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Voices From The Front VII

Posted by Cynewulf on Thursday, March 29, 2007 10:56:08 PM
With this edition of VFTF, we finally break into 2006.  Catching up.
Kathye Johnson is a civilian in charge of rebuilding Iraq.  It's amazing what they've done (and this from over a year ago); it's a shame we don't hear more about it.  Rich Spainhour talks about Iraq's economy.  A very interesting take on things.  Jonathan Crane should be a writer.  His snapshot of medical treatment in Afghanistan is quite poetic.  Finally, Stephanie Zengerle gives us her perspective on Iraq (see what she has to say about Christmas there).  Their accounts of what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan just do not jive with what we are hearing on the MSM.  Again, thanks go out to the Tampa Tribune for publishing these interviews (I'm fortunate to subscribe to a paper that actually seeks to give balanced coverage - what a novel concept).  Just click on the names to read the full interviews.


Kathye Johnson - 12/18/05

"From postwar to where we are, things are better. And in most cases, from prewar to where we currently are now is better. For people to say we haven't done very much, I think that's because we just haven't somehow gotten the attention."


U.S. Army Maj. Rich Spainhour - 1/8/06

"I’m an operations research analyst in the Strategic Effects Economics Division of multinational forces. I actually work for an Australian Air Force group captain, the equivalent of a full colonel. All of us work for a two-star [U.S.] Army general.  We’re trying to help the Iraqis grow their economy so they can develop their country and enjoy the benefits they have been denied so long."


Staff Sgt. Jonathan Crane - 1/15/06

"I saw Afghans being treated side by side with Americans at Bagram Air Field Hospital. A 9-year-old boy named Sadiq Uhllah had stepped on one of the 10 million land mines left behind by the departing Soviets as their legacy to the Afghan people. Broken and burned over 65 percent of his body, he had zero chance of survival. His parents brought him to the Americans, who saved his life and performed more than 30 operations over the next six months to allow him to return home to his family."


Senior Airman Stephanie Zengerle - 1/22/06

"My primary mission is force protection of the base. I brief the commanders on the threats. There's not too much I can go into.  I'm an all-source intelligence analyst. I pull from newspapers, other open sources, and from classified sources. I'm almost like a classified news reporter. I brief higher-ups.  I'm in the southern region of Iraq. It's a relatively calm area. As an intelligence analyst, I'm never going to leave the base. They don't let people with a top-secret clearance go too far."

Update:

For a recent account of the kind of people we have over there, check out Gunny G's blog post, "Daily Motivation."

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"Creeping Sharia"

Posted by Cynewulf on Monday, March 26, 2007 12:11:13 AM
Cricket.  Murder.  Musharraf.  What do they have to do with each other?  And what do they have to do with "creeping Sharia"?  Check out Mark Steyn's latest column.  It's a good read.

"The civilized world sometimes forgets how thin the veneer of that civilization is: Many venerable, respectable institutions can be hollowed out from within by predators and opportunists. Outwardly, nothing much has changed. But underneath all kinds of other forces are at play, and, by the time you notice, it requires enormous will to reverse it."
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To Be (like a Dem) Or Not To Be

Posted by Cynewulf on Monday, March 19, 2007 9:12:09 PM
 A couple of weeks ago on my post, "What's up, Doc?," I made this comment:

"Dems will fight tooth and nail over the small things as well as the big things. If Bush wanted to appoint a conservative as Toothpick Inspector General, the Dems target him (or her - are you happy PC inspector?) for immediate destruction. Republicans, on the other hand, will yawn when the Dems offer up a wacko ACLU extremist for the Supreme Court. The Dems strategy seems to have worked well, since, well, look at Bolton. The Republicans don't have a whole lot to show for being in control of virtually everything. Does something need to change?"

My good buddy, Scatbug (if you haven't read his blog yet, you don't know what you're missing) replied:

"Does something need to change...

Yes, but what that something is I haven't the foggiest idea. With liberals we're dealing with fanatics and a kind of religious zealotry. They wake up each morning ready to screech about some sort of injustice. Everything is a fight and a struggle so that's why they atack on issues great and small. Plus, the small issues are the training ground the young libs use to earn their leftist agitation chops.

That's kind of a long way to avoid the question, but I honestly don't know what we should change on our end. Should we start acting more like liberals? Could be, but as you know, I used to be one and don't care to act that way again."

My original thought, though I didn't articulate it, when I asked that question was that maybe the Dems are so successful because they practice a sort of "broken windows" theory wherein not too many large battles come up because they so successfully fight the small ones.  Often Republicans never get to take a swing at a homerun because they can't get the batter to the plate in the first place.  He's too busy dealing with the pecking hens.

But, Scatbug has a point.  There's no sense in being a "winner" if you can't stand yourself after you've won.  So, they question is, how do we become more competitive without becoming repulsive?  How do we act like liberals without acting like them? 

Well, there's been a couple of columns out the last few days that shed a little light on this.  There is today's "The Criminalization of Politics" by Tom DeLay.  Whether you like DeLay or not, he has a point.  Dems file frivolous lawsuits in an effort to crush their opponents while Republicans can barely be bothered to give a slap on the wrist to a guy who steals documents.  I would submit that Republicans should be going after lawbreakers instead of letting them slide, but should resist whatever infinitesimal impulse there is to copy Dems by filing frivolous lawsuits against them. 

More to the point is John Hawkins' article, "5 Things Republicans Can Learn From the Democrats."  In essence, here are five ways to be more like Democrats without becoming them.  Number five is, "Attack, Attack, Attack!"  At the end, he asks, "At what point does it dawn on you guys that it's time to go after the Democrats as hard as they're going after you?" 

And I think that's the key.  Going hard after them as hard as they're going after you doesn't mean having to be as obnoxious as they are or as arrogant.  It doesn't mean lying or fighting dirty.  It doesn't mean we have to froth at the mouth.  But I think it does mean we can stop giving them a pass.  Even on the small things.

Update:

Looks like David Limbaugh sees things much the same way.
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AL kilGOREwatts

Posted by Cynewulf on Monday, March 19, 2007 5:47:11 PM
Here's a couple of columns on good ol' Al "Leaves the Lights on in Every Room" Gore:


Wesley Pruden takes a humorous look at Al's trip to London.

"Al Gore, who aspires to be Mr. Reddy Kilowatt himself, and David Cameron, the grassy-green leader of Britain's Conservatives, are calling in reinforcements. But only each other."

John Fund says that even the MSM is taking note of Al's hypocrisy.

"The media are finally catching up with Al Gore. Criticism of his anti-global-warming franchise and his personal environmental record has gone beyond ankle-biting bloggers. It's now coming from the New York Times and the Nashville Tennessean, his hometown paper..."
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Steyn and Wilberforce

Posted by Cynewulf on Monday, March 19, 2007 5:33:09 PM
  Mark Steyn takes a look at what William Wilberforce actually did and ends with an interesting point:

"Our schoolhouses revile the Victorian do-gooders as condescending racists and oppressors — though the single greatest force for ending slavery around the world was the Royal Navy. Isn't societal self-loathing just another justification for lethargy?"
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The Blundering Gonzales

Posted by Cynewulf on Monday, March 19, 2007 5:28:42 PM
  Jack Kelly examines the ineptitude of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

"Alberto Gonzales is a bumbling fool who ought not to be attorney general. His efforts to shift blame for the curt and clumsy manner in which the firings were conducted are both pathetic and deplorable.  But there is a big difference between being a bumbling fool and being a crook. If Mr. Gonzales is forced from office for these spurious reasons, we can expect more bogus assaults on administration officials.  Sigh. I suspect conservatives, even more than liberals, long for an end to the Bush administration."
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DC Court Defends 2nd Amendment

Posted by Cynewulf on Thursday, March 15, 2007 6:57:56 PM
 I didn't see this on any major headlines (though I could have missed it); instead, I found out about it from a columnist in the local section:  Last week a federal court interpreted the second amendment to be like all of the others in the Bill of Rights as defending the rights of individuals (i.e. not militias).  Take a look at this excellent column by Tom Jackson and see what the implications are.  Anybody else hear about this?

Update:

Thanks to BrianR for pointing out a more in depth look at the topic in Jacob Sullum's column.

Also, check out Gunny G's take on the other side of the fence (or is that the wrong end of the barrel?).

Update 2:

Mark Alexander has a column (3-16-07) that deals with concealed weapons.

Update 3:

George Will has a column (3-18-07) that discusses, amongst other things, Madison's intent regarding the 2nd amendment.

Update 4:

Steve Chapman also has a column (3-19-07) that looks at the possible outcomes of a Supreme Court ruling.
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Steyn, Lileks, and Scarborough, Oh, My!

Posted by Cynewulf on Monday, March 12, 2007 11:47:07 PM
 I've got your weekly fix of Steyn here, but there were some other really good columns, so I linked them here as well for your reading enjoyment:

Mark Steyn discusses Scooter and Fitzgerald.

"We do know that the contemptible Armitage failed to come forward and clear the air as his colleagues were smeared for months on end. We do know that his boss Colin Powell sat by as the very character of the administration was corroded."

Hey, what did Powell know, and when did he know it?

James Lileks ponders health care.

"One California state legislator ... introduced a bill that would get rid of private health insurance in the Golden State altogether. Wow. It's fascinating how the people most likely to yammer about the right to privacy and the sanctity of choice are the first to sweep rights aside when a greater good presents itself. And there's always a greater good that trumps your personal rights, if one looks closely enough."

Joe Scarborough rants on the war in Iraq, or rather, the discussions on the war in Iraq.

"My problem comes from nimrods who speak with great confidence while pontificating in sophomoric sound bites. Press these know-it-alls for details on Iraq or answers to the greatest foreign policy crisis in a generation and they mutter something about standing behind the troops or how the president is an idiot. All very comforting for political hacks on the right and left but meaningless to the rest of us."
 
This last one will definitely make you think.  You may not agree with him, but you will appreciate his bluntness and call for solutions rather than grandstanding.

So, there's a little something for everyone.  Scooter Libby, health care, and Iraq.  Let me know what you think, particularly on the last one.
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Voices From the Front VI

Posted by Cynewulf on Thursday, March 08, 2007 9:17:47 PM
With this next installment of VFTF, I've decided to include three voices in an effort to catch up to the present.  Don't feel like you have to read them all in one sitting; read some now and come back for more.  They'll be here waiting.  With that said, go ahead and click on a link and listen to what these guys have to say.

Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus - 11/27/05

On training Iraqi security forces:  "It's like trying to build the world's largest airplane, while in flight, and while it's being shot at."

Cpl. Deanna Collazo - 12/4/05

"Thank you to all of you back home who care what the troops have to say."

Col. Donald Rutherford - 12/11/05

"I've been shot at a couple times in the helicopter. I don't listen to the pilots talking to the crew chiefs. I just hear the machines guns opening up. I'm reading my book as we're going along. They always want to give me a headset and I say, 'No, thank you.'"
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Steyn: Gore Saves The World

Posted by Cynewulf on Tuesday, March 06, 2007 12:27:13 AM
Mark Steyn gives us his take on Al Gore and carbon.  As always, good stuff.

"You're irresponsibly depleting the Earth's resources by using that electric washer when you could be down by the river with the native women beating your loin cloth dry on the rock while singing traditional village work chants all morning long."
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What's Up, Doc?

Posted by Cynewulf on Saturday, March 03, 2007 1:03:55 AM
 "Sorry, fellas. I can't play witchya anymore. I got some IMPORTANT work ta do!"

So says Bugs Bunny as he exits a phone booth in Marine uniform in the classic "Super Rabbit".  Because of this, the U.S. Marine Corps. officially inducted Bugs into the force.  He started as a private and was regularly promoted until the end of WWII, when he was officially discharged as a Master Sergeant.  He was also officially adopted by the Seabees and found himself on the nose of quite a few bombers.  In his cartoons, he and his cohorts took on the likes of Hitler, Goering, Mussolini, and the Japanese armed forces.  They weren't alone.  Disney characters also took part in the war of words and pictures.

So, what's my point?  Well, what cartoons do we have out there supporting our fight against terrorism?  The cartoons aren't alone.  Hollywood put out quite a few movies to support our troops.  Some actors even joined the armed forces.  Do you notice a little bit of a difference today?  In a war, it's helpful, to say the least, when you're actually fighting on all fronts.  A very important part of the war is fighting for the minds and hearts, not just of our enemies, but of our own citizens.  Why?  Because the enemy is going to be fighting for them, and if you cede that battleground to your enemy, you'll soon be behind the eightball, fighting on two fronts.  And that is where we find ourselves today.

Is this the fault of Bush?  While there may have been things that could have been done differently, Bush actively sought the support of Hollywood.  Whatever fruit resulted from the meeting between the White House and Hollywood must have quickly died on the vine.  There's a market for patriotic films, and the White House has even asked for them.  So, what's going on?  Apparently there's more of an interest in Hollywood in fighting the Phantom of Global Warming than there is in fighting the war on terror. 

But here's the real question:  What can be done, if anything, to turn the tide?  Where's the next Bugs Bunny?  Where's the next Walt Disney?

Update:

Check out this blog link to see some really cool pics of WWII Disney art:  toonsatwar.blogspot.com

Update 2:

Check out the WWII era patriotic drawings of Dr. Seuss.
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Speak Like An Old Salt

Posted by Cynewulf on Thursday, March 01, 2007 1:15:32 AM
Words have meanings.  That's a phrase you will hear quite a bit here at Townhall.  Having now read Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin series (several times) and having started Julian Stockwin's Kydd series, I am amazed at how many of our phrases come from the military, in this case, the navy.  And, it's been fascinating to see what some of the phases really mean (like "bitter end" and "devil to pay").  So, if you're interested in words and what they mean, do check out this site of Julian Stockwin's.  Enjoy!
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