 |  |
 
October 2012
August 2012 July 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003
     |
 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! September 4, 2008 Democrat Response to Palin SpeechBy GreyhawkOver on NPR's web site they've posted the Obama response to Sarah Palin's speech. There's no additional commentary from anyone at NPR, just the text: Obama Camp Response to Palin SpeechNo shockers there - if you aren't familiar with the Obama camp's response to everything about McCain, it's that McCain is Bush. That response could easily have been written before the speech, giving Mr Burton a chance to catch up on some sleep. Nothing wrong with that. Likewise it's fine for NPR to publish the response. I like NPR. I enjoy listening to NPR. But they also have a comment function. Ten of the first dozen comments appear to come from Obama supporters (or at least McCain/Palin opposition). That doesn't shock me either - NPR has a reputation as "liberal". As "intellectual" too. A couple of those comments are fairly innocuous... The press are so easily impressed my an actor...She should win an academy award not the Vice Presidency. Sent by sue b | 3:52 AM ET | 09-04-2008...and - to be honest, vague. Unless there's a mailing list they're on but I'm not then I'm not sure why these folks believe I would know exactly what aspect of her speech was "acting" (I assume beyond normal levels for a political speech) or exactly why "force" is bad. (I used force to open a peanut butter jar just the other day.) "Michael", on the other hand, was disturbed by Palin's unscientific view of global warming, and her lack of an inspiring "aura" like Obama's: In considering Gov. Palin and her comments, bear in mind that if McCain is elected, she has a good chance of becoming president. The speech was professionally delivered and written by someone else. It was heavy on attacking Obama, with no new ideas (other than drill like a drunken sailor) or original thought. Country first, perhaps, but we are in a very interconnected world, with serious problems. We cannot ignore global warming any more than John McCain could opt to ignore his melanoma. When it comes to medicine we take scientific information seriously. Why not respect science in other cases? It can also be said for Obama that his aura of leadership really inspires. This is important, and I sensed no such inspiration in Palin's speech. Sorry, but I'm not ready to roll the dice on President Palin.And "kyle" is concerned about losing the votes of the "Women not wearing their thinking caps" who could be "brainwashed" if Obama doesn't give Hillary some money to pay off her "dept": this is a letter i'm about to send via email and u.s. postal to high profile Dems and the Obama staff members, each of them:While "Beth-Ann" has created her own Republican Policies to oppose: The McCain/Paulin 2008 Domestic and Foreign PoliciesShe's very witty - compared to the rest. And I love her call for "eduction". I think Americans can benefit greatly from eduction. Next, Palin is an evil danger to our country: This woman is evil. Our country is in danger. someone PLEASE stop this before our country gets out of control...oh wait..it has already been out of control for 8 years. Do I have to move to canada if Caribou Barbie gets elected?They never keep that promise. A few minutes later "Kathleen" starts out okay, but can't keep her sanity beyond 1.5 sentences: McCain's choice for running-mate shows complete distain for the people outside his own party. Palin is no fence-builder who can be trusted to lead the entire nation; instead I fear she would dance gleefully around a fire upon which burned all the liberals and Democrats, environmentalists, women's rights advocates, and non-Christians of this nation. If Obama becomes President, I know he'll be respectful of the beliefs of those who now support McCain. It's not a mutual respect. If McCain wins, I'll be applying for citizenship in Canada as a political refugee.Canada is awful close to Alaska, though. "Valle" seems to combine all the feelings of hate expressed by the others with the imaginary positions technique employed by "Beth-Ann": "Saint" Palin shoots wolves from the sky, guts moose publicly and gleefully, treats her opponents (Lydia Green) cruely and without regard, yields power abusively, wants to tear up the alaskan wildlife refuge, thinks global warming is the name of a beauty salon, lies about her political activities, beleives Alaskas proximity to Russia gives her foreign poicy expertise, and beleives no woman has any right what so ever to choose her reproductive destiny. And worst of all, she and MCinsane will probably win. It makes my heart sick. And by the way, how can she be so pro life and so hell bent on killing everything else?But perhaps - after all that - the most amazing comment is this one from L. Schexnider, who assures us that the liberal-burning, hell bent on killing everything but babies, global warming-causing, evil, dangerous Palin and her Republican cohorts have only one weapon to use against real Americans - FEAR! It is so unfortunate that the Republicans have but one weapon: fear. Fear Obama because he's a Muslim; fear Obama because he's eloquent; fear Obama because he's got an Ivy League education; fear Obama because he speaks of hope and change! Um, I may be wrong, but arent' those the same qualities our forefathers possessed when they proposed our separation from England? Maybe the Republicans should take their own advice and be fearful of no change at all.I'm not sure either, but if "L" is right I imagine our Ivy League educted, eloquent Muslim "forefathers" might be turning over in their graves (and perhaps annoying our foremothers in the next casket over). Or maybe "L" didn't mean what "L" wrote. Finally, if "Judy Smith" is arguing in favor of Democrats, she might want to read her comrades' comments next time before adding her own thoughts: Haven't we had enough "force", name calling and demeaning of people who do not agree with you? It has been 8 years of this and it hasn't worked. We need real change.This isn't from the keyboard kommandoes at the Sniffington Post or Daily Kooze. Again, that's ten of the first twelve comments, unedited, from NPR readers. (The other two appear to be from Republicans). Perhaps NPR commenters aren't representative of "mainstream" Democratic thought and are merely a lunatic fringe of the Party. I've got nothing against against NPR and don't hold them responsible for that content - and I'll repeat, I enjoy NPR radio myself. They simply posted the Obama response and let others have their say - a big reason I love America. But I am thankful that Mudville commenters - regardless of their political leanings - are a much more thoughtful, intelligent, and freethinking lot than this strange and sad crew. Posted by Greyhawk / September 4, 2008 10:58 PM | Permalink 3 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 |
Comments (0) |
|
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 don't know. I think Beth-Ann has given me something to seriously consider. I've never really thought about Obstience Eduction.
What truly scares me is that they probably vote!
On September 5, Obama (Obama Bin….?) gave one of his floundering
"speeches" at which he was looking at
notes prepared for him by his "experts." As was inevitable he touched
on the "energy issue" and how the Democrats would use all resources
(me too, now that Mc Cain said that before). One of the resources he
read off his notes was "Hydrogen." That would be difficult, the
Candidate said, because there are just so many rivers and the
geography makes it difficult to harness them all or words to that
effect.
The Candidate obviously does not distinguish between hydroelectric power (of
which there is only so much available and only about 12 to 20 percent
of the total electric power generation in the USA is hydroelectric)
and the chimera of using hydrogen as "energy source" which does not
exist in nature and must therefore be produced either by electrolysis
or natural gas reformation both of which processes require
theoretically as much energy as one can obtain from the "produced"
hydrogen and in practice about 60% more. Therefore hydrogen is not a fuel in
the ordinary sense but only an energy carrier (just as a battery is, for instance)
and one still has to get the energy elsewhere in order to produce hydrogen.
Obama apparently does not know this although if he spent an afternoon
with a few handbooks he might be able to grasp this "issue" as in fact
everyone can and, in our opinion, should.
But he will not do that, he seems too lazy. Do you want someone like that
run the United States?
The first thing that strikes me after reading those comments is the appalling level of spelling abilities on the part of the left. Why won't these people proofread their posts before posting?