February 29, 2008
The Giant Dunce Cap
There are millions of Americans who believe the earth is 6,000 to 10,000 years old. Why? Because the Bible says so if you take it literally. The fact that the Bible was written by people who didn't have even the most rudimentary understanding of modern science and read by people who were less educated than they seems to escape the gaze of most fundamentalists. If you believe this planet was created around 4,000 B.C., then you have to believe that much of what we know about astronomy, geology, biology, radiology and chemistry is wrong.
I was thinking about this tonight as I listened to last night's "Coast to Coast AM" radio show. George Noory interviewed Walt Brown about his thoughts on creationism versus evolution and Noah's Ark. As I listened to caller after caller praise Brown for his work because creationism is "the only thing that makes sense", I was shocked and, to be blunt, embarrassed. This is who we are?
Then the thought hit me: millions of Americans believe 9/11 was an inside job. The idea that 19 radical Muslim subhumans flew four planes into targets or the ground is somehow too unbelievable. Or is it? If you watch some of the far-out documentaries available on the web concerning 9/11, it becomes obvious that other theories become more attractive if a)you hate the people in power and b) you don't know anything about basic science.
That's what this boils down to, at least on the surface---Americans are idiots when it comes to science, even on the most basic levels. If you don't know anything about metallurgy, then some theory about jet fuel not being able to cause a steel building to collapse makes perfect sense. If you know nothing about wind and water erosion, then it's easy to believe the idea that the Grand Canyon was formed in three weeks.
Learning real, provable science does not mean an automatic loss of faith. Instead, it creates a critical mind that doesn't buy into anything hook, line and sinker, something that many ministers, imams and the like (many of whom are not well-educated themselves) do not want to deal with.
February 28, 2008
And Terrorists Still Abound
The FBI is investing whether or not baseball player Roger Clemens lied to Congress about taking steroids.
Why does this story exist? I mean, why was Congress investigating steroids in baseball in the first place? Is there some jurisdiction other than a tenuous anti-trust connection? Has Congress run out of things to do, other than spending too much of our great-grandchildren's money?
I really don't care about steroids in baseball. I think it's terrible that talented young men risk health problems in the name of a small increase in game performance, but there are also young men who risk health problems by drinking too much every weekend. THAT is a bigger problem, in my opinion. The difference, of course, is that no major network is covering Joe Sixpack and his buddies as they drink away their problems on a Friday night.
This is just one more example of how far out of hand our federal government has gotten. Almost every facet of your life is overseen by the feds in one way or another. Schools, work, gas stations, grocery stores...they all have to conform to laws that only exist on the federal level. The idea of local oversight of anything is becoming a joke.
Oh, one more thing. Did you ever have any doubt?
February 26, 2008
Che, They Hardly Know Ya
Young America's Foundation is giving away posters of Che Guevara. That may seem a little contradictory since YAF is a conservative organization, but if you take a close look at the poster, you see that Che's face is made up of little pictures. They are of people who Guevara is known to have murdered and others murdered by henchmen in Fidel Castro's regime (may he die a painful death soon).
Every time I see a t-shirt with Che's face looking out from it, I want to ask the thin-armed, no-upper-body-strength having punk wearing it what he knows about Che. Almost universally, the answer is nothing. Che is just cool because, like, he was a revolutionary and stuff, man. We'll just glaze over the part where he sat as judge, jury and executioner for hundreds who fought against the Castro regime in the late 50's as the marxists took over Cuba.
You may say that Che's image has become more of a brand thing and less a statement of leftist ideology. Imagine if kids started wearing shirts with Hitler's face on them. How loud would the outcry be? Nazism in Germany died more than 60 years ago; Che's cohorts still run Cuba. Couldn't we make the argument that it's time we "got over" fascism? After all, Hitler was a rebel. And rebels are cool.
February 23, 2008
Washington's Best?
The Washington Post has hopped on the New York Times-driven bandwagon in the drive to smear John McCain. Take a moment and read the article; the first thing you'll probably note is that the salient point of the article does not appear until the last paragraph:
"After the letters became public in 2000, they were widely criticized. Kennard's predecessor, however, defended McCain, saying he did not find the letters objectionable. A subsequent review by the FCC General Counsel's Office determined that McCain had violated the commission's ex parte rules, though the breach was deemed inadvertent."
To summarize: John McCain wrote a letter to the FCC concerning an upcoming vote the commission was facing. The FCC later said the letter was inappropriate, but that the Senator meant no malice in sending it. This was determined sometime in 2000, eight years ago. Now, a retired network owner is contradicting McCain's campaign on the issue of the date of a meeting, implying that he sent the letter as a favor to the lobbyist.
In the final analysis, this is a he said/he said argument between McCain's people and a retired multi-millionaire. Even if McCain is guilty of what he has been accused of, he has broken no laws. It IS improper, especially coming from a Senator who has railed against the power of lobbyists on Capitol Hill for years. And that, of course, is the point of this exercise: make McCain look like a hypocrite. You will see more articles like this since anyone who has served in the Senate since 1980 is bound to have stories associated with him or her that, when taken with a certain amount of spin, appear inappropriate.
I'm curious to see if there will be any in-depth investigation into Barack Obama's business dealings before he became involved in politics. What did he do, exactly? I don't know and I consider myself very current when it comes to national politics. It makes one wonder.
Keep something in mind: we are not nominating anyone for sainthood here. Those who slammed Republicans for pursuing Bill Clinton's perjury before a grand jury would do well to remember that.
UPDATE: My friend Hash let me know that I did not link to the story I quoted. As of now, I am unable to find the article. Sorry about that.
February 21, 2008
February 20, 2008
One for One
It looks like the USS Lake Erie is batting a thousand in terms of shooting down satellites. Outstanding, ladies and gentlemen. I'm glad that Aegis fire control system is getting a workout---we paid billions for those cruisers, after all.
Honoring
My best friend Peter sent me a link to this blog post put up by Mark Davis, a local talk show host on WBAP in Dallas. Davis is a great guy; he used to share my drive every morning when I was doing deliveries in the DFW area.
A Eulogy to Share
February 18, 2008
Funerals are very private things, as friends and family gather to remember the departed.
Soldiers' funerals are different. Since we as a nation feel every loss, we join in mourning and remembrance with those in attendance as our fellow Americans are laid to rest as heroes.
We can't be there for every soldiers' funeral, and it's not as though they run them on some cable channel, but every once in a while there are remarks made on such an occasion that should be heard or read by every American.
Such was the case at a memorial service in Baghdad on January 22, 2008, as Lt. Col. Rod Coffey remembered the sacrifice of six soldiers under his command killed in a booby-trapped house in Sinsil, Iraq two weeks earlier.
I shared his words on the air this morning (which you may hear in the on-demand section at wbap.com under the Mark Davis Show for today's date), but I wanted you to have them in printable or e-mailable form to share with anyone who believes in our war effort... or perhaps even more significantly, with anyone who does not.
The soldiers who died that day, along with their translator, were:
Specialist Todd E. Davis, 22, of Raymore, Mo.;
Staff Sgt. Jonathan K. Dozier, 30, of Rutherford, Tenn.;
Staff Sgt. Sean M. Gaul, 29, of Reno, Nev.;
Sgt. Zachary W. McBride, 20, of Bend, Ore.;
First Sgt. Matthew I. Pionk, 30, of Superior, Wis.;
Sgt. Christopher A. Sanders, 22, of Roswell, N.M.
Here is what their commander said about them-- and about us-- at the service, with Gen. David Petraeus and other top officers gathered in remembrance:
On behalf of all the soldiers of 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment we thank you for coming to pay tribute to our fallen brothers in arms.
We are here to honor the memory and service of seven men, seven of our brothers in arms.
There is a story about loss in war where one character comments to another, "We are ready for the occasional empty chair, the fond farewell for comrades lost. But we are never, never ready for so many."
I cannot, as your commander, in anything I say today diminish the impact of losing these men all at once. In fact because we lost them so quickly, it all seems like a bad dream -- that we will wake up tomorrow and they will all be back again.
Each of us, whether present at the scene that day or not, will remember when we first found out. We will remember our inner anguish when we got up the nerve to ask, "Who was it?"
Others will recall the steeled strength it took to calmly and professionally report and verify the battle roster numbers, knowing full well we owed them this calmness and professionalism, so their families would be taken care of.
Others of us will never forget rescuing the four wounded that day and getting them to a helicopter as fast as we could. All these things are true. All these things will be seared in our memories. It was a terrible day and we cannot change that.
We are not alone in mere personal grief, or our desire to honor the fallen. The presence of the general officers here is their effort to acknowledge the sacrifice of this unit and the bravery of these men. Although I have not been able to access every news report, the ones I have read indicate the nation supports us, mourns with us and honors the men we have lost in the recon platoon.
The governors of the states of Virginia and Nevada and Wisconsin and Oregon and New Mexico have ordered the flag of the United States of America and the flags of their respective state flags be flown at half-mast on the day of our men's funerals. We are not alone in honoring them. Again, I don't have news stories for all of our men yet but those I have read indicate hundreds have attended their funerals.
And why this reaction? Why hundreds of people at funerals? Why governors issuing decrees for flags to be flown at half mast?
Because we are all in awe of their great sacrifice, courage and devotion to duty and each other. These men, our men, are fallen on the field of battle. Forever more that is their legacy. Their names are now enshrined on the scroll of America's hallowed dead. And where they died, where they shed their blood, is sacred ground to us.
We still cannot help think why. Why do we have to lose such good men?
Part of the answer is only good men like these volunteer to serve and defend their country. Here are two brief examples of their motivations:
SPC Davis had his car packed and had been admitted to the University of Oklahoma when he changed his mind and decided to enlist in the army. His family believes he did so out of pride for his father who had served in the military and had passed away in 2003. There he was -- the excitement and opportunities of college life and getting a degree ahead of him -- and he heard that call, the call to defend and serve his country. At the last moment he could not go through with the easy choice. He chose the harder life of a soldier in a time of war.
Of SSG Gaul his stepmother noted, "Being a soldier was his life. It was what he truly wanted to do."
I could mention every one of them and tell a similar story. I wish I knew more about Roy's story, for the courage and guts displayed by our interpreters on a daily basis is an inspiration for us all.
It is still a natural human instinct to ask….But what did they die for? Wasn't it a waste?
There are several answers to that question but the most basic and simple is they died for us. They entered that house so you and I wouldn't have to. At that moment they saw it as their duty to clear that house and they acted with discipline courage and bravery.
The character of our fallen heroes in the recon platoon is revealed by the actions of the living that day.
As many of you know they were essentially lured to the house by someone that we later discovered had ties to Al Qaida. One of the members of the platoon, on the roof when the blast occurred and the building collapsed -- and wounded himself -- ran down the local who had had lured them to the house ……and then when he found him, did nothing more than detain him.
That professionalism, that discipline, that honor and self-sacrifice speaks of extraordinary nobility of character in the entire platoon. Another soldier, the senior squad leader at the scene with calmness and strength took over the role of platoon sergeant as if he had been doing the job for months.
I could go on and on about the enormous character demonstrated by that entire platoon and entire company that day - a strength and determination that continues to today.
And then there is the unfeigned determination of the recon platoon. It's not put-on. It's not fake. They are not trying to be something they are not and failing to express their emotions about this. But the speed with which they have rebounded and insisted to me that they go out on missions again is awe-inspiring.
I do not know where such men come from, except to say they are the kind of men who have made America great and will continue to preserve it.
The act of going in first, the act of willingly doing your duty in a dangerous environment, is by its very nature an act of heroic self-sacrifice for the sake of others. These men we honor today had that spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty to an awe-inspiring degree.
And so I need to speak of what else they died for, and what I believe our honored dead would now expect of us.
I'll begin by saying what they would not want. They would not wish to be seen as victims of a misguided war, victims of stop loss - or victims of anything else for that matter.
We know we are fighting extremism here in a thousand ways. And as the hometown news articles are getting written several of these fallen heroes are on record stating they believed the war in Iraq is a noble cause.
For those who want to support us by getting us out of Iraq as soon as possible, without a victory, I have but one comment. You're too late. We have sacrificed too much and all we ask of you is the necessary time to finish the job.
Our children and yours, our grandchildren and yours will be safer for it.
This squadron and the formations on its left and right have in the balance sheet of history, already achieved far more than extremist reckless hatred will ever accomplish.
SSG Dozier once asked his father Carl, "Is it weird to really want to do this?"
His father Carl, filled with pride at what his son had become said "No," "This is what you're trained to do."
On another occasion this brave man, SSG Jonathan Dozier told his father he was prepared to die, "But," he said, "I don't want to die for nothing."
So I ask you Wolfpack to make this promise with me: SSG Dozier, will not have died for nothing. We owe him a victory. We owe him a win. We owe him our own lives if necessary.
If the enemy comes out to fight he will be met with a disciplined lethal ferocity he has never before endured. If he plays the sly game of intimidating, beheading and torturing the innocent people of Iraq when he thinks we're not looking he will be met with a cunning, a sophistication and a relentlessness that will lead to his utter defeat.
This is my promise to you as your commander and from all of us to our honored dead.
February 19, 2008
On to Nowhere
It looks as if Senator Obama has won the Wisconsin primary, a race that many political pundits were calling a must-win for Senator Clinton's continued relevance. Speaking just demographically, Hillary should have wrapped up the state. But the undeniable is now upon us: regardless of what you think about his positions (whatever they may be), Barack Obama has broad appeal that reaches across race, class and sex lines.
If Hillary was a team player, she would get out of the race now so Obama can concentrate on the national campaign. However, I think we can all agree that is very unlikely. The Clintons believe the nomination is some sort of birthright and there's just no way an upstart Senator from Illinois can take it away from them. Even though Hillary is more experienced and actually announces her position on issues, she has failed to do one crucial thing---convince the voting public that she is likable. Obama has done that in spades.
Thus is 21st century politics. God help us all.
February 18, 2008
February 15, 2008
Knight Industries
Knight Rider is coming back to television. Some of you, like me, grew up watching The Hoff and his 82 Pontiac fight crime every week for something like three years beginning in, I believe, 1982. Now, the Firebird has been replaced by a Ford Mustang something-or-other. Just great.
I'm all for the American auto industry, but couldn't they have done a little better than an American pseudo-muscle car? If you have to use an American car, how about a new Vette Z06? It's a world-class sports car, even to car snobs who love Ferrari. And speaking of Ferrari, what's wrong with the Ferrari 430 Scuderia?
Am I asking too much here?
February 14, 2008
Where Are The Photon Torpedoes?
I just think this is cool---a U.S. Navy cruiser is going to shoot down an orbiting satellite. This is 'Star Trek' stuff, no?
The Word
Please allow me to wish each of you a happy Valentine's Day. Since I'm housebound and soon to be beset with medical bills (most of which, thankfully, will be covered by our great insurance), all I could do for The Lovely Kelli is write her a sort of love letter, something I haven't done for at least 15 years. Most of our speedy communication options are relatively new; when I left the Navy at the end of 1992, mailing letters was still a very common way to communicate. Cell phones existed but were too expensive for sailors working for wages well below the poverty line and e-mail was something only large corporations utilized. Even long distance calls were too expensive for regular use.
Writing personal letters is becoming a lost art. E-mail has made all of us lazy in terms of structure and grammar. Remember when a letter was broken into paragraphs of several sentences? Please let me know the last time you received an e-mail like that. Most of the e-mails I send are one sentence; often, it's only one or two words.
I miss the formality of the written letter. It reminds me, once again, that I was born too late.
One more thing: Kelli said the letter made her cry. I guess I've still got it!
February 10, 2008
Pet The Panda
The British Olympic committee is requiring that nation's athletes to sign a 'no-talk' agreement which states they will not say anything about 'sensitive' political or human rights issues before or during the summer Olympics in China this year. A similar thing happened in 1936 before the Berlin Olympics, which led to the Brits doing this:
At least Prince Charles, usually not my idea of a stiff upper-lipped Englishman, has said that he will not be attending the games even if he is invited. The best thing the world could do is follow his example. With her abysmal human rights record and her illegal occupation of Tibet, China should never have been chosen in the first place. Everything we will see this summer in Beijing will be a facade, covering up everything from government corruption to environmental disaster. It makes me glad so few people (at least in this country) watch anymore.
February 08, 2008
As In The Days Of Old
Georgia wants to annex a small part of Tennessee. That seems odd on the face of it, as if the argument over those states' borders should have been settled before, say, 1815 or so. But the real fight isn't over land---it's all about water.
Once you read the article, you'll see that the Georgian solution is short-sighted. Some people get testy when anyone mentions the concept of sustainable growth, and I'm certainly not one to suggest putting restraints on growth spurred on by a free economy. But when a common resource, such as water, is in danger of falling short of a given area's demands, isn't it time to think about throttling things back, at least until a permanent solution is found? It's a Pandora's box of political problems, but what is the other answer? A civil war over water rights?
February 07, 2008
The World Wonders
Senator John McCain is now the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for the Presidential race this November. To some of you, that sentence is possibly the worst news you could hear. However, I have some worse news----if you don't support McCain, you'll end up with Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama in the White House.
Some conservatives out there (and I consider myself conservative) have stated that there is no way they can vote for John McCain. Ann Coulter, forever the mother of shocking statements, even went so far as to say she would campaign for Hillary if McCain is the nominee. Rush Limbaugh claims that a McCain nomination will mark the end of the party. James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, has spoken out against McCain to his millions of listeners as well. These three only represent the tip of the conservative iceberg parked straight ahead of our Captain.
I believe this divisiveness is less about McCain and more about who owns the hearts and minds of Republicans. Is it talk radio? Evidently, not. 90% of the self-styled conservatives on the dial are against McCain because, I believe, he has never kissed their collective asses. Yes, he has taken liberal stands on important issues such as immigration and campaign finance reform; these are worthy of discussion. But I believe this is mostly a front, especially by Limbaugh, to cover up the fact that he can't steer the party one way or another as he thought he could. He is, in the end, just another talking head with an opinion. I've been on the radio---it's not a tough gig. I'm not taking anything away from any commentator's success, but I believe the McCain advance has deflated what were once enormous egos. And the truth hurts.
So, what are conservatives going to do? As I've said here before, I am going to run to vote for him in November. Mitt Romney, in one of classiest concession speeches I have heard, hit the nail right on the head when he said that a Clinton or Obama in the White House would mark surrender in the war on terror. If you, as a conservative, stay home in November or vote for the Dems, you are giving tacit approval to that surrender. Think long and hard before you act.
You don't support your captain because you like him; you support him because he's got the job...or YOU'RE NO GOOD.
February 03, 2008
The Hero Of The Day
My friend Damon sent me a link today. It concerns this photograph:
You've seen it before, but you may not know the history behind it. The photograph was taken in February 1st, 1968, almost exactly 40 years ago. It was the second or third day of the Tet Offensive, the gigantic push by the Viet Cong to sew death and destruction in South Vietnam. Things were so out of hand during those early days that US Marines had a prolonged firefight with VC who had penetrated the grounds of the US embassy in Saigon. When it was over, the Viet Cong were a militarily defeated rabble. But the leftists in this country and their fellow travelers in our media turned a VC defeat into a stunning moral victory. The seeds for our abandonment of South Vietnam were planted in those dark first months of 1968.
The photograph depicts General Nguyan Ngoc Loan, chief of Vietnam's national police, executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon. Stories vary according to source, but most of the journalists present that day say Nguyễn Văn Lém, the man being shot, was found near the bound and gagged bodies of local police officials and their families. According to police, Lem was the head of an assassination squad sent into Saigon with orders to kill police officers and/or their family members during the offensive. Viet Cong members captured during military operations were afforded treatment under the Geneva Convention as prisoners of war; Lem, acting behind enemy lines and dressed as a civilian, was granted no such treatment. The rest, as they say, is history.
From the Times Online article:
This morning, with its admirable instinct for a story, the Today programme told the tale of Eddie Adams's photograph and the impact it made.
Sadly Adams is dead, so the programme featured a different, but also distinguished, war photographer Philip Jones Griffiths. And Jones Griffiths described his feelings about the photo and his own decision to track down and photograph the executed man's widow.
Jones Griffiths had strong views on the photo and gave them to us.
He dismissed the idea that the executed man had been a killer saying both that the idea that the man had just killed others was "kind of propaganda" and that "he wouldn't have been much of a Vietcong soldier" if he hadn't tried to kill people. He clearly viewed the photo's power as being its revelation of the evil of the war and America's involvement.
These were interesting, legitimate, opinions. But it is a shame that it wasn't mentioned that they were not remotely the views held by Eddie Adams of his own photo.
Here's what Eddie Adams had to say about General Loan:
The guy was a hero.
Loan had a sad life after the war. He escaped Saigon in 1975 and moved to Virginia, where he ran a successful restaurant. He had to close it, however, when word of his true identity leaked out. He died in 1998, shunned by those who knew the truth of his actions. Once again, Eddie Adams put it better than I could ever hope to:
America should be crying. I just hate to see him go this way, without people knowing anything about him.
Now you know. We like our heroes to be blameless, clean and spotless. This nation vilified Loan and those like him, men who reacted to brutality with brutality in defense of those things we hold dear. The picture from that terrible day helped shaped American opinion about the war, even though it is fair to say the action it depicts is taken out of context. Forty years on, has anything changed?