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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! January 13, 2011 Dear Tea Party MoronsBy Greyhawk
(Previously in the "imaginary but honest letters" category: Dear Abby, September 2009.) Posted by Greyhawk / January 13, 2011 4:00 PM | 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 |
As I look at this, it does appear that somebody is a little testy, but he is, “right on target”. The problem they don't see is this, no matter what we think, we need to change. Let's just step back and take a look at the situation. First, we have been in the Persian Gulf Region, on military basis, for over 20 years. This takes us back to the First Persian Gulf War. How much flight time have we put on our older airframes? As the Secretary of Defense starts to speak about the upcoming Military Budget, what do we need to focus upon? Yes, weapon systems, but we also need to start talking about the human cost of war. Don't forget, there are many aspects to this human cost.
Do yourselves a favor, don't take my word for it, read it for yourself. I don't kid myself, I don't have*the*answer. There is a great deal of information that is not public. Therefore, it is impossible to give a complete answer. I am not impressed with the links' and their authors. There were many things going on behind the scenes, that I don't believe were right, but that is my problem. Greyhawk,*THANK YOU*, for writing this thread.
How sweet. I see you've taken the soothing words of our president to heart. And such a persuasive missive! Charming. Now, can I get you some Tea?
So nano - did you read grumpy? Still think this was an unfair characterisation?
I grew tired of the "well the Right is wearing short skirts so they deserve what's coming to them" argument a long time ago.
No matter how nasty the message, ending it with 'Peace out' always makes everything OK.
After such an idiotic screed no plan should depend upon your brains or be taken seriously. Grow up.
Thank you for your service and blah blah blah.
Now that the niceties are over, let's hate fuck each other. Figures you'd make me come to your house. Since I have a job, I'm probably gonna have to leave money on the dresser, too.
Stupid lazy liberals.
You self righteous, inconsistent pricks - rub this: If you want to end the fucking wars, stop putting fucking welfare over warfare on your fucking list of fucking priorities.
You dumbasses had almost 70% of the voting country against the Republicans because they were tired of the fucking wars in 2006. (They either stayed home or pulled a D in the booth that doesn't show the funky movies your grandma starred in.)
What did you predictable legendary dumbasses do? You fucking ignored and ridiculed the most anti-war candidates out there because you bought into the bullshit that anti-war candidates were racists who were going to shut off your government cheese and monthly cash flows.
The guy who got the most money from the troops? You fucking relished the bipartisian effort to destroy him.
Here's the goddammed deal, profane semi-literate assholes: Cutting spending is what the TEA party is after, and if you think that can be done without making some cuts to the military, then you're even dumber than your agnostic public schooled too-much-self-esteem bastard offspring.
You want bi-partisianship? You're gonna have to give up some cash, and frankly, history shows that you're the party of the cheap whores, emphasis on the cheap.
Y0u and yours had everything you needed to end this empire-building shit, which, incidentally, was all the rage during the Clinton years too. In fact, we were dumb enough to vote for Bush because he and his ex-Democrat friends promised that they would end the godammed expensive nation-building bullshit. We took it up the butt with him, that's for sure.
But you and yours - you fucked us too. In 2008, you didn't even pretend to vote anti-war. Your president of choice promised he'd move the war to Pakistan, and he sure as hell did that. First week in office, bombing a fucking Pakistan funeral, from a chicken-shit unmanned drone none the less.
So here's the deal, dumbasses: We already voted for you guys, twice, to end the wars. As usual, you shirked all signs of any responsibility and screwed the taxpayers.
Do you fucking think we're stupid enough to do it again? It's your turn to bite the bullet and pick a different strategy. Here's the fucking hard truth:
You want to end the wars? You're gonna have to stop spitting and swallow that residue that your strong black man is leaving in your mouth, and pick a guy like Ron Paul, Gary Johnson or Pat Buchanan. (Because frankly, Dennis Kucinich is little pussy.)
You can't do it, and both sides are betting you sell out, because it's easier than actually assuming responsibility for your own miserable lives.
Greedy fuckers.
Now if you'll excuse me, this place is nasty. I'll shower at my house.
AngelaTC,
Absolutely great post; you give me hope for the future.
Agree or disagree with the war foreign policy and war is something the Federal Government is expected to handle. Most other things they do these days should be handled lower on the food chain (where those most effected can vote on it) or not at all.
The Tea Partiers are consistent if you actually listen to what they saying and not what the New York Times says they are saying.
Ummm... isn't this satire? Illustrating absurdity by being absurd? Tongue in cheek?
Is he not making fun of the left by screeding like they do?
Does this sound like the Grover Norquist we know?
I linked through to the article on Norquist's statements regarding the Afghan war, and found his views to be pretty reasonable. Seems to me that we need to look at whether it makes sense to continue spending American lives as well as gobs of money that we don't have in light of the benefit to be gained by "victory" (however that might be defined in this case). I don't see any benefit that we are likely to obtain that justifies the ongoing cost. Again, we are running deficits in excess of a trillion dollars a year, and that cannot and so will not continue indefinitely. We need to make tough choices regarding how to spend our money. There are many, many things that I think we should prioritize over thumping religious fanatics in a landlocked mountainous medieval tribal society on the other side of the Earth. I would much rather have a fiscally strong nation that does not control the Khyber Pass than a bankrupt one that does.
Ummm... isn't this satire? Illustrating absurdity by being absurd? Tongue in cheek?
Is he not making fun of the left by screeding like they do?
Does this sound like the Grover Norquist we know?
Well, RJ, you have certainly won me over, with your reasoned, civil, and rational discourse.
Please post this all over the web, either before or after your shower, and we will all be voting for Ron Paul in no time!
We figure that with your numbers and our brains we'll have Barack America out of this tar baby mess
RACIST!
Cordially,
Uncle J
Well, it appears that some people think they have some answers to questions. But, do they have the right questions? We are a nation in debt, I know that you already know that, but do you really understand it? I don't care about any of the Arabian or Persian countries, you always run into this major issue of corruption. I don't mean just a little bit, I mean like a 50–50 split with a singular official. There was a time when there was a solution to this issue. After little solution was applied, a few times, people got the hint. Of course, now in a politically correct world, this is frowned upon. What we now have is not just one official, but many officials doing the same thing and only a small percentage actually get to the people. My question to you is this, the how much longer do you think we can continue financially? I am not just talking about borrowing money. The nation needs to collectively pull its head out, wash his face, clean its teeth and smell the coffee. Good grief, we might even want to have a cup. Part of the problem, as I see it, we have many loyal troops on the ground. They look at this situation and say, “Look, I'll stay here so they'll never need to come here.” I admire and respect their goal. But let's step back in time and take a look at things. If we look at the First Persian Gulf War, what do we see? We see the stated view was focused on Saddam Hussein and our desire to remove him. The small nation of Kuwait was another focal point. In the background, was a nation who claims to be one of our allies, Saudi Arabia. But during the First Persian Gulf War, the Saudis were not happy with us bringing our non-Muslim Chaplains and our Military Women. To put it mildly, there were issues. As I understand it, the US gave the Saudis and ultimatum to make a choice. As we all know, the war went on, both in the air and on the ground. But we only have a partial perception of what actually happened at that time. Let's move our focus to just after 9/11. The man who was President of the US, was George W. Bush, he laid out a policy on how we were going to approach this horrible attack. One of the points, was this, “If you help or assist a terrorist organization then you are an enemy of the United States.” In Saudi Arabia, things like a telethon required Royal Family approval, so they could get their cut of 52%. After 9/11, such a telethon was held in many of the Arabian countries. Did this event make the Saudis become terrorists? I personally believe that Saudis are playing both sides of the fence and therefore getting their 52% cut either way. But what about the Bush doctrine?
The amazing thing for our troops on the ground is this, many went to spare others from going through this. I would hope they were right, but I don't believe it. From everything I know, I don't believe it. Even though we have agreements to leave by a certain date, I don't think they will ever be ready, I believe this is one of choice not necessity. I wish I were wrong, but everything appears to be a multi-generational war, for many generations. It is strange, as I look at it, my Great-Grandmother was a nurse during the civil war and her Great-Grandmother was a nurse during the Revolutionary War. The War that we are facing will last for many many generations. The amazing thing is this, this is just in the short history of a nation that we call the United States. When you start talking about that region of the world they have been fighting since the beginning of time.
There's an old saying from my part of the world, “You decide when to start it and I'll decide when it's over.” You can not just dabble in this part of the world and that is axactly what we have been doing.