment. No longer do these people see natural rights of liberty, ... Read More Calif. legislators, public employees’ unions, teachers’ unions, and the gimme crowd are aflame with passion to defeat this threatening set of propositions that would modify the state constitution. VOTE YES on all the Governator’s ref... Read More According to this absurd advertisement, people who wear glasses need to keep getting stronger and stronger prescriptions. Obviously, the reason for this is that the glasses are causing the degradation in visual capacity. Right? I don't know. Is it, m... Read More National Ammo Day (buy 100 rounds) is November 19, 2005. I might be a bit early since I'll be getting my 100 rounds this Saturday or Sunday. Visit A Nation of Riflemen. Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.... Read More Apparently, I was right to be skeptical of the CBS poll released yesterday showing, among other things, President Bush with an approval rating of only 35%. Read More Say you are a creative, successful, attractive blonde woman who has put most of her energy into building a business, and as you hit 48 you still have not met your soul mate? What do you do after trying dating services, blind dates and connections t... Read More National Post A Toronto District School Board memo sent to principals and teachers this week say that teachers should forgo traditional classroom Halloween celebrations because they are disrespectful of Wiccans and may cause some children to feel e... Read More Liberty BellWhat other kind of work is there? The Family Research Council is hosting Justice Sunday III to support an up or down vote for Judge Alito. Philadelphia December 4th, 4p to 10p. So why would anyone wish to... Read More Greenspan’s Federal Reserve has raised interest rates for the twelfth quater in a row. Fears of future inflation. Now, I’m just a country economist, but I can read. Energy prices are up, but almost everything else is steady or in decline.... Read More Why is it acceptable to use racial attacks on someone because they are Black and conservative? I understand that running for office is a dirty game, but doesn't that cross the line? Democrats always claim that it is the Republicans that want to retur... Read More “Let’s stand up for our nurses and our teachers and our police and our firefighters,” says Actor Warren Beatty in a new ad paid for by the nurses union. Why isn’t he saying let’s stand up for our DMV clerks who won’... Read More I would guess that, at some point, I may well become subject to speech restrictions on the Internet that the FEC, entrenched special interests, the mainstream media and anti-free speech oligarchies would love to see. There's more yet to say... Read More Every item on that list is something I can relate to, something true, something hard. But then there were some other things on the list I couldn't relate to. I snipped them off. You can read them at the original if you like, but they are not necessaril... Read More 2 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 |
We interrupt this Republican love-fest to bring you some reality-based news about your Idiot-in-Chief. Bush's approval ratings are sinking fast and are now even lower than Nixon's at the same point in Nixon's second term.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110301685.html
"The CIA leak case has apparently contributed to a withering decline in how Americans view Bush personally. The survey found that 40 percent now view him as honest and trustworthy -- a 13 percentage point drop in the past 18 months. Nearly six in 10 -- 58 percent -- said they had doubts about Bush's honesty, the first time in his presidency that more than half the country has questioned his personal integrity. ...
"Beyond the leak case, Americans give the administration low ratings on ethics, according to the survey, with 67 percent rating the administration negatively on handling ethical matters, while just 32 percent give the administration positive marks. Four in 10 -- 43 percent -- say the level of ethics and honesty in the federal government has fallen during Bush's presidency, while 17 percent say it has risen. ...
"Nearly seven in 10 -- 68 percent -- currently believe the country is seriously off-course while only 30 percent are optimistic, the lowest level in more than nine years. Only three in 10 express high levels of confidence in Bush while half say they have little or no confidence in this administration. ...
"Among independents, Bush's approval has plummeted since the beginning of the year. In the latest poll, 33 percent of independents approved of his performance, while 66 disapproved. In January, independents were evenly divided, with 49 percent approving and an equal percentage disapproving. ...
"Six in 10 now believe the United States was wrong to invade Iraq, a 7-point increase in just over two months, with almost half the country saying they strongly believe it was wrong.
"The war has taken a toll on the administration's credibility, with a clear majority -- 55 percent -- now say the administration deliberately mislead the country in making its case for war with Iraq -- a conflict that an even larger majority say was not worth the cost.About three in four -- 73 percent -- said there have been an unacceptable level of casualties in Iraq. More than half -- 52 percent -- said the war with Iraq has not contributed to the long-term security of the United States. ...
"Bush also set new lows in the latest Post-ABC News poll for his management of the economy, where disapproval topped 60 percent for the first time in his presidency. And six in 10 are critical of the way Bush is dealing with health care -- a double-digit increase since March. On gasoline prices, Bush's numbers have increased slightly over the past two months, but still remain highly negative, with just 26 percent rating him positively.
"The survey suggests a rapidly widening gulf between Bush and the American people/Two in three say Bush doesn't understand the problems of people like them, a 10 percentage-point increase since January.
"Nearly six in 10 -- 58 percent -- doubt Bush shares their values while 40 percent say he does, another new low for this president. For the first time since he took office, fewer than half -- 47 percent -- currently say Bush is a strong leader, and Americans divide equally over whether Bush can be trusted in a crisis."
But worry not, FoxNews reports that 108% of the American public thinks Bush is the bestest preznit we've ever had. And who can be surprised, given that Fox is paying Rep. Tom DeLay's travel bills these days.
http://www.politicalmoneyline.com/docs/betterfoxtrip.pdf