Open Post

Open Post.

Eat drink and be merry.

From the Front

Your forward-deployed MilBlogger of the day is El Capitan of Dude, Where's The Beach? - My Hitchhikers Guide to Life. Though he's no longer there, a while back he was deployed to Ganci Air Base, Kyrgyzstan. (Surely all well informed blogospere residents knew we had a base there?)

Here's his post about being there.

And here he shares an email from someone there now.

MilBloggers - we go everywhere so you don't have to.

The Looming Doom

Iraq - been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. Now I'm home, safe and sound with my family, something for which I give thanks every day. And almost every day it seems I read something that tells me I beat the odds. Take this story, for instance, depicting a potential crisis emerging at VA healthcare facilities

Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans

Funding cuts could overburden system

As many as one out of four veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals in the past 16 months were diagnosed with mental disorders, a number that has been steadily rising, according to a report in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

Records show that 20% of eligible ex-soldiers came to VA hospitals seeking medical treatment between October 2003 and February 2005. Overall, 26% of them were diagnosed with mental disorders, say Han Kang and Kenneth Hyams of the VA.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was most common, diagnosed in 10% of patients, followed by drug or alcohol abuse (9%). Seven percent were diagnosed with depression; 6% had anxiety disorders, such as phobias and panic. Many ex-soldiers had multiple disorders, Kang says.

But these are tentative diagnoses. Sometimes they were made by primary-care doctors and not yet confirmed by mental health specialists, he says.

Some frightening numbers, but like the oft-cited suicide statistic (raw numbers are often tossed about, but it's rarely noted that military suicides lag those of similar demographics in the civilian sector) the meaningful data would be how do these veteran's numbers compare to the population as a whole?

Drug or alcohol abuse was diagnosed in 9% of patients. All Americans:

An estimated 17.6 million American adults (8.5 percent) meet standard diagnostic criteria for an alcohol use disorder and approximately 4.2 million (2 percent) meet criteria for a drug use disorder. Overall, about one-tenth (9.4 percent) of American adults, or 19.4 million persons, meet clinical criteria for a substance use disorder -- either an alcohol or drug use disorder or both -- according to results from the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) reported in the current Archives of General Psychiatry [Volume 61, August 2004: 807-816].

In other words, the numbers are amazingly similar at 9 percent.

Seven percent were diagnosed with depression. Of the American population as a whole,

Dr. Kessler and his colleagues found that 6.6 percent of adults in America had major depression in a year and that 16.2 percent -- or about one in six people -- were likely to have major episodes in their lifetimes. The rates did not differ based on where people lived but varied for men and women and by income level.

Another amazing similarity.

6% had anxiety disorders, such as phobias and panic. America:

As a group, anxiety disorders afflict nearly nine percent of Americans during any six-month period. Symptoms can be so severe that patients are almost totally disabled -- too terrified to leave their homes, to enter the elevator that takes them to their offices, to attend parties or to shop for food.

Leaving PTSD - diagnosed in 10% of patients. The National Institute of Mental Health says PTSD affects about 5.2 million adult Americans. This would be about 2.5 percent of the population based on the conversions used above. You'd expect the numbers to be higher among returning combat vets - but you'd be wrong.

Sharp readers noted that there's another reduction that must be applied to the military totals above. You see, the percentages given were percentages of patients. Repeating:

Records show that 20% of eligible ex-soldiers came to VA hospitals seeking medical treatment between October 2003 and February 2005. Overall, 26% of them were diagnosed with mental disorders.

So only about one quarter of one fifth of all vets were diagnosed with any disorder. Since I took math in college I'll tell you this means only 5% of all vets were diagnosed with anything. So in reality, only 2% (10% of 20%) were diagnosed with PTSD - and this was the most common diagnosis.

If all the various claims above are accurate - and I've no reason to dispute them, the numbers turn out like this:

Percentages of all Americans / OIF and OEF Vets with

PTSD: 2.4% / 2%
Drug/Alcohol abuse: 9.4% / 1.8%
Depression: 6.6% / 1.4%
Anxiety disorders (phobias and panic): 6% / 1.2%

Let's be clear about this: returning vets deserve the best treatment available. Spare no expense! But these numbers for my fellow vets are so low they're stunning, especially in an article headlined "Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans - Funding cuts could overburden system". While that might be factual, it also appears intentionally deceptive.

Perhaps we've got another case of a missing headline?

The New PX

Mrs Greyhawk has a new job - shopkeeper!. We've already tried a few items, they look great.

Photobloggies

Very cool pictures here and here.

Found via the Photobloggies Awards, a wealth of links to some great photoblogs. (What else?)

Something for everyone, perhaps a welcome diversion for many.

Enjoy.

Take a Memo (please)

Did the Post change it's tune?

Can anyone provide a quote from a dead tree version of the Washington Post? That would be harder to modify...

Thoughts and Eulogies

The first of what will doubtless be many must-reads at the Corner are here and here.

Update: The third is here. Is there any point in linking more?

Kathryn Lopez was following this long before it was the story, was deeply invested in it but she never lost her vision or her humanity - I wish I could say that about more people. The cross-every-barrier divide on this event was illustrated quite well at the Corner, where many disagreements were aired but reason maintained.

Individual responses to the killing of Terri Schiavo (I'm somewhat of an expert on killing, this meets the definition) were indeed drawn from that deep well of the human soul where politics doesn't reach. That such a place still exists within so many of us is uplifting, perhaps awareness of it is a positive result of this dark tale.

Video of announcements.

La Shawn Barber has a host of links.

This is my Rifle, This is my Gun...

Was it the Marine with the weapon or the Marine with the 'guns' they were worried about?

I mean, any GI will tell you a school bulletin board is no place for a picture of a Marine holding his gun, after all...

Lots more here.

(Love the Marine Corps moms - but they gotta get the nomenclature straight :)

Update: Mudville readers are the best! Thanks to Jarhead Dad

Terri Schiavo RIP

Terri Schiavo is dead.

Update: Fox News:

Terri Schiavo died Thursday morning around 10 a.m. EST after her parents had plead with her husband Michael Schiavo to allow them to be at their brain-damaged daughter's bedside in her final hours, a spokesman for the family said.

According to Fox they were denied.

Update to another unrelated story:

WIESBADEN, Germany (AP) -- A military court on Thursday found a U.S. Army tank company commander guilty of charges related to the shooting death of a wounded Iraqi last year.

Capt. Rogelio "Roger" Maynulet stood at attention as Lt. Col. Laurence Mixon, the head of the six-member panel, read the verdict.

<...>

Maynulet, 30, maintained that the man was gravely wounded and he shot him to end his suffering.

The killing was filmed by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Arthur's first-blogiversary

Dear Mr & Mrs Greyhawk It's hard to believe, but it has been one year since Chrenkoff declared the beginning of major combat operations while addressing a small group of close friends onboard the aircraft carrier Australia. Thank you for your support over the past twelve months!

Chrenkoff

Best regards

Arthur

Thank You Arthur for a year of good news.

"My Shadow"

Army Times reporter, Gina Cavallaro writes about her personal experience on a tragic day in Iraq. A day where she not only witness the death of a soldier but the death of a friend.

This is a column I hoped I would never have to write. It?s about the death of a soldier... <...>

"...Martinez became my shadow, a little brother who watched out for me in the two or three hours we walked through the Tamin area of Ramadi.

Read the whole thing but be for warned take the tissues.

Blackfive featured him here

Open Post

My Blog is your Blog. Exercise free speech here. Link and comment, if not, certainly check out those who do. I've found so many great blogs that way...

From The Front - F-UN with Kosovo Edition

The UN isn't just about Oil-For-Food. Remember Kosovo? Here's the latest on UN efforts to establish a new government there:

23 March 2005 ? The United Nations administrator of Kosovo today welcomed the Kosovo Assembly's election of a new government, following the previous prime minister's resignation and surrender on war crimes charges earlier this month, as reflecting the province's democratic process and the proper functioning of institutions which have shown political maturity within the constitutional framework.

An amazing feat that only took 6 years.

The UN has run Kosovo since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave human rights abuses in the fighting between Serbs and Albanians. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo outnumber other ethnic groups, mainly Serbs, by about 9 to 1.

Of course, the UN is urging the Serbs in Belgrade to encourage the Serbs in Kosovo to participate in the Government:

The United Nations administrator of Kosovo met with top Serbian leaders in Belgrade today and urged them to encourage Kosovo Serbs to participate in the political process in the province where Albanians outnumber Serbs and other minorities 9 to 1.

No word on whether the government will be legitimate without Serb support.

Meanwhile, in a related story:

An elderly Serb couple were assaulted and severely injured on Monday by unknown attackers in their village in the northwest of Kosovo, police and medical sources in Kosovo said.

The Serbian agency SRNA said the attackers were "a gang of Albanians", though there was no independent confirmation. Attacks on minority Serbs by ethnic Albanians -- and vice versa -- have triggered cycles of revenge in the past.

The victims were identified as Nedeljko and Nevenka Vucic, aged 71 and 73. They were taken to a Serb hospital on the northern side of the divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica.

"Nedeljko had concussion and injuries caused by sharp and blunt objects. His head was severely injured, his ribs were broken. Surgery was necessary for his lungs," doctor Aleksandar Bozovic told Reuters.

"His right ear was cut off and he was stabbed with a metal object in the spine," Bozovic said.

"Nevenka has several cuts on her head and severe injuries to the chest caused by stabs and blows. Her life is endangered. She will undergo further surgery at 2 p.m.," he added.

Officials were quick to demand justice:

Calling for the perpetrators to be quickly apprehended and brought to justice, officials in Belgrade and Pristina on Tuesday (29 March) condemned an attack carried out the previous day against an elderly Kosovo Serb couple.

All of which just serves as introduction to your front-line blogger today. We first 'met' Risawn when she was still preparing to deploy, now she's in country and running two blogs in one.

She could probably use some encouragement.

But she's not alone. There's Jim, who bumped into Risawn and recognized her as "the blogger" and who is a blogger himself. He has also just recently arrived there and he has some awesome pics that gives you a real taste of Kosovo. Just scroll to view them all.

Mrs G's Terri Patrol

• Rev. Jackson Prays With Schiavo's Family

  "I feel so passionate about this injustice being done, how unnecessary it is to deny her a feeding tube, water, not even ice to be used for her parched lips," he said. "This is a moral issue and it transcends politics and family disputes."

I'm glad to see some democrats are seeing this as a moral issue and not as big brother politics, but why did Jesse wait so long?

• Federal Appeals Court OKs Schiavo Review

  A federal appeals court early Wednesday agreed to consider a petition for a new hearing on whether to reconnect Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

This may be a day late and a life short of being helpful now.

• U.S. Army court-martials captain for mercy killing

  As brain-injured Terri Schiavo enters her 13th day of starvation in Florida after nearly a decade-long court dispute over her fate, a U.S. Army captain is being court-martialed in Wiesbaden, Germany, and facing 20 years for the mercy killing of a suspected Iraqi terrorist under battlefield conditions.

Hmmm

• Jeb Bush is courting dereliction of duty

  The Florida state constitution declares unequivocally that in the state of Florida "the supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor ? ." The word supreme means highest in authority. There can be no executive authority in the state of Florida higher than the governor. No state law can create an executive authority higher than highest in the Florida constitution. Therefore no court order based upon such a law can constitutionally create such an authority.

It's all about checks and balances. Who is to police the courts? If the Govenor can grant a stay of execution to a criminal then Terri deserves that same right.

• Pope may be fed through tube into his stomach

  The Pope?s doctors are considering an operation to insert a tube into his abdomen so that he can be fed without having to swallow, according to Vatican sources. It came as one expert said that he doubted that the Pope would speak again. Stefano Ruggiero, Professor of Neurology at Rome University, said: ?He has extraordinary physical robustness and an iron will, but he simply does not have the strength left in his vocal cords.?

Another Hmmm

And here a piss poor, sick, and failed attempt at humor

(HT to Chris Short)

Open Post (Thanks, Glenn! Edition)

An open post, with your blogging tip of the day:

If Glenn Reynolds mentions your blog on television be sure to thank him and put up a link to the video (see here or here)

Thanks Glenn!

An Easter Message

Michael from A Day In Iraq was sitting there on top of the tank with his buddy, watching the Iraqi world pass them by and feeling sorry for themselves on Easter. They would much rather be out fighting the bad guys than pulling guard duty. When out of nowhere like angels sent from heaven, two young boys appeared. They had a message to deliver, written on a white piece of paper.

Hat tip to Assumption of Command

Your Front-line Blog Today

Special Forces Alpha Geek - he actually started his blog on return from Afghanistan, but his vacation there is what the blog's about.

I think you'll want to spend some time reading his site. His vacation was probably different than your last trip to Disneyland...

Open Post

Open Post, with your quick blogging tip of the day.

Fellow MilBlogger James Joyner, who I mentioned earlier today, also offers a regular open post on his blog Outside the Beltway.

I'm not sure what happens if you link an open post with an open post, I fear some sort of extra-dimensional feedback loop that hurls all involved through some sort of hyperspace warp thing - but what's life without risk after all?

We Are the War

Vietnam veteran and author John Harriman returns to Mudville with the fourth installment of his series Warrior to Warrior, letters from a Vietnam veteran to our soldiers in Iraq. See the intro to the series here).

____________________

Give Press Credit Where Due
By John Harriman

Dear Warrior . . .

Note to self: If you're going to anoint yourself a press critic, keep both eyes open, not just the one on the right.

I read a cool story Saturday about a kind of "America's Most Wanted" television show in Iraq.

The premise of the show is as plain vanilla as you can imagine, no special effects, no sexual innuendo, no blood-and-guts betrayals--no, wait a minute, that's wrong. The program is all about blood and guts situations brought about by terrorists.

The state-run Iraqi station sits a captured terrorist in a chair and turns on the lights, the camera and the questions. A voice off-camera is that of an interrogator asking questions about how the terrorist chose his profession.

According to the embedded reporter who wrote the story, one Edward Lee Pitt, writing for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, it's all the rage in Iraq. The whole country shuts down every night to watch the program.

What's more, the reporter reports, the program debunks the notion of the motives and origins of the terrorists, although Pitts still refers to them as insurgents. The terrorists reveal that they're not in the killing game as soldiers in a holy war in the defense of Iraq. No, they're in it for the money.

Pitts writes: "The program reveals that insurgents get paid about $200 for setting a roadside bomb, $200 to $500 for a car bomb and as much as $5,000 for detonating a car bomb near a mosque."

Other revelations in the very pro-Iraqi, pro-military story:

? Terrorists are now mainly targeting Iraqis instead of Americans.

? Alcohol, drugs and sex are used as rewards for a successful attack.

? Many terrorists are foreigners, mainly Syrians.

According to Pitts, ordinary Iraqis, incensed by the true nature of terrorists starring in the program, have begun ratting out other terrorists.

In a terrific punchline to his story, Pitts quotes one terrorist who was asked on-camera if he had any advice for young Iraqis watching the program.

"'Let them find a good job,' the terrorist said, according to a translator. 'This is not safe.'"

I mention this story for three reasons.

First, the report is good news for you in the fight against terrorism in Iraq. The program is an extraordinary step in the contest for the hearts and minds of the ordinary Iraqi citizen. People are watching this show in mobs and learning that terrorists are not fighting for them but for their own selfish motives. It's also a nice aside that terrorists are showing signs of getting discouraged.

Second, a U.S. reporter is reporting the story back home. So writers like me who complain about bias in the press ought to give a tip of hat to a positive report from the front.

Third, the reporter is Edward Lee Pitts. He's the guy who planted the question with a soldier from a National Guard unit, the 278th Armored Cavalry, about lack of armor way back when. You boys from the Montana Guard ought to remember because you were in the audience. The question led to the national uproar aimed at Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over his "You go to war with the army you have . . ." remark.

Personally, I never had a problem with the notion of a planted question. I figured Rumsfeld was a big boy. If he agreed to take questions from soldiers in an open forum, then any question was fair game. True to my expectations, he handled the question very well in his full response. But . . .

The uproar ensued because the other big boys in the game, the national press, took a piece of the full answer out of context and went after Rumsfeld, beating him with it like a two-dollar mule.

But that's old news. The new news?

It's time to give Edward Lee Pitts a pat on the back. I've read some of his other stories. He is given to reporting news on all sorts of positive developments. Saving lives, aiding Iraqi governments, even winning military victories. But this one? This story is priceless.

Good work, Mr. Pitts.

Till next week . . .

God bless you and Godspeed.

__________________________

John is a veteran of two combat tours in Vietnam and a member of the American Legion. These columns are excerpts from an upcoming book of the same title. His current book, Delta Force #1 : Operation Michael's Sword is a fictional account of the 9/11 attacks and the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Updates

Many updates to this post, for those who aren't used to such things here.

From the Front

Afghanistan, in fact. Here's Firepower Forward - The Cutting Edge of Freedom. From the about info on the site:

Brian is a US Soldier. After 2 years of enlisted service with the 101st Airborne Division, He took an early discharge to attend ROTC and complete his BA in Economics before returning to active duty as a Field Artillery and later an Ordnance officer. After completing his MBA in Finance at St. Bonaventure University, he left active duty in favor of a career with Merrill Lynch. Recalled to active duty as a Reservist in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, he was offered the reinstatement of his Regular Army Commission. With his former students and soldiers in uniform and in harms way, he accepted the offer, resigned his position with Merrill, and is now serving as the Battalion Executive Officer of the 191st Ordnance Battalion in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Enjoy.

In Whose World?

Hat's off to Frank and Sarah - soon to be another husband and wife blogging team. Congrats!

Recruiting

This New York Times article on the tough times faced by Army recruiters has prompted an interesting cross-blog conversation on the topic, conducted by people who know what they're talking about. Start with Milblogger James Joyner at Outside the Beltway:

One suspects George Patton would slap these guys silly with a glove. We've got soldiers in Iraq getting killed by terrorists with IEDs and these guys are having ulcers and going AWOL because they're getting strongly worded memos?!

Which brought this response from Jack Army

First, almost all (notice the qualifier) detailed recruiters that I have talked to would rather be in Iraq or Afghanistan. Just to be sure you understand: Soldiers would rather go to a war zone with the potential for death and serious injury rather than be at home trying to recruit more Soldiers. If that doesn't tell you something, then you refuse to understand the difficulty of recruiting duty.

Corrie Dauber at Ranting Profs chimes in:

It is interesting, isn't, that as things get better in Iraq, the recruiters' job gets no easier? It's interesting, too, that the Times gets a bit snarky when commanders send emails to the recruiters bashing them for not making quota that don't take the war into account as a factor in their difficulties, but never considers the idea that the coverage of the war might be a factor as well?

And Jason Van Steenwyk at Countercolumn

Given the recent circulation scandals (which don't affect the Times, as far as I know, to its credit), the newspaper advertising sales force is going through pressures of its own, and reacting in similar ways.

Update: My own two cents: recruiting is rough duty. Faced with a choice between that and returning to Iraq I'd likely return to the sandbox - guess I'm with Jack on that one. I'm a fan of James' blog - have been for a while, but I wonder if even his contrast between the rigors of recruiting and war was influenced somewhat by media coverage - I know my pre-deployment view of Iraq was, even though I also knew most of that coverage to be sensational and wrong. Which of course supports what Professor Dauber was saying - if I could be swayed a little think how that same media coverage plays in the minds of recruits.

Certainly there's no denying that the military is losing a "demographic group" that once helped swell the ranks. Those folks who joined "for an education" are now seeking opportunities elsewhere.

And make no mistake about it, recruiting is tough duty. I knew an Air Force recruiter - an E6 with over 10 years in service - who burned out at that task in just a couple of years during the late 1990's - long before the war on terror was acknowledged for what it was. Extreme hours, travel, and pressure combined to quickly wear him down, and the experience over all was not a pleasant one at the time nor did it ultimately become a fond memory for him. (Disclaimer, he had volunteered for the duty to get close to home due to the fact a close relative was terminally ill, this certainly didn't help.)

Not everyone experiences the same results. And not all days for recruiters are all bad. Check out what this crew is up to. And consider this Blue State nightmare - your kid goes off to Spring Break with your car and credit card then comes home not only broke and sunburned but with a contract for military service too.

Update 2: An Air Force recruiter sends in this little recruiting prop beauty (click for high-res):

A cutom-made USAF Bike from the Orange County Chopper crew, making it's debut appearance at the Golden Corral 500. It's complete with Stealth Bomber gas tank, Air Force symbol spokes, F-22 rear views, and a round for an A-10 Thunderbolt's GAU-8/A 30mm Avenger Cannon. Sweet.

Of course, somewhere an Army recruiter is getting chewed for not thinking of this one...

Update 3: I stand corrected (yet again!) by a commenter! Scott T points out: "American Chopper did a pair of episodes (Part 1+Part 2) of building a "Commanche" bike. So the Army's gotten their shot already."

The same link has a POW bike, and you can view both it and the Commanche from multiple angles there.

Meanwhile, on a related note (related to recruiting and manpower, I mean. After all, that was what we were talking about, right?) a couple of stories indicating retension is pretty good for the US GI's in Germany, many of whom are just back from Iraq. Could it be the lack of exposure to American media has left them with some sort of a sense of pride?

Under the headline Army retention rates booming among 1st ID, 1st AD soldiers in Europe comes an analogy I wouldn't have made, but it gets the point across.

Many vow they?re getting out, said Sgt. Maj. William Sharpsteen, command career counselor for U.S. Army Europe in Heidelberg. But soldiers coming out of the desert often are like the pregnant woman who swears she?ll never go through all that pain and discomfort again, Sharpsteen said. ?Then a month after the delivery, she?s talking about having another baby.?

Read the whole thing, as a wise man once said.

A companion piece examines the motives for Soldiers deciding to stay or go. Among them:

Spc. Alphonso Rodriguez, 27, of Company C, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, plans to transfer to the Air Force, largely because of what he feels are better educational opportunities.

His switch has nothing to do with Iraq, Rodriguez said. He praised the 1st AD chain of command, adding that he had a first sergeant and noncommissioned officers who ?did everything for troops,? and morale in Iraq was high.

?I love the Army. But I think the Air Force has better educational opportunities,? he said.

In reality that depends more on your actual job than your branch of service.

I think he just digs the Air Force bike...

Update 4: Funny - after reading informed blog content like the four sites linked above to find this in the Boston Globe. And by "funny" I mean not funny. Parts of this might be truth...

When Richard Nixon abolished the draft a generation ago, he effectively relieved citizens of any obligation to participate in the nation's defense. Military service became strictly a matter of individual choice, one that the Pentagon promoted as a job opportunity.

but this is wrong:

As a consequence, the military establishment that emerged by the 1990s as a preeminent symbol of revived national self-confidence and self-esteem was in no sense representative of American society. Its members came not from the suburbs but from the farm and the inner city, not from Harvard but from Prairie View A & M.

It's an opinion piece, but in this instance the author is uninformed - or lying. The military is indeed representative of America. I'm from the suburbs, as are many others far as I can tell. Honestly it's not something we care enough about to ask. The reality is that the largest group of those currently serving are from military families.

And Harvard grads must be present to make a group representative of America?

The Shiavo Funnies

Maybe I'm out of touch, living in Europe. I thought the Terri Schiavo jokes hadn't come out yet, but Daryl Cagle proves me wrong.

Daryl who? According to the web site, Cagle is "the political cartoonist for Slate.com, the opinion site of The Washington Post. He is a past president of the National Cartoonists Society and his cartoons are syndicated to over eight hundred newspapers".

"Liberals think this case is all about the rule of law. Conservatives think the case is all about morality. Political cartoonists know the case is all about feeding tubes. Feeding tubes are funny. "

Go see if you laugh, as Cagle rounds up the funnies from his fellow cartoonists.

Then maybe we can all agree that Cagle and his buddies are tools.

Terri's fate inevitable

I've been really torn on this whole situation. On one hand I'm a believer in the courts, I don't like to bypass due process, and I am not convinced that the judges and experts involved are actively working to "murder" Terri. But on the other hand I'm deeply skeptical of the results in this specific case. And also of the Florida law that created this mess, which I hope to see amended. I'm a firm believer to one's right to die IF it is proven beyond a doubt that is their wish. My first problem I have is that I don't feel comfortable that Terri's wishes were clearly proven without a doubt. However I do feel It's unfair to ask Gov. Bush to intervene. I feel for Terri's parents but these people seems to gone over the deep end and really have no right lash out at the Gov. in this manner. Gov. Bush has already asked the state courts for permission to take custody of Schiavo and has been denied.

Which brings me to my second issue. When Michael decided to start seeing another woman. Florida law states, whoever lives in an open state of adultery shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083." Reportedly, punishment for a misdemeanor of the second degree can be up to 60 days imprisonment. Why haven't the courts revoked his guardianship? If a spouse is unfaithful and has gone so far as having children by another woman, that spouse should not be allowed guardianship. He acted as a man that was divorced or widowed and he was neither. These special circumstances do not mean you can have it both ways. You marry for better or for worse, till death or "divorce" do you part. If he wanted to move on with his life, which I can understand then he should had dignified her with a divorce. What I do think Gov. Bush should be doing is working on amending some of Florida's laws that will have some clear stipulations, to guardianship. Marriage alone shouldn't be it.

All these issue aside, I really think that death-by-dehydration as the cause/means of death is a central issue. I also don't personally consider removing food and water from anyone to be an humane or "dignified" means of euthanasia. And that is whats being done, she is being euthanized. It's no longer about her living by artificial means. It's about pulling the plug and letting her die. If this were about keeping her on a respirator then I don't think there would be an issue. If, when they removed her feeding tube, they tried to nourish her by mouth, as the would grant any parapalegic, then the "intent" maybe wouldn't be so obvious. It has been stated by some doctors that if she can swallow her own saliva, which she does then she can probably drink small amounts of fluid. She has been denied this. If she didn't want to be hooked up to tubes, then this wish has been granted, but does that mean they shouldn't try to feed her by mouth?

If we proposed to kill a mass murderer, an enemy combatant/terroist, or even a dumb animal by depriving them of food and water, we would be condemned as inhumane. Whether the law allows this or not seems to me to be irrelevant, and I'm baffled as to how those who argue for the removal of her feeding tube can use that as a defense of the actions taken.

Yesterday Terri was finally allowed her Last Rites by her husband, who a day earlier denied a request from his wife's parents that she be given communion. Which to me seems to show it is about making sure she dies as opposed to being an issue of living with artificial means. Terri just may get some nourishment from wine and a wafer. Not to worry Michael, the Rev. Thaddeus Malanowski said he gave Terri a drop of wine but could not give her a fleck of communion bread because her tongue was too parched. So no nourishment recieved.

And now the inevitable seems will happen and a new battle will begin.

Update

Interesting

The ?No Right Answer? Game

Our favorite poet sends:

The ?No Right Answer? Game (Inspired by ? The Wrong Army,? by Jeff Edwards, USN, Ret., warrior and novelist)

America?s forces have won all their wars,
From Revolution to war in Iraq;
And Lefties don?t point to the Vietnam War,
Where you stabbed winning troops in the back.
No, the truth is we win; we win time and again;
Done it time after time after time.
Doesn?t matter to you, ?cause whatever we do,
We?ve always somehow dropped the dime.

o Lefties our generals just have to be wrong,
Wrong tactics, wrong weapons, wrong forces;
We?re the gang who somehow can never shoot straight,
To hear the mainstream media sources.
Just look at their headlines, view every day?s news,
With their blistering barrages of blame.
To warriors out here at the point of the spear,
It?s those losers? ?No Right Answer,? game.

In this lugubrious game loved by Liberal elites,
There?s just but one rule to enforce:
Whatever we do, in whatever war,
Must naturally be wrong of course.
There is no right answer, no matter what,
Even when our warriors are winning;
There?s always the sly implication we lie,
In the splenetic stories they?re spinning.

In peacetime they charge our forces too large
During wartime they squall they?re too small;
In peacetime they whine we?re spending too much;
But in war, ?Where?s the armor for all??
With consummate confidence they know what?s best,
Puerile pundits so smug and so smarmy,
Pontificate loud to their Liberal crowd,
That we once again have the wrong Army.

Pick a war, any war, or a period of peace;
Field marshals of the media are spinning;
If generals of journalism are so in the know,
Why are genuine generals winning?
So here at the front, harsh home of the grunt,
We ignore their attempts to defame.
The troops know the score, know what this war's for;
They can stuff their ?No Right Answer,? game.

SSGT Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

?The Wrong Army? can be found here:

Arthur's Mail

Dear friends

Just to let you know that this being Monday morning, the new "Good news from
Iraq" is here, bigger and better than ever. Mind you, the way we're going,
pretty soon the MSM might finally put me out of business...

Chrenkoff

Opinion Journal

Winds of Change

...but if that happens, thank you for publicizing the series when no one
else would talk about positive developments in Iraq.

Best regards

Arthur

Open Post

The Greyhawks send wishes for a joyous Easter to you and yours. Thanks for stopping by.

Redemption (Part 3)

From a memo ABC purports to be "Republican talking points" in the Terri Schiavo case: "This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue."

On this I'm very much inclined to agree with John Hinderaker, who says "It does not sound like something written by a conservative; it sounds like a liberal fantasy of how conservatives talk."

It's an invocation of a liberal boogeyman, you see. Republican Senators pander to a right-wing, Christian, ultra-conservative base - Jesusland. Jesusland was last invoked in strength in the aftermath of the Democrat's November meltdown, a handy excuse for missing the mark, for failing to resonate with voters. Quality of candidates and platforms meant nothing - moral values were the hinge on which the elections turned. Iraq meant nothing to the average voter. The New York Times even went so far as to claim that gay marriage was the only issue that really mattered to GI's deployed there. The drooling fanatics of Jesusland, you see, are running this country. In fact, they are running it into the ground.

The Democrat's embrace of post-election denial was painfully obvious to everyone who saw it. Most observers turned away wincing, hoping to spare them some shred of dignity. Now in the Schiavo case the specter of the Boogeyman of Jesusland rises up again and folks from all over are eager to believe. The left again, of course, but they are eager to believe virtually anyone or anything that trots down the pike under the banner of notBush. But for others there's a different sort of catharsis involved. Having sided with the powers that be for so long they need redemption, they must do something - perform some act of contrition to show they aren't becoming that way. Kicking an imaginary Boogeyman from Jesusland seems like a fine tonic for those who still haven't completely come to accept that whether one is a progressive or an entrenched zealot or something in between has nothing to do with degree of religious faith, any more than one's degree of gullibility does.

Speculation about a 'fracturing coalition' of libertarians and conservatives then follows.

To blame the political abuse of the "religious right" for the prolonging of the drama surrounding Terri Schiavo is to ignore the fact that responses to the case are no doubt the most personal of feelings, coming from some deep well of the human soul where politics can't reach. Whether you're for or against sustaining Terri Schiavo's life is no predictor of your demographic; political, religious, geographic, or otherwise. For most the decision is tough. Perhaps more so for those who'd say "let her die". It's hard for fundamentally decent, caring people to reconcile their humanity with letting someone starve to death, so it helps to create a Christian boogeyman that they can oppose. Starvation is certainly preferable to what the Boogeyman from Jesusland has in store for her, after all.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Let's run through the big (say, in the top 500 of all blogs) conservative Christian right wing moral majority bloggers for an overview of their thoughts on the Terri Schiavo situation. The real Bible thumpers, the fire-and-brimstone guys that are just as much a threat to our freedoms as Islamic fundamentalists who'd kill us all if they had a chance because religious zealotry in all it's forms is bad - you know, the sorts of characters we all love to hate. Here they are:

Well, that's the end of that list. Like a punch from Mohammed Ali - you wanna see it again? Even though there are now over 8 million blogs listed on technorati none of the top blogs is in that category. Perhaps these people don't have computers yet?

Ann Coulter - someone I've taken to task on this site for other issues - devoted a chapter of a recent book (search inside at the link for Shadowboxing the Apocryphal "Religious Right") to effectively debunking the notion of the powerful religious right. Financially they don't come close to the political contributions of Unions and other professional organizations. And as bloc voters they fail to approach the homogenous activity of virtually any other group you could name.

Meanwhile, the left doesn't get it. Don't believe me? Check the title of this book. God's Politics : Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. From the book's description:

While the Right in America has hijacked the language of faith to prop up its political agenda -- an agenda not all people of faith support -- the Left hasn't done much better, largely ignoring faith and continually separating moral discourse and personal ethics from public policy. While the Right argues that God's way is their way, the Left pursues an unrealistic separation of religious values from morally grounded political leadership. The consequence is a false choice between ideological religion and soulless politics.

What the left really doesn't get though is that Christians really aren't poorly educated and easily led halfwits duped by a Bible-thumping president into hijacking America. So they're not going to get anywhere 'enlightening the heathen' with God's true word. And for every "religious right" voter there's already at least one member of a congregation across town who'll make that Jesus-as-socialist argument too. Still, this book should appeal strongly to all religious Democrats who didn't know that John Kerry spent every Sunday of last year making political speeches from the pulpit's of America's churches.

Note the fire sale price.

Back to the top of the blogosphere's MIA religious right. One could argue the religious right as a massive and coherent political force actually does exist but hasn't reached the level of political savvy or internet sophistication to blog effectively. This of course refutes other myths regarding funding, power, and organizational skills of this group.

But those religious right nuts are on the internet, of course. How else to explain these comments at the Reverend Don Sensing's blog, in response to his post in support of withdrawing Terri Schiavo's feeding tube:

Nice try, Donald. This was a typical moronic post by a typically morally brain dead fool. The more you shit expose yourselves the more us on God's side look forward to the judgment and the metaphorical pulling of all you liberal shit's feeding tube. Good riddance, filth. Christian | 03.26.05 - 12:56 pm | #

Signs of the fracturing coalition? Remarks of a true Christian? No - because that comment is not made by a Christian, regardles of what the signature block says. Like the highly touted memo from ABC, this doesn't sound like a Christian - it's a liberal's fantasy of a Christian.

So where are the real Christians? If you aren't one of them, rest assured that although not a majority there are some within a few hundred yards of you. And Christians everywhere in America are busy this weekend praying. For America, for the world, and for peace for Terri Schiavo and her family. Yes, even for Michael.

And celebrating a season of rebirth, and redemption.

Easter Is...

...a fine day to read Donald Sensing's blog. That's true any day though. For those who've never "met" him, he's a career Army officer who retired to become a pastor, and his oldest son is now serving in the Marine Corps. He's a voice of reason in a contentious world, and he's always been one of my favorite reads.

Easter on Foreign Shores

Will build this post throughout the day, with links to the "newly deployed" Milbloggers of OIF III. See how they're doing on Easter, the first "big" holiday of their stay in the desert.

Guys like Dadmanly, who's a First Sergeant in Iraq.

Reverse Retna from the Sandlot He's been having a rough time with his blog while mortar attacks are heard in the background.

Not just Easter, but Dave's birthday! Happy B-day, Dave!

A Day in Iraq seeks forgiveness...

National Guard Experience: it's still winter in parts of Afghanistan

Boots In Baghdad

365 and a Wakeup

Assumption of Command

Steven Kiel

Doc in the Box is homebound...

...Grey Eagle is about to deploy.

Delobius soldiers on

Red2alpha does too.

Major K has plenty to say.

Take a few minutes if you can today, to say thanks to those who are sacrificing to make your world more peaceful this season.

Redemption (Part 2)

The Mrs. decided that this year the kids were all too old for Easter. Or at least that part of Easter involving a basket with colored eggs and candy and a few other little things. Even when the youngest pointed out that simply stopping such a tradition for all of them in the same year was shorting her more than her older brother and sister the Mrs. seemed steadfast. The other two, she explained, only had the benefit of Easter baskets over the past couple years because of her, after all, and... well... anyway, she wasn't going to do baskets this year and that's final!

Which is how we found ourselves at the exchange last night picking up the things we needed for Easter baskets. The Mrs. hit the candy aisle and picked up a couple little jewelry items while I hit the books and DVD section of the store, where I found this item. I picked it up with a bit of hesitation - the book as I remembered it was a favorite of mine when I was a bit younger than my youngest is now, so I wasn't sure if it would work. Aside from the age-appropriate issue was the question does it still inspire?" It looked to be a made-for-TV movie, after all, so obviously it wasn't going to have the production standards of The Lord of the Rings, or meet the expectations of any for whom those films are now the paradigm of DVD-formatted epic fantasy.

Did I mention it was but a few hours until Easter? Into the basket it went. Fast forward to Easter Sunday. We just watched it, the whole family. That's a middle schooler, a high schooler, and a college guy watching together, along with mom and dad. The story held up well. The combination of science, science fiction, fantasy, and theology built around a female central character was ahead of it's time, and the theme of the ongoing battle between light and darkness played amazingly well today.

Highly recommended - if for no other reason than to entice any younger readers in your world to delve into the books. (This being the first in a series of four.)

This excerpt from the first volume defines the conflict:

Meg looked into the crystal ball, at first with caution, then with increasing eagerness, as she seemed to see an enormous sweep of dark and empty space, and then galaxies swinging across it. Finally they seemed to move in closer on one of the galaxies.

"Your own Milky Way," Mrs. Whatsit whispered to Meg.

They were headed directly toward the center of the galaxy; then they moved off to one side; stars seemed to be rushing at them. Meg flung her arm up over her face as though to ward off the blow.

"Llookk!" Mrs. which commanded.

Meg dropped her arm. They seemed to be moving in toward a planet. She thought she could make out polar ice caps. Everything seemed sparkling clear.

"No, no, Medium dear, that's Mars," Mrs. Whatsit reproved gently.

"Do I have to?" the Medium asked.

"Nnoww!" Mrs. Which commanded.

The bright planet moved out of their vision. For a moment there was the darkness of space; then another planet. The outlines of the planet were not clean and clear. It seemed to be covered with a smoky haze. Through the haze Meg thought she could make out the familiar outlines of continents like pictures in her Social Studies books.

"Is it because of our atmosphere that we can't see properly?" she asked anxiously.

"Nno, Mmegg, yyou knnoww thatt itt iss nnott tthee attmosspheere, " Mrs. Which said. "Yyou mmusstt bee brrave."

"It's the Thing!" Charles Wallace cried. "It's the Dark Thing we saw from the mountain peak on Uriel when we were riding on Mrs. Whatsit's back!"

"Did it just come?" Meg asked in agony, unable to take her eyes from the sickness of the shadow which darkened the beauty of the earth. "Did it just come while we've been gone?"

Mrs. Which's voice seemed very tired. "Ttell herr," she said to Mrs. Whatsit.

Mrs. Whatsit sighed. "No, Meg. It hasn't just come. It has been there for a great many years. That is why your planet is such a troubled one.

"But why --" Calvin started to ask, his voice croaking hoarsely...

"But what is it?" Calvin demanded. "We know that it's evil, but what is it?"

"Yyouu hhave ssaidd itt!" Mrs. Which's voice rang out. "Itt iss Eevill. Itt iss thee Ppowers of Ddarrkknesss!"

"But what's going to happen?" Meg's voice trembled. "Oh please, Mrs. Which, tell us what's going to happen!"

"Wee wwill cconttinnue tto ffightt!"

Something in Mrs. Which's voice made all three of the children stand straighter, throwing back their shoulders with determination, looking at the glimmer that was Mrs. Which with pride and confidence.

"And we're not alone, you know, children," came Mrs. Whatsit, the comforter. "All through the universe it's being fought, all through the cosmos, and my, but it's a grand and exciting battle. I know it's hard for you to understand about size, how there's very little difference in the size of the tiniest microbe and the greatest galaxy. You think about that, and maybe it won't seem strange to you that some of our very best fighters have come right from your own little planet, and it's a little planet, dears, out on the edge of a little galaxy. You can be proud that it's done so well."

"Who have our fighters been?" Calvin asked.

"Oh, you must know them, dear," Mrs. Whatsit said.

Mrs. Who's spectacles shone out at them triumphantly. "And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

"Jesus!" Charles Wallace said. "Why of course, Jesus!"

"Of course!" Mrs. Whatsit said. "Go on, Charles, love. There were others. All your great artists. They've been lights for us to see by."

"Leonardo da Vinci?" Calvin suggested tentatively. "And Michelangelo?"

"And Shakespeare," Charles Wallace called out, "and Bach! And Pasteur and Madame Curie and Einstein!"

Now Calvin's voice rang with confidence. "And Schweitzer and Gandhi and Buddha and Beethoven and Rembrandt and St. Francis!"

That list was shortened for the movie version though. Jesus did not appear, nor the reference to scripture, though St. Francis, Buddha, and Gandhi all made the grade.

I won't speculate as to motive of those who made an otherwise excellent film, but if you've read the book you know that's another small victory for the darkness.

Still, it's a fine film, and the kids are interested in reading the books now. They might even have time to do so before the next Harry Potter comes out, and all else is set aside.

More to come?

Easter Traditions

Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. Many of you I'm sure know, Easter was originally a pagan festival then turned to be the celebration of the resurrection of Christ with a little help of Christians.

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a discreet manner.

It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol also originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the hare.

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

Easter did not enjoy the status of a popular celebration among the early settlers in America because most of them were Puritans or members of Protestant Churches who had little use for the ceremonies of any religious festivals. The stricter denominations of those times, the Quakers and the Presbyterians, thought that including a white hare in the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus was somewhat frivolous.

The Easter basket tradition was brought to North American shores by German families in the 1700s, but it wasn't until the period of the Civil War that the message and meaning of Easter began to be expressed as it had been in Europe. Perhaps surprisingly, it was the initiative of the Presbyterians. The post-war scars of death and destruction led people back to the Easter season. They found the story of resurrection as a great source of inspiration and renewed hope.

The German call it Ostern. School children have about three weeks holiday at Easter, and no one works on Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday. Many people eat fish on Good Friday, and on Easter Saturday evening there is often a big Easter bonfire which is very popular. On Easter Sunday families have nice breakfasts together. Parents then hide Easter baskets with sweets, eggs and small presents. Hand-painted eggs decorated with traditional designs are exchanged among friends.

Nowerdays we're beyond pagan superstitions and in these modern times we know that those who hunt Easter eggs are doomed to burn for eternity in a lake of fire.

Guess I'll see you there ;-)

Welcome Back!

A reporter recently asked me: "Who are the best writers among the MilBloggers?" (Like I'd risk the rage of those who I forgot to mention?)

But I did have an answer. "The best writer of the MilBloggers recently gave it up."

True then, but now he's back.

Open Post

There's lots more coming from Mudville today, but since I failed to offer one yesterday here's an open post. I'm glad these are working as I intended, sending folks to visit great blogs. Today Mudville is one of your top referrers, tomorrow perhaps you'll be mine.

Wait - wasn't that a song? Tomorrow perhaps you'll be mine?

Boots In Baghdad

Your front-line blog of the day is Boots in Baghdad - words and pictures from a National Guard Infantryman in Iraq.

He's been there since November, but he's just started the blog. Are there more American MilBloggers than American reporters in Iraq? There will be soon.

Redemption

I got up earlier than I wanted and walked the dogs. Big dogs, unruly dogs, so even I at six-four-two-twenty take them one at a time into the woods, der Grauerhawkwald, so they can smell things and do things and investigate. So they can patrol. For who knows what might have happened in the woods overnight, or who or what might have passed through. So wake up, sleepy human, and let's go and see if the hundred acre woods still stands.

Ahhh yes, here it is. But what's that scent? And that one? And that one, and this... wait, wait here a minute by this tree... okay done, that's mine, let's move on, quickly - I smell something just up ahead, something that might need growled at, hurry let's go there - no wait let's go here... never mind that, come here... wait, what was that sound?

That sound was bells. Church bells in the town below, Catholic and Protestant, noting the death of a Jew. One of the few such ever mourned here in Europe, even if mourned only by a few. But although today is a German holiday I doubt many will spend it in church, and even fewer will find time to contemplate theology or the grander things in life, or the wonder of it all. But this morning how those bells did ring, filling the air with sound as I walked the second of the big unruly dogs through the otherwise quiet isolation of the forest. The bells tolled as they had for hundreds of years, since long before the dawn of the age of reason, marking a moment in history two thousand years before.

And I heard it in the setting of the woods, walking a dog, and wondering if perhaps 500 years ago someone was doing the same thing in the same spot at the same early hour - still working out the stiffness of sleep, the slowness of mind and body and spirit. For the air is a bit cold, if not enough to quicken the pace at least enough to keep the jacket on, and the ground and other earthen things are damp. Spring is still a promise held in smallish buds that can only be seen by those looking for them. But today my spirit was warmed and lifted by the unexpected tolling of the carillons for one transcendent moment. Ahhh yes?, it's that day.

Redemption.

Calendar-wise, Spring began this past week.

James Lileks:

Now it?s Spring, but the snow is still heavy on the ground, a wet sodden mass that weighs on the world like a sopped quilt. Winter is the only season we?re glad to see go, and it knows it. Winter always leaves with spite and sneers. And still every year it comes back after fall, and we think: how lovely it is.

Aren't we silly people then? Certainly unpredictable. Welcome winter! Then, somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas we grow tired of it. The odd thing is that winter doesn't start 'til just a few days prior to December 25. Just about the time we've had enough of it, thank you very much, we have our big pagan Winter festival. Then we focus on survival for a few cold months. We forget to allow time to scrape car windows. We curse the empty reservoir of washer fluid in the rush hour traffic over freshly salted slush. Then we come home from long day's work to a setting sun - and shovel snow.

But now we're putting winter in the rear-view; spring is coming. Those buds will soon open. Soon enough the pretty girls will be unencumbered by those bulky coats and hats and scarves and mittens...

Speaking of pretty girls, do you recognize this one? She's pretty, though she seems stuck in time, trapped in amber in permanent transition between the 80's big hair and '90's natural look. What should we do with someone who refuses to stay currently coiffed?

According to ABC News over half of all Americans want her dead. That's increasingly less believable, in light of recent stories about a certain memo. What seems more likely now is that ABC wants her dead. Or at least wants to profit from the drama for a while longer. (Memo to ABC/WaPo: no, you really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really (times infinity) can't manufacture news stories any more. Okay, just kidding. Really you can, but there will be ramifications if you want them. But have you selected someone to fire yet, "just in case"? A great opportunity for corporate housekeeping might briefly be made available to you, if you want it. It is a Holiday weekend though, so it's just an option.)

We pause now for this public service announcement. Proposed:

No one is allowed to seriously discuss Terri Shiavo without first drafting a living will. The wife and I updated all that just before I went to Iraq. Anyone without such document doesn't get to join the conversation. After all, we'll be discussing you soon enough. By then the option of ultimately snuffing you will be a no-brainer. The question will be how long can we keep you artificially alive while we harvest your organs for auction on ebay? (Maybe Michael Jackson will buy you for Neverland.) Don't worry though - I'm with the government - I've got your best interests at heart.

Far fetched? Here's an old joke: "What's the State vegetable of New Jersey?"

Those who know the answer will recall an earlier tragic case of a patient in similar circumstances. We used to joke about such things. We humans are strange imperfect creatures after all. Now we know this is no laughing matter, we're getting ready to kill someone, and she has the right to die with dignity.

For those who didn't get the joke, here's how far we've come. One night in 1975, 21-year-old Karen Ann Quinlan collapsed after mixing alcohol and Valium at a party. Doctors saved her life, but she suffered brain damage and lapsed into a persistent vegetative state. Her family sued for the right to remove her from life support. Though many would now consider it an 'unenlightened' response to such a situation, the doctor originally declined to take Karen off the respirator due to moral reasons.

At trial, her father requested status as Karen's legal guardian (she was 21). Right to privacy and cruel and unusual punishment issues were also raised. (The claim being that it was cruel and unusual to keep her on a respirator.) The judge ruled against him, but on appeal the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed with Mr. Quinlan?s argument. However, after the respirator was removed Karen continued breathing on her own. The Quinlans placed their daughter in a long-term care facility where she was fed and given antibiotics to fight off infections. She remained comatose for nearly 10 years and passed away in 1985. I don't recall any discussion of withholding food and water. Back in those old days it would have been seen as the same as withholding air, for Pete's sake. The question was never raised. We didn't know any better, you see. Hence the horrible jokes.

Twenty years ago.

Made that appointment to establish the living will yet?

Sorry, I got sidetracked, we were talking about bells. After tolling for quite a long while most of the bells went silent, save for one. It rang three more times, at succeedingly longer intervals. A lone voice through the either, reaching my ears in the wilderness.

Then it fell silent too.

Now the dogs need walked again. We'll have to continue this discussion later. For now, be careful, please.

Open Post

The open post, and as usual, another entry in the ongoing series "how to be a successful blogger in 10 or so easy lessons". Today's lesson is the blogroll, those lists of great blogs running down the side of every great blog.

Here are some tips for running a blogroll:

Two methods to create a blogroll. 1. Manual - build the links yourself or 2. Use blogrolling.com. With blogrollling you also have an option of their free service or a paid service with more features.

Greyhawk's advice: Use blogrolling's paid option. It's not that much money and it's money spent in the blogosphere (another lesson on that later) and that's good.

Now, as to building your blogroll. Do: add as many fine blogs as you can. Do Not: Simply put Instapundit, LGF, Hugh Hewitt, PowerLine, and Michelle Malkin, and The Corner on your blogroll and stop. Do add those sites, but do not stop there. Add several smaller blogs too. Are you using the open post trackback feature here? Go visit some of the other blogs that do. Have you checked out the Carnivals I directed you to yesterday? I know there are great blogs there, and many would love to exchange links. Blogroll those you like. Leave a comment at their site telling them that you enjoyed your visit and added them to your blogroll. They'll likely be glad to learn that - I know I am when I find a blog that's just linked to me.

Little by little your site visits will begin to creep upwards...

Like they will when you link this open post.

Enjoy.

The Few

Owen West served with the Marines in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He's now a trader for Goldman, Sachs, and aside from that he finds time to write - and to write well. The Few is the story of one of the heroes of the battle for Fallujah, and my thanks to Owen for sending it here - I'm proud to help tell this story.

Owen writes: "The sacrifice by all the Marines and soldiers in Operation Al Fajr--including those who fought in the April battle--brought extraordinary results. Fallujah has turned from hornet's nest into one of the more peaceful cities in the triangle. Indeed, the excision of the terrorists in Fallujah is directly correlated to the overall drop in violence and the spectacular election."

He's right, of course. Historians will likely see the period between the first incursion into Fallujah and the ultimate finishing of the task as the 'dark days' of the Iraq war. I can't help but echo Churchill's sentiment on a similar occasion - never have so many owed so much to so few.

The Few

The path Darrell Carver chose out of his Salt Lake City high school was similar to that taken by other overachieving classmates. He'd married his high school sweetheart when he was 20, had three wonderful kids by the time he was 27, and was leading an elite team for his company by the time he was 28, sating his mild addictions to fitness and hunting when the occasional free hour presented itself.

But Carver followed a calling imbued in just a sliver of the population. On November 20th, 2004, while most of his peers were in office parks earning money with keyboards, Darrell Carver was approaching a tin-plated door in the heart of Fallujah, Iraq, with his rifle stock held firm in the crook of a shoulder tattooed with "USMC" and two terrorists praying to end him on the other side.

Gunnery Sergeant Carver is a member of an elite slice of America that has emerged on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq: the warrior class. Drawn from across the socio-economic spectrum by an uncommon confluence of duty, adventure, and martial spirit, this all-volunteer cadre has demonstrated that it belongs among history's elite fighting units.

That men like Carver choose to serve in combat arms, a deadly profession in which few transferable civilian skills are gleaned, says a lot about the fabric of the country. Before September 11th, America carried a soft and feckless reputation among its mortal enemies. Beyond low-risk tactics skewed toward technology-cruise missiles, invisible bombers-they concluded that America had no will to fight. Now those enemies are meeting America's core strength: young men with an innate desire to carry rifles for a living.

The ferocity and direction of the attack into Fallujah shattered the enemy's initial defensive plan. It was left to infantrymen like Carver to rip the terrorists out of closets and bedrooms were they had scattered in small packs.

On one side of the doors stood men who believed they would be judged how they lived. On the other lay men who believed they would be judged on how they died. How these two groups of men, who were more alike than different as boys, had traveled tens of years and thousands of miles to kill each other was best answered by the professional philosopher. For a professional warrior like Carver, combat was the natural culmination of moral divergence. A murderous enemy had infected Fallujah. Politicians could not excise them. Marines and soldiers could.

Fallujah had been parsed into familial nicknames. Clearing the Upper West Side had been hard enough, but when Carver's platoon was sent to help the effort in Queens, a particularly nasty corner of the city near the Euphrates that was littered with corpses of Iraqi "collaborators" who had been executed, it seemed as if a terrorist was hidden in every third house, hell-bent on dragging a Marine into the ground with him.

It was "tiring work," as Carver puts it. For most Americans, the office is a cubicle tract where conflict is limited to harsh emails. For a Marine, the office is a smoldering, stinking, ear-splitting arena filled with young men who are trying to kill each other.

The battle was an intensely personal, face-to-face fight inside individual rooms where the screams often muted the gunfire and the crawl spaces muted the American technological edge. This meant that a Marine had to burst into a room with his rifle shouldered, steady his barrel on a concealed target, then break the trigger before the screaming lunatic trying to ambush him could manage an aimed shot and a proper "Allahu Akbar!"

If anything, the madness of it just made the Marines angrier. Everything in Fallujah was upside-down. Religious leaders demanded violence. Stray cats feasted on fallen men. Zarqawi had constructed a torture chamber twenty-five