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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! December 3, 2005 Conversation...By Greyhawk... with a burrito. A loaded burrito. Milblogging at it's... er... Lexiest. After that, read his personal reflections on a certain fighter pilot/sailor who fell from grace with the (political) sea - and landed in the headlines. (Hint: his name rhymes with Randy "Duke" Cunningham.) Or just start at the top and scroll... (But really, don't miss the burrito.) Posted by Greyhawk / December 3, 2005 10:12 PM | Permalink 16 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 |
I have zero sympathy for Cunningham. A congressman gets paid nearly $200,000 a year. The median wage in the United States is about $25,000 a year. If you’re in political life and you steal money and they catch you doing it, you belong in jail. Democrat or Republican. I cry no tears. Good riddance to the crook.
In the end, that burrito got the better of me.
It was ever thus.
Did Hell just freeze over?
For the first time, Wilson, you and I are in basic agreement over something. The only bone I'd pick is to say that the relative levels of income do not matter when it comes to this. Graft is graft, whether you're paid $25K or $200K.
Put it this way: If you go to Mexico or pre-hurricane New Orleans, you'd find out that the police aren't paid enough to live on. Corruption is inevitable in such environments. Still unacceptable, but certainly more understandable. But when the corrupt one is starting off with seven or eight times the average American wage, I personally find it all the more outrageous. It's why I find myself reacting as vehemently as I do, and my attitude is no different for Repubs and Demos.
But, of course, that's because I apply a single standard to everything. Not an inflexible standard, but a single standard. As opposed to the American rightwingnut, who is perfectly comfortable with lies, war, death and torture as long as his favorite wingnut Republicans are doing it.
By the way, another myth about the Liar in Chief just bit the dust today. His recent rah-rah speech on the war was the product of a polling expert. It figures. Frankly, the way to understand your Fake President is to listen to what he says and assume the direct opposite.
http://w3t.org/?u=ej5
Is it safe to say that the temporary comity between Wilson and Rich is now drowned in the rising waters of smug, self-satisfied, moral superciliousness?
Or not?
Couldn't you even generate two logical paragraphs, before you start the Baghdad Willy routine?
I do not buy the line that corruption is inevitible in impoverished environments. My own father's experience, growing up in the redneck ghetto of Appalachia, gives the lie to that. Just as in wealthy environments, the vast majority are honest -- but a few bad apples show up and make things bad for the rest. In his environment, those who were corrupt, usually, already had their money to begin with ... they just wanted more.
If the cops aren't getting paid enough, then they need to fire their management and get new jobs that pay better. They are not stuck in either New Orleans or in police work. Either they are right -- and the elected leadership will be held accountable by the public for their stinginess -- or they are wrong -- and everyone is better off. The feedback between liberty and consequence is tight and strong here.
Corruption is more inevitible when the government has inserted itself into the world of commerce (including labor) to a degree well beyond its structural capability to manage -- and ignores the inalienable rights of its people while doing it. That is the case, IMO, in socialist Mexico -- the feedback loop between liberty and consequence has been broken by government involvement, allowing corruption to flourish and impoverish the people -- not the other way around.
As for Bush's speech:
(1) never trust the first report from a war zone, or the NYT ...
(2) by your standard, you should protest EVERY presidential candidate, from all parties ... for they expect us to elect them based on poll-tailored speeches. The only possible exceptions to this are the "cowboys" like Reagan and our current President.
(3) ever consider that the pollster's influence could have been this?
"The American people expect the truth, Mr. President -- it's time to drop the "uniter not divider" civility and go head-to-head with the arrogant elitists who lead your opposition."
Just keep going off half-cocked, Wilson ... you make Greyhawk's (and my) task easier.
Cunningham has had an inflated opinion of himself for a long time. He has been rude to some military families I know and was known long ago for his unwillingness to fly against the Top Gun instructors. The theory was that he was unwilling to be embarrassed. That comes from the first Marine Top Gun instructor.
From there it took just a little more hubris to think he could get away with that dumb stunt of selling his house for $700,000 more than it was worth to a defense company guy.
by your standard, you should protest EVERY presidential candidate, from all parties ... for they expect us to elect them based on poll-tailored speeches. The only possible exceptions to this are the "cowboys" like Reagan and our current President
I don't care if a president uses pollsters. Having their policy speeches drafted by a pollster goes a little far, though. In the Fake President's case it's especially outrageous given that he and his Jawohl! crowd constantly bleat about how he doesn't care about the polls.
That, like everything else farted out from the Bush crew and their amen chorus, is total bullshit as shown by His Fraudulence delivering a "plan" written by his pollster.
Speaking of corruption, New York's corrupt Republican state government worked closely with George W. Bush's corrupt federal government to allow fat cat crooks to loot the 9/11 funds intended to help small businesses wiped out by the attacks. Not that the Jawohl! crowd could give a rat's ass, because if it's done by Republicans then it's not corruption.
http://w3t.org/?u=eja
Wilson, you remind me of the monkeys at the zoo -- throw any kind of dung they can get their hands on at the wall, to see what sticks.
Over on Grey Eagle's blog, you have yet to respond DIRECTLY to the evidence she presented that gives the lie to your assertions that this war is designed for America to control the oil. Instead, you blow off the patrols as a "fig leaf" and continue with your rants.
All this is evidence of running out of defensible ideas -- in fact, I'd say that your tank hit "E" a long time ago ... and the fume level there is approaching a vacuum.
So instead, you act as a parrot for MoveOn/Soros anarchy.
Don't worry, Rich. Your Liar in Chief will cut and run next year. Then we can both be happy.
http://w3t.org/?u=ekq
Lex,
it's never safe to say super..... You need special equipment for that.
She sells seashells by the seashore ...
Wilson keeps going on about this "Liar-in-chief" character.
Not being American, I don't know who he's referring to. John Kerry? Ted Kennedy? John Murtha?
Please help me out here. There's so many liars to choose from, I don't know which one is the chief he's referring to.
Thanks.
The one and only George W. Bush, who deserted in Vietnam, lied about his service record, lied during both of his presidential campaigns, lied to entice the U.S. into a war that it is now losing and lied about the use of torture. He will lie as he cuts and runs from that war, too. That is why your Fake President, George W. Bush, is the Liar in Chief.
Funny you should describe Murtha as a liar. Goes to show that the rightwingnuts are phonies when it comes to patriotism and support for the military. You hate your country and you hate the people who fight for it -- unless they are rightwingnuts like yourselves.
...am I the only one picturing Kolb looking like the Emperor from the Star Wars series. All grey and deformed from the hatred and such?
(...okay, I might be the only SF geek posting here, so it's possible.) ;)