Joe Galloway has a letter from a soldier in Iraq. From what I’ve read across the web, this is the best description of an infantryman’s life at war in 1200 words or less.
June 24, 2004
He made it to town!
Satire is a tough medium. I think all of us have it within to produce a satirical piece on occasion, but to do it consistently takes a special talent. I have nothing but respect for Scott Ott, The Onion, and, of course, Liberal Larry.
Today, Larry is all over the Republicans for denying Kerry a chance to actually cast a vote in the Senate this year.
Upon finally arriving at the Capitol’s main entrance, Kerry was forced to wait for fifteen minutes, watching people walk in and out of the building, before someone of sufficient social rank stopped to hold the door open for him.
And it doesn’t end there.
By the time congress was ready to vote on the measure, Sen. Kennedy had already cleaned out the Congressional Liqour Cabinet and mistakingly thought he was filibustering another Bush judiciary appointee. Sadly, John Kerry never got his chance to cast his historical vote and make veterans stop hating his guts.
Consistency.
Knowing math is good
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Careful…
Don’t try drinking anything when you take a look at this over at Slatt’s place. One commenter ended up with coffee all over the desk.
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If
I’m not a big fan of poetry, except the kind that’s accompanied by music. But there are a few poems I’ve read in my life that had an impact on me. I mentioned Brother Kipling in a post yesterday, and thought about his work quite a bit. This post is the result.
His poem, If, is probably my favorite. When events around me get to be a bit overwhelming, I let my mind drift back to the stanza or line that applies at the moment. I can’t say his words are truth–that’s a judgement way above my pay grade–but I agree with them. In fact, I’ve used this poem on special occasions for special people. I printed copies on small pieces of paper and gave them to my sons to keep in their wallets. Something to lean on when they need a prop to steady them. I made framed copies for every graduating cadet I had the honor of swearing in as a new second lieutenant. And I reread it myself fairly frequently. Please take the time to read it and grasp its meaning.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
–Rudyard Kipling
Now, think just a bit about it in relation to this year’s elections–not just for President, but for all offices at all levels. Perhaps it will help you in your evaluation of candidates, and the eventual decision you’ll make in November. Those of you who read my writing know how I intend to vote. Does it make more sense in this context?
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June 23, 2004
Why Ignore Africa?
Where is Jesse Jackson when we need him?
The New Republic has an interesting article on the murderous activity going on in Sudan. Granted, Sudan is only about two miles from the sun, and there probably isn’t enough sunscreen on Earth for thin-skinned reporters.
That was a cheap shot. Sorry. Actually, there are quite a few articles on the web, but the story isn’t getting much play elsewhere. Some things seem more important.
Abu Ghraib is a perfect storm for the media: Powerful Western soldiers abused and humiliated poor non-Westerners after invading their country for supposedly high-minded reasons. But when both the victims and the perpetrators are black or brown, you get the opposite: perfect calm. Thirty-four peasant farmers were massacred by left-wing guerrillas in Colombia last week. (In the distance, a cricket chirps.) And the quiet is never more deafening than when the violence is in Africa.
We have Special Forces units working in various areas of Africa trying to help the locals (which is what the SF is really set up to do). It is the next battleground if we let it smoulder. None of the neighbors or anyone else in the world seems to care, and most of the refugees are going to Chad, which is even more destitute than Sudan.
Hell, Sudan sits on the UN Commission on Human Rights, and holds the seat until 2007. Sudan’s Advisory Council on Human Rights has its own web site, and they’re all over this issue:
The government of Sudan is committed to respecting the human rights of everyone under its jurisdiction. It believes that this goal is compatible with the Islamic and African traditions of Sudan.
So I guess we shouldn’t be too concerned. With the UN and Sudan’s government looking into this, there should be a solution quite quickly.
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Book Lists
I don’t have the time to devote to reading that I’d like. There is just too much out there in this world that I don’t know, and so I try to follow Kipling’s mandate, “If you can think and not make thoughts your aim.” I’d like to learn it all, but have no reason to. So I limit myself too often to things I need to know.
Now Thomas Sowell comes out with a book list, ostensively for parents to give their children in school as summer reading. I admit I’ve only read a few of them.
He takes offense at some current school text books…
It speaks volumes about our schools and colleges that far-left radical Howard Zinn’s pretentiously titled book, “A People’s History of the United States,” is widely used across the country. It is one indictment, complaint, and distortion after another.
Anyone who relies on this twisted version of American history would have no idea why millions of people from around the world are trying, sometimes desperately, to move to this country. The one virtue of Zinn’s book is that it helps you identify unmistakably which teachers are using their classrooms as propaganda centers.
…and offers some good options for many issues of race, history, culture, and economics.
More for me to choose from.