Media Matters Not – Page 14

The Falling Man

19. August 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, History, Media Matters Not

With all the recent photo-fakery attendent upon the fighting in Lebanon being much discussed in the blogosphere, I ran across a curious discussion of historic and iconic war photographs, and the chances that they were faked in some way, either by being staged, or having certain essential bits of information left out upon publication and dissemination.

I don’t remember hearing any of the aspersions about Robert Capa’s fameous snap of a Spanish Loyalist, caught by chance at the instant of death, but there is a rather fascinating story here, of how it was proved authentic, after all, and the soldier even given a name.

I would wonder if such a photo of a soldier today might be splashed all over the front page, above the fold… but I already know the answer to that one.

Viva Cuba

03. August 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not, World

As you’re probably tired of hearing, I grew up in a relatively integrated neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago. I say relatively because it was still VERY Irish when I was a kid, but we had just about every nationality I can think of. Just across the backyard of our apartment building lived the Caba Family. They had escaped Cuba. (Pronounced “Coohbah”)

Memory is a funny thing, especially the memories of a family that smelled that wonderful. They were always spicy. Senior Caba (which he insisted we call him) was a jolly large man who could make his huge belly roll in undulating waves, completely fascinating. When he got off work we’d hang out at the Caba house (technically an apartment, but we called everyone’s apartment their house) with Ebito and Eva until he’d give us a wave or two. Every now and then he’d forget to put an overshirt on and would walk around in just his tank top undershirt (which we called Dago-Ts because…that’s what they were called) and we’d see the scars across his back. Being kids, we asked. He just smiled and said, “Be grateful mijos to live in such a wonderful country as America.” His wife, Senora Caba would get a wistful look in her eye and say, “He can’t live forever…someday our children will go back.” Being kids, we asked. She got a fierce look in her eye and said, “Castro!” and she spit…right there in her kitchen…she spit! Now you have to understand, that while their kitchen was and is the spiciest smelling place I’ve ever been in, it was immaculately clean. You would have never imagained.

So all I have to say to Val Prieto over at Babalu Blog is, “Testify brother…testify!“

Pushin’ a Meme

25. July 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not, That's Entertainment!

Michele and Turtle are into another meme.

Name 26 song titles that have had an impact on you. Emotionially, physically, sexually or mentally. Or, cause they just rocked.

OK. That’s easy.

But, they have to all be different bands.

Okay, open up iTunes, alphabetize by song name, let’s see what we come up with. Please remember that I’m following the criteria above. I’ll explain only those where you all have questions. Also realize that this could change tomorrow.

A – Angel From Montgomery – Bonnie Raitt with John Prine.

B – By My Side – Soundtrack of Godspell

C – Candy’s Room – Bruce Springsteen

D – Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston

E – Excitable Boy – Warren Zevon

F – Fly Me To the Moon – Diana Krall

G – Get the Party Started – Pink

H – Head On – The Jesus and Mary Chain

I – In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel

J – Just Another Nervous Wreck – Supertramp

K – Kung Fu Fighting – Karl Lewis

L – Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye

M – Mysterious Ways – U2

N – Night Moves – Bob Seger

O – Ooby Dooby – Roy Orbison

P – Paranoid – Black Sabbath

Q – Queen of Hearts – Dave Edmunds

R – Run Riot – Def Leppard

S – Slit Skirts – Pete Townshend

T – Take Me Home Tonight – Eddie Money

U – Under Pressure – David Bowie and Queen

V – Viva Las Vegas – Elvis Presley

W – When I Write the Book – Nick Lowe

X – X Offender – Blondie

Y – Your Song – Elton John

Z – Zoot Suit Riot – Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

I’ve got at least six other songs that begin with “Z” in my library. I don’t know what the problem was. I’m just happy that I’ve got that Blondie Collection and that I really love that song.

And I’m thinking Pablo and Damian need to be tagged with this one.

The Fine Old Art of Shark-Jumping

30. June 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT, Media Matters Not, Pajama Game

Seriously, I really think the NY Times has done it this time. The Times, and a fair number of other old-style media have been puttering around in the lagoon, testing the engine, measuring the angle, paying out the tow rope, contemplating the shark… and with this compromise of the Swift program…The good old Times has taken a dead set at that puppy, roared up the ramp and gone sailing into the air, to come down again who knows where, although I personally think they are still tumbling in free-fall. The last couple of days have reminded me rather of the dissection of the infamous 60 Minutes-Bush-AWOL-Memo story, only in slow-mo. People who knew about typefaces, and how Reserve units operated back then and what official documents look like took a long, hard look, and got angrier and angrier about how a clumsy and nakedly political hit piece was perpetrated by an ostensibly respectable, big-name media showboat.

And now, personnel who have worked with classified materiel and operations, who know anything about classified, who deeply care about classified are becoming angrier and angrier about the revelation of a legal, useful and productive effort was blown by the newspaper of record— another big-name media showboat, the so-called “newspaper of record”— for nothing more rewarding than affording the “newspaper of record” an opportunity to preen themselves ostentatiously on their wonderful “scoop”. The NY Times response to criticism for doing so appears to throw gasoline on a smoldering fire, for the sheer lordly arrogance of deciding extravagantly that the “public” just had to know all the details of a war-time effort to prevent terrorists from transferring funds… the funds that buy enormously loud explosions in a variety of public places, explosions that potentially turn an assortment of random human beings into so much bloody mush.

I can only assume that the editors of the NY Times are operating in the happy confidence that none of those potentially and so suddenly transformed will be those known personally to the grandees of the “newspaper of record”. It must be marvelous to live on such an elevated plane, to be totally removed from consequences. Now, I am not so far gone in brutal cynicism as this gentleman to assume that this whole thing was done out of a particularly ugly fit of pique— “You stupid red-state proles had better vote as we tell you to vote, or we’ll blow the gaff on every secret plan we can find until you do, and damn the consequences!”… but I am of a sick enough humor to think that spilling the details of the Swift project is a win-win for the NY Times, all the way around. It means Pulitzers for all, and the fawning adoration of the usual suspects for their courage in speaking truth to power, or at least biting it in the ankle. The odds are increased that they will be able to cover the next terrorist atrocity in really splendid, breathlessly late-breaking-development style, milk a couple of tears for the resultant obituaries, and get at least three or four hard-hitting exposes of the various government departments or persons who “allowed (insert meaningful date or place name here) to happen”… which will result in at least two more rounds of Pulitzers. Think of the New York Times as the gift that keeps on giving.

I try never to attribute to malice that which can be attributed to stupidity… or at least, a horrible sort of tone-deafness on the part of the major media, first articulated by James Fallows in “Breaking the News” (And here I am again, plugging his ten-year old polemic… honestly, the man ought to be giving me a commission.) His point then, and one which I have come to see validated over the last four or five years, is that that the elite media seem to increasingly see themselves as some sort of aristocracy, floating serenely above the vulgar hurly-burly, and dispensing their magisterial pronouncements from on high, with little care for how they may affect— and sometimes they do affect, markedly and even horribly— and it matters not to our aristocracy of the media, for they float imperiously away, on to the next big story, the next big scoop, and the next breathlessly-detailed horror of the moment.

Mr. Fallows intuited that the discriminating news-consumers were on to the media grandees, and felt considerable contempt for them, based on how they were increasingly portrayed as buffoons on movies, and in television. Reporters were once portrayed as rough-hewn heroes, competent, well meaning, and worthy of respect— but even as Woodward and Bernstein were still respected as selfless heroes of the newspaper reporter profession, we were laughing at the chipmunk-brained Ted Baxter, on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Over the next decade, the lake of contempt has deepened and broadened; perhaps television, books and movies have caught on to something, in advance of our so-sensitive news media. Reporters are more like to be portrayed as a Ron Burgundy clown than a hard-working and ethical Edward R. Murrow, or an Ernie Pyle type.
This is not to say that all major media reporters have sunk to such a sad state— those who hold to the old standards are perhaps as much distressed as I am about the spectacle of a major newspaper trading the security of their fellow citizens for a mess of Pulitzer pottage. But this whole Swift thing does not reflect well on the NY Times, and their pretensions of being the major American paper of record.

It does not, and they are richly deserving of all the contempt and cancelled subscriptions thrown in their way.

G-Mail Musings (060628)

28. June 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not, Rant

Why do I get spam in other languages? You know, most folks in other parts of the world have figured out that we simply aren’t all that multi-lingual. Do Media and Advertising Execs not talk to most folks? Wait, I forgot, we’re talking about people that keep making the creepy Burger King commercials. And while I’m thinking about it, anyone know where I can get a hold of that song they play on the Ford Commercials? Not the one with Taylor, the other ones, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s jump right in…come on baby let’s riiiiiiide.” That song gets stuck in my head faster than “It’s a Small World” without causing convulsions.

Basic Communication. In every speech class, acting class, briefing class I’ve ever had, the basics are the same. There’s the sender, the message, and the receiver. How the message is presented is a pretty big part of what decides how the receiver is going to accept it. Call me weird, but I’m thinking that sending a message that could be understood might just possibly be more desirable than say, oh, I don’t know, a message in Arabic, Chinese, Russian, or Hebrew. Spanish I kind of understand in a “If I don’t overthink it, I’ve got it.” kind of way, and let’s face it, at the current rate of “open immigration” we may as well get used to the fact that we’re going to be Mexico in another decade or five, it’s time to yo hablo. But I digress.

Spammers, do me and yourselves a favor; If you’re going to send me crap about ways to enlarge my penis, enlarge my vacation, enlarge my record collection, enlarge my choices in my medicine chest, or enlarge my breasts, please do it in English. It makes me just a little crazy to mass delete stuff I don’t understand. Perhaps there’s something there that’s different. Something I might actually want to buy. Say, a reasonably priced dog run or cat trails for the walls of my home that don’t require a freaking building permit.

Pssst, Wanna Know How We Caught Hambali?

23. June 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Letters to the Editor, Media Matters Not

Just ask The New York Times.

Mohammed on a moped do these miserable excuses for human beings not understand the word “classified?”

Definitions of Classifications:

Confidential: Release may cause damage to the United States.

Secret: Release may cause serious damage to the United States.

Top Secret: Release may cause grievous damage to the United States.

Understand you fucking idiots?!!! It can and probably will damage the United States!!!

Once again the Times has taken it upon itself to disclose a classified program, this time where the CIA is tracking terrorist’s financial transactions with the Treasury Department’s oversite. We’ve had successful results from this program. We’ve caught bad guys using this program. Now everyone knows about it.

Thank you to the New York Times for once again telling the bad guys how we’re doing it.

UPDATE: Looks like the Wall Street Journal ran the story also.

Memo: In Answer To Your Three Questions

12. June 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT, Media Matters Not, Rant, sarcasm, War

To: NPR’s Daniel Schorr
From: Sgt. Mom
Re: The Answer to Three of the Lamest Rhetorical Questions I have ever heard

1. The questions that ruffle the magisterial mind and furrow the brow of old-line journalism’s greyest eminence are, if I understand tonight’s commentary correctly: (a) how could a squad of Marines kill 25 civilians in vicious house-to-house fighting, (b) why did we drop a pair of 500lb bombs on Al-Zarkawi’s hideout, and then administer medical care when in turned out that the head-chopping psychopath wasn’t quite dead, and finally, (c) why were the three suicides at Guantanamo described as being aggressive acts, instead of being acts of despair at being held indefinably without trial (insert obligatory moaning here… the man reminds me of no one so much as he does of Eyore, gloom, despair and agony, wall to tall and treetop tall.)

2. Here are the short answers, Mr. Shorr; read and heed:
(a) Tragic and regrettable collateral damage, caused by the insurgents’ well established habit of not wearing recognized uniforms, and hiding behind non-combatants. Be a sport, and inform whoever keeps track of stuff like this, during a war… isn’t that supposed to be the Geneva Convention something or other? Someone has been remiss in their duties, I look forward to whatever moaning commentary you have to make about this. Please also exercise some proper journalistic discipline and skepticism with anyone who tells you that the Marines lined up all twenty, or twenty-five, or however many civilians, and executed them point-blank. (See rape victims at the New Orleans super dome, refrigerators full of bodies, massacre at Jenin.)

(b) Ok, so we’re softies. Our bad. We should have dropped a pair of thousand-pound bombs. Wouldn’t have made such a nice, clear post-mortem picture, though. I don’t care how nice the gold frame was, a bucket of blood and dismembered body parts wouldn’t have had quite as much convincing power at the press conference. It wouldn’t have wasted quite so much of the duty medic’s valuable time and effort, though.

(c) Because, as much as one might wish otherwise, there is a war on, and Gitmo is the POW camp? And the commonly accepted practice is to keep POWs until the war is over? This does mean, given that interpretation, that the Gitmo internees have an excellent chance of eventually creaking their way out the front gate on walkers, and hauling little tanks of oxygen after them, on the day the war is over. We’re just grateful that at least they managed to off themselves without taking anyone else with them, as is the jihadi custom in this degraded age.

3. Finally, I wonder how much longer you can milk out having been on Nixon’s Enemies List as the central jewel in your major-league journalism crown. Nixon has been dead for years, and major-league journalism is hardly looking any healthier.

4. Hoping this has been of help to you, in your search for enlightenment.

Sincerely,

Sgt. Mom

It Took Three Whole Minutes…

02. June 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Domestic, General, Iraq, Media Matters Not, War

…after seeing this cartoon in my local paper, the San Antonio Express News, to get on the phone and tell them to cancel what was left of my subscription.

I had cut back when I got the internet at home, and realised that I was reading stuff on-line a couple of days before it was printed on dead-tree media and left like a rotting fish in my driveway. And, increasingly, I never had time to read it, except on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I asked the customer service rep to please pass on a message to Mr. Branch— that I would sooner trust the word of a Marine, over the word of most main-stream media reporters.

Memo: Winter Soldier Redoux

22. May 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Cry Wolf, General, GWOT, History, Iraq, Media Matters Not, Rant, Veteran's Affairs, War

To: The Usual “Give peace a chance” ‘Tards
From: Sgt. Mom
Re: Pseuds, Wanna-Be’s and War Crimes

1. Once more I take my trusty pen in hand and do my best to advise skepticism as regards your choice in “Exhibit A” in this year’s “Anti-war Veteran Sweepstakes!” (Film at 11!) Again, you seem to be hastily embracing yet another so-called veteran with a certain taste for resume-enhancing. Well, they are a useful part of your public witnesses to the horror and waste of it all… salt to taste, people, salt to taste.

2. You are, of course, entitled to believe whatever you please, of someone who makes himself out to be a former member of a trained, selective and elite band of warriors, driven to madness by the horrors he was forced to participate in during our brutal and unjustified war in Vietnam…. Oops, sorry, dozed off there, thought I was watching an old episode of China Beach… where was I? Oh, trained, elite, hard-core… ever wonder why they appear to be such mentally-unbalanced, undisciplined, unsuccessful, scummy dirt bags, after their service in supposedly elite, selective units? Well, seriously, some of us do, even if you don’t. Your latest very public anti-war veteran…oh, dear, what to say about his credibility, except that you’d better start screening these losers, or you’ll have even less of it. Hint: DD214. What they did, and where, and how long, and with what unit, and what decs and awards they got for it, it’ll all be there. Really. Try it, you’ll be blown away… err, but in the non-military, non-explosive sense.

3. Here’s the thing: for those who were not paying attention in the first class. The military is not some huge, impersonal machine; it’s a series of very tightly controlled, interlinked communities. In a startlingly large number of them, if you stick around for more than an enlistment or two, everyone in said community knows everyone else, or has at least heard of them. And no matter where you go, and what you do, there are always other people there with you: Over you in command, under you as your subordinates, on either side of you as your peers and comrades. There are always other people there, who will remember strange and unusual events, especially of the possibility of a criminal investigation is involved. And the more recent the events, the easier it is to locate all of them. The internet greatly facilitates this process, as Micah Wright will no doubt attest.

4. Here’s another thing for you to consider at your next casting call; it’s very, very hard for a non-veteran to fake military experience and qualifications, and for the average single-hitch enlistee, almost as hard to fake very specialized, elite qualifications and experience. Veterans and serving military members, especially those of long-service, are extremely observant about all sorts of tiny clues in dress and bearing, deportment and language, about all sorts of service-specific arcane knowledge. And the more specialized the service, and the more selective the intake, and the more confined to specific times and places… well, the result will be a very specific pool of people who will either back up tales of extraordinarily events, or debunk them in with extreme attention to detail. Your choice, of course.

5. Jesse MacBeth is not the first anti-war veteran to add a lot of “interesting” qualifications to his resume, and not the last, not as long as you lot line up with your mouths all a-gape like a lot of baby birds, eager to be fed a heaping helping of crappy, easily-disproved, regurgitated fake atrocity stories. Take a swig of the Kool-Aid, people, it’ll take the taste of all that crap out of your mouth. Just ‘cause you want it to be true, don’t make it so.

6. Seriously, next time you feel this impulse to speak war-veteran truth to military power, spare yourself some heartburn, and go over the DD214s with a calendar, a map, some DOD Public Affairs releases, and maybe some reality-based military veterans. Really, you’ll be all the better for it

Sincerely,

Sgt. Mom

The Dead Hand

18. May 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, History, Media Matters Not, Pajama Game, That's Entertainment!

Once upon a dark and distant time in military broadcasting overseas, the only thing there was in the weekly television broadcast package that resembled daytime talk shows as we now know them was Phil Donahue, which we used to rather enjoy in a mild sort of way. It was occasionally intelligent, mostly interesting, and the host seemed to treat the guests and audience with friendly interest and respect. As such, it was easy to take— the give and take, the various viewpoints and inputs— especially in the small bites dished up on the AFRTS program schedule. How little we knew, that out of this innocent, and fairly innocuous chrysalis would blunder the ilk of Jerry Springer, the king of trailer-trash cat-fights, and the omnipotent Oprah, amongst others to horrible to mention. A mere decade later, we would be channel-surfing the wilderness of mid-day talk shows on the break-room television, looking for the trans-gendered/transvestite hookers which would inevitably be featured on one or another of them during the week – usually by Wednesday, Monday during sweeps week.

But one of the guests featured in the dear, long-gone innocent early days of Phil Donohue, was a veteran teacher who had garnered a small bit of fame by establishing a college-prep academy in the heart of one of the nastier big-city ghettoes. By all accounts, she was a gifted, hard-driving teacher, as demanding as any military TI – and like the TI, had hit upon success by working her charges hard, and keeping them too busy to be any more than exhausted – too exhausted to even think about getting up to counter-productive mischief. By all the print media accounts, she was a miracle worker, transforming academically floundering African-American ghetto kids into well-educated college-intake bound citizens, well-suited to join any freshman class at the more exacting institutes of higher education. To the best of our knowledge, reading the advance Teletips, this was the first time she had appeared on any of the limited television venues available to us overseas, and those of us who had even heard of her were at least a little intrigued.

The miracle-working teacher turned out to be a middle-aged black woman, very thin, very intense, and with very scary, piercing eyes; the eyes of a fanatic, I thought. She seemed to quiver with suppressed emotion; an emotion held on a very tight leash. She was accompanied onto the talk show set by her lawyer, which should have been some kind of clue to her expectations of the whole interview, but somewhat – well, overdrawn, given that the audience was cordial, curious and quite interested in her experience and insights, to judge from the initial questions from the moderator and the audience. It started off well, what with her explaining her goals, methods and intentions; I thought she was being a little more confrontational than the audience merited, what with the lawyer and all, though. I really don’t recall with any precision the actual racial mix of the audience, probably something around the average for this sort of thing, at that point in time, and in that place (Chicago, if memory and Google serve) but again, interested, respectful, polite, and her answers reasonable and well-considered, right up until she fielded a question from a middle-aged white guy about why she had picked Milton’s Paradise Lost as part of the English syllabus; what could that particular work have to say to the average black, inner-city ghetto kid, and how did she go about making it relevant— (that dearly beloved buzzword of the time.)
I thought it was a fair question— Paradise Lost is one of those difficult, old-fashioned classical English-lit texts. I didn’t encounter it myself in any depth at all until college and then only wading in to about shin-deep. There are any number of thoughtful, honest answers to be had to that question: Personally, I thought she may have been trying to best the best of the old-fashioned, beating those rigorous and retro prep-academies at their own game, throwing down an academic challenge, going toe to toe in teaching the classics that are the foundation of Western thought and literary tradition. She would have made points by explaining how she wanted to graduate pupils who were erudite, the equal of anything the well-endowed and exclusive— and expensive—academies could turn out, to prove that her disadvantaged sow’s ears of inner-city materials were capable of being woven into silk purses. She might also have expounded, as did another teacher of the classics that I read of a couple of decades later, who wrote about how he went about teaching the classical core texts to dead-enders and no-hopers, thinking that it would give his students a way to cope with human experience, by giving a means to touch the divine, and thereby becoming fully-realized, thoughtful human beings. Or pointed out (as did another teacher of the classics, possibly the same one, since I have near-perfect recall of the ideas I read about, but not the personnel responsible for them, or the venue that I read of them) that things like the Iliad and the Mort d’Arthur and Beowulf actually spoke with a more resounding voice to inner-city gangster youth than it did to middle-class preppies, what with it’s world of violence, ritual and touchy personal honor. But it appeared that the emotion on a short leash was anger, and the leash was readily snapped.

No, the genius woman teacher, with the fanatic eyes, and the lawyer in tow, took off after the poor, unwary white guy that had asked a seemingly reasonable question. She chewed him up one side, and lectured him down the other, calling him a racist, and several other sorts of horrible, nasty human being for even daring, even presuming to ask that question; having her lawyer along for the ride might have been a good idea, all the way around. The chill on any additional questioning was perceptible; the notion of any more easy and honest and collegiate give-and-take exchange was pretty well killed from that moment on. No one in the audience wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings, or to be screamed at, and called a racist. And so, any number of pertinent or interesting questions were strangled before they were even asked, because no one dared to ask them for fear of being thought rude, or a racist, or whatever, even if the answers to the unspoken questions might be interesting, or relevant. It does no one any favors to not even to dare ask the questions, and open them up for air, and discussion and disputationï¿½ never mind answering them -even if the answer is ambiguous.

Death of a Journalist

07. May 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT, Iraq, Media Matters Not, War

At the hands of Michael Moore ‘s brave, quasi-minuteman insurgents?
The method of execution would argue so.

(Warning:very graphic discription at link, thanks to Mudville Gazette.)

Update: It seems the recorded beheading is not that of a female journalist, but of a Nepali truck driver. Doesn’t make it any less nasty, though.

Memo: Royal Families

07. May 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Ain't That America?, Domestic, General, History, Media Matters Not, Pajama Game, Politics, Rant

To: The Usual Media
From: Sgt.Mom
Re: Use of a Particular Cliché

1. I refer, of course, to the lazy habit of more than a few of you to refer to the Kennedy family, of Hyannisport, late of the White House, and Camelot, as “royalty”, without use of the appropriate viciously skeptical quote marks. Please cease doing this immediately, lest I snap my mental moorings entirely, track down the most current offender, and beat him/her bloody with a rolled-up copy of the Constitution. This is the US of A, for god’s sake. We do not have royalty.

2. We did, once, as an agreeable and moderately loyal colony of His Majesty, Geo. III, before becoming first rather testy and then quite unreasonable about the taxation and representation thingy, but we put paid to the whole notion of hereditary monarchy for ourselves some two centuries and change ago. There is a certain amount of respect and affection for certain of Geo. III’s descendents, including the current incumbent; a lady of certain age with the curious and old-fashioned habit of always wearing distinctive hats, and carrying a handbag with no discernable reason for doing so. (What does Queen E. II have in her handbag, anyway? Not her house-key to all the residences; not her car keys; not a checkbook and credit cards, not a pocket calendar or business card case, not a spare pair of stockings— I understand the lady-in-waiting takes care of that— handkerchief, maybe? In the case of her late mother, a flask of gin? William once had the chance to ask that question, I harassed him unmercifully for not having the nerve ). Oh, anyway, back to the subject: royalty, or why we, a free people, should feel any need to grovel before the descendents of particularly successful freebooters, mercenary businessmen, and social climbing whores of both sexes.

3. We do still have all of the above, BTW, but locally grown. Sort of like the Kennedys, come to think on it, but without coronets and courts. Considered in that sense, perhaps they could be construed “royalty”; descendents of an energetic and ambitious and wildly successful (and not too scrupulous) progenitor, given to hubris, excess, degradation and (with luck) an eventual downfall, usually a drama that takes place over centuries. But around here, unless the descendents are competent and careful, and wily, or failing that, in posession of an enormous trust fund that they can be kept from frittering away, without the aid of a political structure that enforces the power of an hereditary aristocracy and monarchy , our native versions tend to fade away after three or four generations, sort of like we hope Paris Hilton eventually will.

4. We do have, however, in many places and professions, certain old and established families. There are business and banking families, show business families, military families, even newspaper families. Over generations, they produce more of the same; entrepreneurs, bankers, actors, generals and newspaper magnates, some better known than others. There are also regional “old families”, those associated with certain towns or counties, prominent in a quiet local way, sometimes wealthy, most often not. Describing any such as “royalty” ought to be punished by something painful, as a grim offense against small “d” democratic ideals.

5. There have also been from the very beginning of this nation, political families: Adamses and Rooseveldts, continuing to this present with Bushes, Gores… and of course, the Kennedys, who were pungently described by humorist PJ O’Rourke some years ago as “ sewer trout (who) managed to swim upstream into our body politic”. How they ever got to where they did is as mysterious as Joseph Kennedy, Seniors’ business dealings. We can be sure of it involving brutal ambition, lots unsavory back-room dealing, and a lot of money, though. If the whole Kennedy saga were one of those operatic, generational tele-novelas, what we have seen working out ever since is the result of an implacable curse old Joe earned on himself for wronging some old gypsy witch in the 1920ies.

6. I do not care for the Kennedys, the whole Camelot thing, the whole lot of manufactured glamour and I mean glamour in the old, fairy-tale way; an elaborate fraud practiced on the American people, with the aid of journalists and intellectuals who should have known better. Just about everything about JFK was a pretense and fraud, from the state of his health to the state of his marriage. He was a handsome showboat, with a court of paid lickspittles, whose’ political ascension was stage-managed by his father. The rest of the clan has been coasting on that bought reputation, and shreds of illusion ever since.

7. They are not royalty; they are only a rich, recklessly self-indulgent political family, with a predisposition to think that consequences are just something that happens to other, lesser people. Get up off your knees, and shake off that old Camelot spell. You’ll feel all the better for it.

Thank you for your attention to this matter
Sgt Mom

(Slightly edited at 5:3o PM to make some sentances a little clearer.)

Soldier With a Pen

15. April 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not

David Paulin writes on Steven Vincent, a freelance journalist who was kidnapped and murdered.

Quality

06. April 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not, Military, Rant

The dream of a recruiter is a morally and medically qualified person walking into the recruiting station with their birth certificate, high school diploma, Social Security card, and their ASVAB report saying they have a 50 or above QT. I get a warm and fuzzy feeling in places better left unsaid just thinking about such a thing happening. Recruiting has replaced my night time fantasies about Kathy Ireland with fantasies about that kid walking in.

The fact is that doesn’t happen. Many people who would be interested in the service are barred from joining for any number of reasons related to medical, law, or education issues. Not much can be done about the education. If you can’t pass the ASVAB, or if you haven’t earned a GED there isn’t much that can be done to help you. However, those not in the know would be suprised by what will disqualify someone from joining the Army.

AR 601-210 is the bible for Army recruiting. According to our bible the following individuals are ineligible to enlist.

A 24 year old who, prior to turning 20, had received three speeding tickets for $252, $301, and $290, being fined $300 for driving without proof of insurance, a $250 fine for driving without a license, and a $310 fine for having an exhaust that was too loud. All fines were paid and he has nothing outstanding.

A 22 year old who was arrested for possession of marijuana when she was 16. Hasn’t used the stuff since.

A 28 year old who had been arrested by the cops one night when he was caught egging someone’s house, and then while in college he was arrested for streaking the campus common during Pledge Week.

I think it would be a stretch to consider these people to be unqualified for military service, but according to the regulation they are. Luckily for our speed demon, reformed pot head, and egg-tossing nudist the Army allows waivers to such disqualifications. It is those waivers that this article in Salon bemoans as a way to lower enlistment standards.

I think there are two types of people with two very different agendas who would question the use of waivers. One type is someone with a genuine concern for the quality of the Army Forces. Allowing people with a history of anti-social behavior, major, serious, recurrent troubles with the law is someone who likely be unable to adjust to the rigors of military life, wasting tax payers dollars, and putting the lives of other servicemembers at risk. The other type of person is someone who views the military with distain, but lacks the courage to come right out, and put in writing how they feel about it. Instead they claim that the use of waivers shows the military is hurting for enlistees, and is thus lowering its standards and accepting poorer quality people. Usually this arguement is followed by one about the folly of Iraq, and how it’s proof that Bush lied. Bonus points if “no WMDs” is thrown in.

I’m not going to make a claim about the motivation of Mark Benjamin from Salon, however knowing what little I do about Salon’s stance on the Bush, Iraq, and the military gives me some idea.

Apparently last year 21,880 Soldiers joined with a waiver. That number covers all waivers, moral, medical, and administrative for all components of the Army. Of that 21,880 11, 018 joined with a moral waiver. The vast majority of those moral waivers were for law violations of a misdemeanor or below. Serious offenses (aggravated assault, cocaine possession, robbery, etc) accounted for less than 6% of moral waivers granted, and 3% of all waivers granted. Even though the 680 serious offense waivers granted was an increase over 2004, it’s still a minor portion of all people enlisting. For my involvement in this, I enlisted one person last year with a serious offense waiver. He’d been involved in a robbery when he was a juvenile. He enlisted when he was 28 years old. His offense was over 10 years old when he enlisted, and it still required a waiver. I’m confident that an analysis of those serious offense will show a large number of people who committed crimes a long time prior to their enlistment.

Mr. Benjamin devotes a lot of column space to the waiver policy lowering the Army’s standards, when in reality serious offenses represented less than 1% of the total enlistees for 2005.

The anecdotal evidence that Benjamin provides isn’t really applicable to the Army. Even though his story is about the Army, he uses events from the Air Guard to support his story. I don’t know the Air Guard’s policies and procedures, but I’ll treat all the anecdotes as having happened in the Army, and I’ll explain how they were allowed to join.

“After his parents filed a domestic-abuse complaint against him in 2000, a recruit in Rhode Island was sentenced to one year of probation, ordered to have ‘no contact’ with his parents, and required to undergo counseling and to pay court costs. Air National Guard rules say domestic violence convictions make recruits ineligible — no exceptions granted. But the records show that the recruiter in this case brought the issue to an Air Guard staff judge advocate, who reviewed the file and determined that the offense did not ‘meet the domestic violence crime criteria.’ As a result of this waiver, the recruit was admitted to his state’s Air Guard on May 3, 2005.”

The Army’s definition of domestic abuse is the Lautenburg law. Per 601-210 domestic abuse occurs when the person committing the assault is the current or former spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim; a person who shard a child with the victim; cohabitating or had cohabitated with the victim as a spouse, parent, or guardian; person who could be viewed as the spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim. No where in there are the parents of the offender included as someone who Lautenburg applies to. Since it’s not considered domestic abuse by the Army, it would fall under assault or what ever other applicable policy, and the appropriate waiver would be processed and granted if found worthy.

“A recruit with DWI violations in June 2001 and April 2002 received a waiver to enter the Iowa Air National Guard on July 15, 2005. The waiver request from the Iowa Guard to the Pentagon declares that the recruit ‘realizes that he made the wrong decision to drink and drive.'”

DUI is a dangerous crime, one that can have horrific consquences for innocent people. But, isn’t it possible that after two DUI arrests in a year someone will take that moment to see the error of their ways and reform? Stop drinking, getting smarter about their drinking, learning to call a cab? Espicially with more than three years between the last offense? Someone with a DUI won’t be receiving a job with a security clearance any time soon, but that doesn’t mean someone who’s seen the light should be denied a chance to serve.

“Another recruit for the Rhode Island Air National Guard finished five years of probation in 2002 for breaking and entering, apparently into his girlfriend’s house. A waiver got him into the Guard in June 2005.”

This really is the silliest one. Follow the time line here… five years probation ended in 2002, which means he committed the B&E in 1997. Nearly 8 years later he’s allowed to enlist in the ANG with a waiver. I wonder if Salon refuses to hire people as writers who had a B&E 8 years ago?

A recruit convicted in January 2004 for possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and stolen license-plate tags got into the Hawaii Air National Guard with a waiver little more than a year later, on March 3, 2005.

Possessing and using marijuana is against the law. My opinion of whether it should be will remain my opinion, but the reg states that a waiver is authorized after a 1 year wait. The year was up, waiver was submitted and approved. Is Salon advocating that people charged with possession of marijuana should forever be barred from government service?

It is a recruiter’s dream to have fully qualified people. Back in the good ol’ days when the military was drawing down all the services could afford to be picky. There is a war on. Without the ability to request waivers for law violations the Army would have had 11,000 fewer Soldiers in boots. Apparently 680 people admitted to the Army with a serious offense waiver represent a “military (that) is lowering its standards to fight the war in Iraq”. 680 people, in an Army over 500,000, represent a lowering of the standards. I have my doubts about the dire straights those 680 represent.

Tom Delay and Cynthia McKinney

05. April 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not, Politics, Rant

I haven’t written on either of these stories nor was I going to. I find myself with a bit of quiet time this morning and did some surfing around my favorite news sites and blogs. I guess some people think these stories are big deals.

Yawn.

You have a Republican Congressman resigning for charges that he’s been acting like a Chicago Ward Alderman passing out money in the back rooms of pool halls on da North Side. You have a Democrat Congress-Person-Of-Color possibly facing arrest for acting like a spoiled brat and hitting a cop when he didn’t recognize her royal highness. Basically you have two members of “The People’s House” acting as if the rules don’t apply to them and are more concerned with political mileage than they are with serving their districts.

Big noisy stretchy yawn. These are “Dog bites man.” stories getting the “SWOOSH!!! Fox News Alert” treatment.

You want me to become excited about a story about a member of Congress? Tell me a story about how they’re serving their district, saving me tax dollars, using their portion of political power to help a President do the right thing, or stop him from doing the wrong thing.

That would be SWOOSH-worthy.

FEC: Hands Off Blogs

28. March 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not, Politics

We won:

In a unanimous vote yesterday, the Federal Election Commission left unregulated almost all political activity on the Internet except for paid political advertisements. Campaigns buying such ads will have to use money raised under the limits of current federal campaign law.

Perhaps most important, the commission effectively granted media exemptions to bloggers and other activists using the Web to allow them to praise and criticize politicians, just as newspapers can, without fear of federal interference.

Grim? I Don’t Think So!

18. March 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Iraq, Media Matters Not, Stupidity

Jim Lingren at Volokh has acted on the barking moonbat’s lemming-like need to recite yet another phony “milestone” on the Iraq campaign’s death toll.

Comment threads at VC can get rather long. You’ll find mine here.

Borderline Radio

04. March 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Ain't That America?, General, History, Media Matters Not, Pajama Game, That's Entertainment!, The Funny

Our local public radio station (which full disclosure impels me to mention that I am employed by their 24-hour classical sister station on a part-time basis) is advertising a special which airs this weekend on “border radio”— that is, a collection of stations located just over the Mexican border which during the 1950ies and 1960ie— joyfully free of FCC restrictions on power restrictions… or practically any other kind of restriction— blasted the very latest rock, and the most daring DJ commentary, on stations so high-powered they could be heard all the way into the deep mid-west… and probably on peoples’ fillings, too.

My parents were… umm, kind of stodgy about radio entertainment, and Mom kept the radio at home always tuned to the venerable Los Angeles classical station, with the result that I may have been the single “ most totally clueless about popular music” military broadcaster trainee ever to graduate from DINFOS. I knew about Elvis, and the Beatles, of course— JP played the “White Album” incessantly, and the Beach Boys were omnipresent in California… and I rather liked Simon & Garfunkle, but everything else… major unexplored territory there. Except for obscure and weird stuff like… umm, classical music. And the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. JP was a fan. I actually won money in tech school, betting on the existence of a band called the “Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band”. (They had a single in the AFRTS library— my winning move, going to the index file and triumphantly producing the card for “I am the Urban Spaceman”.) Otherwise, popular music, country music, all the rest of it was pretty much new news to me. I could be really open-minded about it all, which turned out to be a good thing, in the long run. DJ’s with strong personal inclinations about genre, decade and groups sometimes had a problem when it came to being ecumenical. (Weekend jazz… no problem. Midnight AOR.. no problem… just give me a couple of bottles of extra-strength Anacin. Afternoon drive-time… eh, no problem.)

So I managed to get to that point in my life without ever having heard of Wolfman Jack, the king of the border radio personalities. Raunchy, borderline profane, very funny, the Wolfman was about the most daring DJ in the regular weekly AFRTS package of radio programming for a good long time, which might have seemed even longer to station managers gritting their teeth and crossing their fingers that there might be nothing potentially offensive to the host nation in his show… this week, anyway. Master-Sgt. Rob, the first station manager that I worked for, at FEN-Misawa had been around for at least fifteen years before that. MSgt. Rob was one of the old-timers, who had served tours in South-East Asia, a clannish set loosely known as the “Thai Mafia”… so many of them had passed through a tour of duty at Udorn. Thailand’s reputation as a sort of sexual Disneyland dates from that time— although I swear Scouts’ honor, (fingers crossed here) that military broadcasters contributed very little to that. (Military broadcasters tended to be a little odd. I’d be willing to take bets that many of them had some degree of Ausburgers’ Syndrome). The Thai government was and is extremely embarrassed about this reputation, and sensitive of slight against national honor. So late one night, MSgt. Rob happened to turn on the radio, and of course, the Wolfman was on, and the first words MSgt. Rob heard was a joke:
“What’s brown and lays in the forest?” And the Wolfman answered his own question in that deep baritone that seemed especially made to relay the punch-line of raunchy jokes. “Smokey the Hooker!”
More »

Memo: It’s Just Business

27. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: European Disunion, General, Media Matters Not, Rant, sarcasm, That's Entertainment!

To: Gary Busey, Billy Zane
From: Sgt Mom
Re: Your Next Career Move

1. I assume, of course, that you will still have one in movies catering to mainstream American audiences. You know, America… that country of which you are both ostensibly citizens? The one where a decreasing number of people with disposable income and an inclination to be amused by well-crafted entertainment at the multiplex are in fact declining to report as commanded by the lords of the entertainment industry to be sliced, diced, insulted and lectured on the most recent cause du jour? Yeah, that country. Feel free, though, to cast your lot in with whoever’s movie industry floats your personal boat… this place is still, although you might get some argument among the entertainment wheelers and dealers, a free country.

2. So, guys, how do you feel, after having participated with apparent glee, in what looks like (from this admittedly distant perspective) the 21st Century’s version of that hateful Third Reich propaganda crap-fest “The Eternal Jew”? Full of that nice warm glow that comes of having stuck it to “the man”, I presume. How very daring of you. I do hope you were well paid, as that paycheck might have to last for a while.

3. So, as working actors…
(“Blondie, sweetie, have we ever seen a movie starring either one of these goofs?”
“Billy Zane was the baddie on “Titanic, Mom.”
“I think he was in “Memphis Belle, too. Maybe that’s where he got to be a pacifist.”
“And Gary Busey… who’s he?”
“I think he played Buddy Holly, ages ago… you do know who Buddy Holly is….?.”
“S**t, Mom, you were a DJ, you trained me well… he was killed with Richie Valens… wasn’t he in Point Break, with Keanau Reeves? Oh-oh-oh-oh… Billy Zane was the the “Phantom”… he wore lavender spandex, for Ch****t sake!”)….
It looks like we shall in future be seeing rather less of you two than before… one way or the other— either the free markets’ choice or ours, as consumers.

4. I would also venture a guess, that any future American big-screen production that you have a major role in… will probably not show in an AAFES theater, not once word about this little movie escapade gets around. It’s just a guess, mind you, but I do have an instinct about these things. Military members have a long, long memory about movie actors who either mouth off about the military, or play very prominent roles in movies which defame the military. I know lots of people who have been boycotting Jane Fonda for decades. Of course, that duty was made less onerous when she barely made any movies for decades— interesting coincidence, don’t you think?

Sincerely,
Sgt Mom.

PS: Please don’t do any interviews in which you lament the unflattering way in which Americans in general and the American military in particularly, are seen by foreigners… seeing that you just now, and a couple of decades of Hollywood efforts before you have contributed so much to that state of affairs. We owe so much to you all, for generally portraying Americans as brutal, racist, crude, uncultured, ignorant and generally benighted. Thanks for all your sterling service in that regard.

PPSS: Rremember, make that paycheck last!

“I’m an Okie from Muskogee”

27. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, Media Matters Not, The Funny

Today, on FNC’s Special Report with Brit Hume, they corrected an earlier story, which claimed Oklahoma was a landlocked state, with no interest in seaports. They said, “Oklahoma is connected to the Gulf of Mexico via Catoosa.” *Sigh* I guess they don’t listen to Merle Haggard in New York.

On Martha Vs. The Donald

26. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Ain't That America?, Media Matters Not

All of the celebrity culture folks I’ve heard to date have harped upon this “rift” that has developed “between these two former friends.” Well, I think these two media savvy New Yorkers know how to play the “any press is good press” game just as well as they do in Washington or Hollywood.

What do you want to bet that they won’t be kicking back together in a penthouse at One Central Park West in a week’s time, beatin’ back 40 year old Laphroaig, and laughing at the sheeple?

Who’s Making Our Armor?

26. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not, Military, Technology

This Ceradyne press release via Reuters:

COSTA MESA, Calif.–(Business Wire)–Jan. 18, 2006– Ceradyne, Inc. (Company) (Nasdaq:CRDN) Chief Executive Officer Joel Moskowitz appears on KOCE in an interview on “Dialogue with Jim Doti,” which aired Tuesday, January 17, and is scheduled to air again at 10 a.m. PST on Sunday, January 22, on KOCE.

During the 30-minute interview, Moskowitz discusses his early days as a ceramic engineer, Ceradyne’s beginnings as a supplier of military helicopter armor, factors contributing to the Company’s growth and competitive position, and his outlook for 2006 and longer-term. Ceradyne develops, manufactures, and markets advanced technical ceramic products and components for defense, industrial, automotive/diesel, and commercial applications. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.ceradyne.com.

Except for the historical information contained therein, the interview contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of Ceradyne that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “future,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the Company’s supplemental prospectuses, dated December 13, 2005, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the documents included or incorporated by reference therein.

Ceradyne, Inc.
Joel Moskowitz, 714-549-0421, Ext. 8261
or
Silverman Heller Associates
Dan Matsui/Gene Heller, 310-208-2550

This should be a very interesting show for tech-heads. But I don’t know if Dialogue with Jim Doti airs on your local PBS station. I’ll try to find a link to a podcast.

InstaSPAN

26. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, Media Matters Not

Glenn Reynolds will be on C-SPAN’s Q & A, tonight at 8pm EST. It repeats at 11 and 6am tomorrow.

(Relatively) New PBS Must See

25. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Media Matters Not, Politics

If you are at all concerned with global geopolitics, and you are not already watching Foreign Exchange, with Fareed Zakaria, now in its second season on PBS, you really should. Zakaria has long been one of my favorite MSM foreign affairs specialists (and one of the few redeeming qualities to Newsweek magazine and ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos). And his TV program, which I’ve watched from about the fourth or fifth show, has been consistently excellent.

On this week’s installment (check your local listings – not yet on their website):

A discussion on what US policy should be, relative to nuclear technology in India.
A report on Estonian high tech. Zakaria reports that they lead the world in WiFi coverage, and a “paperless” government.
A discussion of the Muhammad cartoon controversy with columnist and author Christopher Hitchens.

Blargon?

19. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, Media Matters Not

Here’s an interesting article of the jargon associated with blogging from William Safire at the NYTimes Magazine:

Some of our special vocabulary is being stolen from us by the denizens of the world of Web logs. Above the fold — the top half of a standard-size newspaper page, where the major stories begin — now, in “blargon,” is what we see on a blog’s screen before we begin to scroll down. The jump — the continuation of an article on an inside page — is now a place to which the blog’s readership is referred inside the Web site. A sidebar — which we fondly remember as a boxed, related article alongside the main newspaper article — is, to a blogger, a column down one side of the screen displaying advertisements, archived links or a list of other blogs called a blogroll. Even the reporter’s byline, that coveted assertion of journalistic authorship, has been snatched by the writers derogated as “guys in pajamas” and changed to bye-line, an adios or similar farewell at the end of the blogger’s politely expressed opinion or angry screed. (The prevailing put-down of right-wing bloggers is wingnuts; this has recently been countered by the vilification of left-wing partisans who use the Web as moonbats, the origin of which I currently seek.)

As I just emailed Bill, the term “moonbats” – short for “barking moonbats“, was coined a few years ago by Perry deHavilland of Samizdata.net

Hat Tip: Todd Zywicki at Volokh..

Cartoon Protesters attack Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonald’s

14. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General Nonsense, Media Matters Not

Hedline from CNN’s main page, 1500 Central.

Are you sure it was because of the cartoons and not because some hash-baked kid stopped listening to Islamo-trip-hop long enough to screech, “I’m sooooooooooo baked and this crap still tastes like…CRAP! The Colonel, the Clown and Pizza the Hut must DIE”?

Or maybe someone figured out there was no way in hell that stuff was halal.

Note to the White House Press Corps (We’re Hunting Wabbits/Lawyers Edition)

13. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General Nonsense, Media Matters Not, Stupidity

Subject: VP Cheney’s Hunting Accident

Look, you don’t want to know what the President knew and when he knew it, you want to know how come you all weren’t told right away.

I wasn’t even there and right off the top of my head my reaction is, “Oh I don’t know, perhaps folks were more concerned with the gentleman that was peppered with a 20 gauge than alerting the media.” I’m not a gun nut and even I know that while birdshot isn’t life threatening, it stings like a mother (hush my mouth).

Did the VP have a hunting license? Oh for-the-love-of-Mohammed-on-a-MoPed, who freaking cares?!

I can’t help but think that 20-30 years ago, this story would have been an interesting aside on the evening news at best.

Best thing I’ve heard so far: “I’d still rather go hunting with Vice President Cheney than go driving with Senator Kenedy.” Attributed to Rush Limbaugh…but still funny.

The Daily Brief