 |  |
 
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, 2010 ShiversBy GreyhawkMemo to colleagues from AP standard's editor:
From where I sit this is welcome, the media buy-in on this particular narrative has been disturbing, and raises broader concerns. As previously noted here, one can make the case that the war is ongoing (as the AP apparently will) or that it ended a couple years ago ("We can also say the United States has ended its major combat role in Iraq..." the memo explains - though exactly when that happened isn't specified), but any case for "change" occurring this month is purely Orwellian. Glenn Greenwald believes the AP is acting out of jealousy at having been left out of an NBC exclusive. He notes the NBC/MSNBC coverage included the familiar goosebumps and shivers references that must be (I suspect) in some memo to colleagues on the peacock letterhead: As Olbermann indicated, Maddow was in Baghdad's "Green Zone," and she explained: "it is really, really hot right now. But yet, seeing what we just saw, right here live with that gate closing, the last U.S. combat troop, I'm totally covered in goose bumps. It is an important moment."More from Geenwald: By offering it exclusively to both NBC and MSNBC, the Pentagon ensured that this narrative would be given the Seriousness imprimatur from NBC, and would produce base-pleasing, Obama-favorable praise from MSNBC personalities. Having Engel embedded in a Stryker vehicles as it "rolled out" of Iraq, and Maddow stationed in the Green Zone, added to the historic tone of the evening. As The New York Times' Brian Stelter reported: "David Verdi, an NBC News vice president, added, 'The military had said, 'You are the ones who are going to broadcast it first'." About that, Mediaite's Steve Kraukauer wrote: "That's a stunning admission, and shows a degree of coziness between both sides here." With this cooperative venture, the White House got exactly the coverage it wanted: the repeatedly hyped claim that under Barack Obama, "American combat forces are leaving Iraq," as Olbermann intoned at the start. But there's a bit of a stretch here - the only "exclusive" NBC got was a ride-along with the actual brigade, and it's not likely any NBC-competitor would have been denied the same access had they wanted it. From the coverage I saw on CNN, their enthusiasm wasn't dampened by not having a reporter actually in this month's south-bound convoy. Added: I got the distinct impression Greenwald is convinced the Pentagon is somehow orchestrating this little Iraq charade to please the occupants of the White House. That may be so - there are any number of folks in high enough places there who very literally owe their jobs to the current president. But take a look at how Secretary Gates himself described the events of the day to the American Legion: "Tomorrow, Operation Iraqi Freedom will officially become Operation New Dawn, a change that recognizes that Iraqis have assumed full responsibility for their own security." There's a subtle message in those carefully chosen words emphasizing nothing more than a name change - and another subtle message in the words not spoken. And among other terms unspoken were any claims that the last combat brigade has left Iraq, or even that American combat in Iraq was a thing of the past. The closest point to the Party Line was a reference to "the end of the formal combat mission" - and in a quote like that from a man like that the extra modifier ("formal," if you missed it) is not something uttered without careful thought and consideration. Of course, subtlety is lost on folks looking for goosebumps and shivers. Posted by Greyhawk / September 4, 2010 7:48 AM | Permalink 1 TrackBackA brief review from part one:Here's a graph from an earlier post, with a couple of additions. This depicts American combat deaths in Iraq from late 2006 to now, as recorded and reported by icasualties.org. For a full explanation of what you're seeing, ... 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 |
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 |
We really need to be on our toes here for the next few months. This administration has got to do whatever it can to keep the GOP from being successful in taking over Congress.
That means that whatever lies they must tell, whatever situation they must manipulate. They've flat out stolen elections in Oregon and Minnesota and done their best to bribe other politicians to keep them out of races they consider inconvenient.
That corrupt swamp Nan Nan said she was going to drain seems to be full up to the brim with all sorts of nasty little goings on. If we don't fight them now, we'll be fighting them for years to come.
Don't forget, folks, there ain't no term limits yet. That means you get a wishy washy candidate in a spot they like, no matter how badly they do their job or how little they can be counted on to support the party, you're more than likely stuck with them until they retire or are voted out. I mean, look at Arizona. They've got a candidate there that should have retired nearly two years ago. Despite a miserably bad presidential campaign said candidate was just effectively given another term in the Senate. This even though this particular candidate has done a lot of damage to the national party through repeated efforts to make nice nice with the other side.
There's been way too much "crossing the aisle" in recent years. Compromise is one thing, capitulation is another.
Call it what they like, I will continue to believe that leaving the Iraqi people in the lurch like this is wrong. I don't care what promises were made to the anti-war left. Their concerns are NOT for the safety and security of the Iraqi people. Nor are they concerned for the FREEDOM of the women and little girls in Iraq. They're concerned with being able to say their candidate put and end to Bush's evil war. These are the same people who still believe Iraq was a better, safer, more pleasant place to live during Saddam's reign of terror.
I will never understand how these folks can sleep at night and call themselves believes in women's liberation when they'd willingly see the rape rooms continued, the mutilation of little girls and the subjugation of a people who, thanks to Bush's evil war, had been slowly pulling themselves up to live in the light of freedom.
But then I guess these are the same folks who want to shut down Fox News and shut up talk radio because they don't like what either entity says and/or believes. I guess the only thing they really believe in is their own freedom, not the freedom of others.
I apologize for the weird mistakes in the above comment. I've got Parkinson's disease and sometimes what I think I'm typing in isn't what I type in. I usually re-read things over and over so I can fix it, but my brain decided to go on its own somewhere else today and this has left me making some weird mistakes. This is a great site and a really great post. Thanks for all the hard work.