Cross Posted at KOS and so, my homage to Andy Rooney. A collection of life's cunundrums big and small. Follow me beneath the fold for the latest edition.
November 2007 archive
Nov 02 2007
The Real Deal – Army of Dude
It looks like Iraq veteran Alex, who wrote The Real Deal as his response to Rush Limbaugh calling veterans opposed to the war “phony soldiers”, has a pretty good shot at winning the 2007 Weblog Award for Best Military Blog.
When I was a kid I watched Rush with my dad every morning when he was still on TV and always found him pretty funny and clever. Over the years I didn’t have a very concrete opinion about him, I just knew him as the kooky conservative radio host who defended Bush at every turn (and hey, so did I). What did Rush and I have to lose when the war in Iraq started in 2003? I didn’t have any family in the military, and all my friends were too young to even enlist. Why not go kick the sh*t out of a country, as long as someone else was doing it?
This was the last time Rush and I would agree on the war, so here’s my opinion of you, Rush: you’re as smart, selfless and courageous as I was as a 17 year old high school senior.
You make a good point that people who joined the military during the war knew they were going and shouldn’t be against it. As I’ve seen since I joined in 2004, everyone in the military is gung ho to a certain extent, at least in the beginning of their career. I was part of a large group of new guys who got to a unit that just got back from a year long deployment. After our hazing sessions became less and less frequent in the following months, we listened to the stories all of them were telling, of vicious firefights and rescue missions. We all wanted to do our part, we all wanted to get some too. We were going to see what it was like to take a life. Too bad Rush missed his chance to do so, or maybe he’d be singing a different tune.
…
As a phony civilian hoping to be a phony soldier, I tried to enlist in the military after I graduated high school in 2003.
…
Speaking of phony soldiers, I wanted to show Rush a few that I know: {click link above for all of Alex’s pictures}
This is Chevy in Baghdad. Brian Chevalier was going to reenlist but decided against it before he was killed on March 14 during our first mission in Baqubah. His phony life was celebrated in a phony memorial where everyone who knew him cried phony tears. A phony American flag draped over his phony coffin when his body came home. It was presented to his phony mother and phony daughter.
I would be in awe if I ever met a real life soldier, and not a phony one like Bill, Matt or Brian Chevalier. Thank you, Rush Limbaugh, for telling me the difference. I hope your ass is ok.
You can vote for Alex here. Help him win the award. He deserves it. His blog is Army of Dude.
Nov 02 2007
An apology and a promise to my unborn child
As some of you already know, the missus and I are expecting a clammyc junior (or juniorette) in a few months, and I have been excited as can be about this. Of course, with the complete immersion in the events of the world and this country that I am involved in, it is also a bit scary and disconcerting to think of the world that he/she will be entering in a few short months.
Over the past few days, I have been thinking of a diary around the theme of “undoing the damage” – damage on a world stage, damage to America’s reputation, damage to our collective psyche, damage to, well, pretty much everything I can think of. Some of this is a long term decline, while a lot of it was over the past 7-10 years.
And while, of course, I am not apologetic for bringing another life into my family or this world, I do want to make an apology and a promise up front. Who knows when I’ll be able to share this with him/her, or when it will even be understood. You see, I was lucky to avoid trauma and upheaval in my life until my late 20’s when I had a few very trying years as I watched my (former) marriage and job (and employer) crumble all around the time that 9/11 happened and turned this country on its head.
Nov 02 2007
Edwards vs Clinton on the Politics of Parsing
The Clinton Campaign put out a Youtube on the Politics of the Pile-on to garner some sympathy from supporters
The Edwards Campaign has responded with a Youtube ad on the Politics of Parsing
From Political Wire
A new television ad from John Edwards very effectively uses video clips from the recent Democratic debate to accuse Sen. Hillary Clinton of “double-speak.” It’s quite devastating actually.
What are your thoughts??? Is this a good strategy???
Nov 02 2007
Thought bubbles and writing tip discussion
Having a hard time putting together an essay? Looking for ways to grow as a writer? One exercise that I constantly return to is Thought Bubbles. Take a piece of paper, consider your topic, then begin unloading charged words by writing important ones down in random places on the page, then think about descriptives, atmosphere, etc. When you have your page filled with various bubbles, begin linking them, some of your words won’t relate to the others but most will. Once you’ve linked all of them in a pattern that makes sense to you begin writing.
I think you’ll be surprised by the results if you haven’t tried this method before. This method will bring you closer to your subconscious and give you some power and control associated with it. There are websites that use this bubble concept to organize the web, perhaps you have stumbled across them. You’ll see patterns emerging as you cluster certain bubbles together which is indeed a learning experience.
Nov 02 2007
Pony Party, a teen millionaire
Just your standard, basic human interest story from Yahoo!’s “People of the Web” column…
This is Ashley Qualls. She is 17 years old, and the CEO of a million-dollar business she started herself 3 years ago.
She started a website, whateverlife.com, to provide backgrounds and themes that personalize a MySpace page. The site attracted a lot of traffic, which attracted advertisers, which attracted dollars.
Ashley has been able to move her family (herself, her single mother, and a sister) from a one-bedroom apartment into a 4-bedroom house. She has made her mother, Linda LaBrecque, the business’ manager.
Nov 02 2007
Docudharma Times Friday Nov. 2
This is an Open Thread: I can hear what your saying.
USA
Industries Paid for Top Regulators’ Travel
Two Heads of Product Safety Agency Accepted Trips From Manufacturer Groups
By Elizabeth WilliamsonWashington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 2, 2007; Page A01
The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children’s furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.
The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency’s acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Nov 02 2007
Quote for Discussion: I’m Older Now edition
So, during the last week, at an undisclosed time and place, I turned 31.
Things I’ve learned since turning 31: Who fucking cares? Thirty-one is a dull signpost. None of the sentimentality of turning 30. None of the whatever I expected being in my thirties would mean when I was younger. I met a girl who had been on The Real World this week, and she told me that I looked like I was her age. I have no idea how old she is, but that was quickly forgotten when she got pissed that I had no idea who she was, having not watched MTV in something like a decade. I can remember discovering The Afghan Whigs when I saw the video for “Conjure Me” on 120 Minutes in high school. See, I can date myself.
Here are some quotes which speak to me now that I’m 31.
Nov 02 2007
Friday Philosophy: Love
Sometimes, in order to stretch the boundaries of who I am, I give myself a mission. I force myself to write a poem about some subject in order to see what I really think about it. Or I try to write an essay.
Several weeks back, I assigned myself such a task. Having written about death and fear, pain and struggle, I needed to write something about love…no matter how much it hurts me to do so.
It is not an easy subject for me. I have experience to draw upon. Love hurts. Or can do so.
I suppose I have partially given the issue wide birth in an attempt to not write about my marriage of 24 years. Was there love there and then? After several years of therapy, I honestly don’t know. I know there was manipulation. I know there was co-dependency: the worst case my therapist said he had ever seen.
Maybe I think I know love when I see it. Or maybe I’m just full of it.
Nov 02 2007
Muse in the Morning
 Muse in the Morning |
The muses are ancient. The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them. Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward. In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.
It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse. Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets. Others have been suggested throughout the centuries. I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts. And maybe there should be many more.
Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…
Nov 02 2007
Kucinich “Privileged Resolution” to force vote on Cheney Impeachment
In a Press Release dated Nov. 2, Dennis Kucinich announces…
that he will offer a privileged resolution on the House floor next week that will bring articles of impeachment against Vice President, Richard B. Cheney.
Check it out at Kucinich’s government web site.
Call Speaker Pelosi and thank her in advance for allowing it to come to the floor.
Call your local Congressperson.
And call or email your friends and family to do the same.
Toll free lines to Congress: 1-800-828-0498
1-800-614-2803
1-866-340-9281
Nov 02 2007
Dear Al, Kiss My Ass.
“You talkin’ to me?”
Yeah, you, Mr. Gore.
Kiss my ass.
I’ve had it with you. You’re nothing but a cock-teaser. Your shit is bogus, and you are dead to me now.
You just sent me your last “Dear Tom” letter. I just hit the “unsubscribe” button.