After the six day week put in last, a well deserved rest was needed. And my brother in law, Jim
thinks I've been away from the keyboard too long. The emotional drain of Terri Shiavo's "right to live" has taken it's toll. I've actually written quite a bit on her plight, but just can't seem to post it. Maybe 'cause the lessen is not over. The quality of life defined by some in this country has sunken to a new low. I am praying the Lord will take Terri into his bosom and give her the peace and love she deserves, but I don't think He is pleased with this outcome either. God hurts when his children are suffering. But in this case I believe it is Terri's parents who are carrying the burden of being forced to let go of her life when they feel it is not her time. Indeed, we should pray for all of those so closely involved. It's testing my faith and I hope it is causing a lot of soul searching in us all.
I'm goin on the road again to Sac for a few days. Mark's overbooked his work again. You heard the weatherman, there will be no change. It's been good gittin busy up here so I don't have to travel too much more. Living up here is so much more rewarding. The pace of life in the twilight years takes on a different meaning. I will post some more on this upon return. In the mean time have a great week. And remember "He has Risen" for me.
Rovin
*** and happy birthday to Tom and Robert (24th and 29th) May another year be blessed on the both of you and your familys.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
RULE NUMBER ONE
RULE NUMBER 1........If you are not sure what the
information is, or what the motives are......follow the money.
Or in this case, understand that these politicians and their
cronies are looking for a way to suck money out of every
blogger on the face of the planet. This is not going to go
away until there is legislation that protects us and prevents
the blood-suckers from levying a fee for what IS FREE
AND RIGHTFUL SPEECH!!! Any charge or fee for
posting, linking, or writing about anything should be
hands off to any regulations, especially the political world
we are so infused in reporting about. Any regulation or fee
of any kind is a direct intrusion on my constitutional right
of freedom of speech. In short: BACK OFF
OR FEEL THE WRATH OF THE BLOGS. YOU HAVE
NO DOMAIN HERE. YOU NEVER WILL! THIS IS MY
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT THAT MANY OF MY
FOREFATHERS DIED TO PROTECT. GET A CLUE
MCCAIN, FIENGOLD, FEC, LEFT OR RIGHT, MR
PRESIDENT. (have I left anyone out?) YOU
BLOOD-SUCKING POLITICIANS WILL NOT GET A
DIME FROM ME, AND I WILL WRITE THIS WITHOUT
PAUSE OR FEAR OF REPERCUSSION UNTIL YOU
PEEL MY COLD DEAD FINGERS FROM THIS
KEYBOARD..............
...............................................ROVIN
information is, or what the motives are......follow the money.
Or in this case, understand that these politicians and their
cronies are looking for a way to suck money out of every
blogger on the face of the planet. This is not going to go
away until there is legislation that protects us and prevents
the blood-suckers from levying a fee for what IS FREE
AND RIGHTFUL SPEECH!!! Any charge or fee for
posting, linking, or writing about anything should be
hands off to any regulations, especially the political world
we are so infused in reporting about. Any regulation or fee
of any kind is a direct intrusion on my constitutional right
of freedom of speech. In short: BACK OFF
OR FEEL THE WRATH OF THE BLOGS. YOU HAVE
NO DOMAIN HERE. YOU NEVER WILL! THIS IS MY
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT THAT MANY OF MY
FOREFATHERS DIED TO PROTECT. GET A CLUE
MCCAIN, FIENGOLD, FEC, LEFT OR RIGHT, MR
PRESIDENT. (have I left anyone out?) YOU
BLOOD-SUCKING POLITICIANS WILL NOT GET A
DIME FROM ME, AND I WILL WRITE THIS WITHOUT
PAUSE OR FEAR OF REPERCUSSION UNTIL YOU
PEEL MY COLD DEAD FINGERS FROM THIS
KEYBOARD..............
...............................................ROVIN
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
BLOGOSPHERE UNDER MICROSCOPE
This is just a few of the reports by "journalist" yesterday and today as the blogosphere continues to be defined.
Death of Italian Journalist Sparks Interest in Other Shootings
By The Associated Press Published: March 07, 2005 8:00 PM ET http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000828863 YOU WANNA CHECK THAT HEADLINE AP?
Update: Headline Edited (Death changed to "attack")
White House admits first blogger to news briefing.
On his blog, Graff wrote: "Our first impression this morning? As glamorous as the beat itself may be, there's little glamour to be found in the briefing room. The conditions of the briefing room, famously built over the old White House swimming pool, um, leave something to be desired."
Posted by CNN
Bay judge weighs rights of bloggers
Journalists' shield claimed in response to Apple's lawsuit
Yet for all their gains, bloggers remain a disparate group. Many media experts embrace the notion that bloggers deserve the same First Amendment protections accorded all citizens. But they're not sure bloggers are actually journalists in every instance, entitled to special privileges under shield laws adopted in some states, including California.
"Under the First Amendment of the Constitution, I would be hard-pressed to find any distinction between bloggers and journalists," said Paul Grabowicz, director of the New Media program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. But, he added, "There are some potentially really bad things that could come without any distinction. Principal among them is, if there is no distinction, things like shield laws that protect journalists go away, because they apply to everybody else."
Joan Walsh, editor of online magazine Salon.com, remembers when traditional journalists wondered if Web sites like Salon and Cnet's News.com produced real journalism. That question has been largely laid to rest, but it is rising anew with bloggers.
"My gut says that they have to be protected," said Walsh. But, she asked, "if you extend these protections to everyone, does it somehow weaken them for the rest of us?"
"There needs to be an editorial screen or filter, an exercise of editorial judgment involved in the decision to publish information," Scheer said. "For example, a site that's effectively a bulletin board, on which anyone can publish or post documents at any time -- and that's all that happens in that site -- may not be entitled to special protection."
Or in Walsh's words, in trying to tell if a blog is serious journalism or the rant of a pajama-clad windbag, "It's kind of like art. You know it when you see it."
E-mail Dan Fost at dfost@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/08/MNG07BM2G71.DTL
Gotta go get outta my PJ's and get on the workpants. "Journalist" can take a deep breath and relax, (unless I'm laying their new hardwood floor in my pajamas) .
Death of Italian Journalist Sparks Interest in Other Shootings
By The Associated Press Published: March 07, 2005 8:00 PM ET http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000828863 YOU WANNA CHECK THAT HEADLINE AP?
Update: Headline Edited (Death changed to "attack")
White House admits first blogger to news briefing.
On his blog, Graff wrote: "Our first impression this morning? As glamorous as the beat itself may be, there's little glamour to be found in the briefing room. The conditions of the briefing room, famously built over the old White House swimming pool, um, leave something to be desired."
Posted by CNN
Bay judge weighs rights of bloggers
Journalists' shield claimed in response to Apple's lawsuit
Yet for all their gains, bloggers remain a disparate group. Many media experts embrace the notion that bloggers deserve the same First Amendment protections accorded all citizens. But they're not sure bloggers are actually journalists in every instance, entitled to special privileges under shield laws adopted in some states, including California.
"Under the First Amendment of the Constitution, I would be hard-pressed to find any distinction between bloggers and journalists," said Paul Grabowicz, director of the New Media program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. But, he added, "There are some potentially really bad things that could come without any distinction. Principal among them is, if there is no distinction, things like shield laws that protect journalists go away, because they apply to everybody else."
Joan Walsh, editor of online magazine Salon.com, remembers when traditional journalists wondered if Web sites like Salon and Cnet's News.com produced real journalism. That question has been largely laid to rest, but it is rising anew with bloggers.
"My gut says that they have to be protected," said Walsh. But, she asked, "if you extend these protections to everyone, does it somehow weaken them for the rest of us?"
"There needs to be an editorial screen or filter, an exercise of editorial judgment involved in the decision to publish information," Scheer said. "For example, a site that's effectively a bulletin board, on which anyone can publish or post documents at any time -- and that's all that happens in that site -- may not be entitled to special protection."
Or in Walsh's words, in trying to tell if a blog is serious journalism or the rant of a pajama-clad windbag, "It's kind of like art. You know it when you see it."
E-mail Dan Fost at dfost@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/08/MNG07BM2G71.DTL
Gotta go get outta my PJ's and get on the workpants. "Journalist" can take a deep breath and relax, (unless I'm laying their new hardwood floor in my pajamas) .
Monday, March 07, 2005
Freedom of Speech in the Blogosphere in Jeopardy
It is time to nip this one in the bud. EVERYONE in the blogosphere had better take the bull by the horns and get this message to the CONGRESS. Legislation must be created to exempt in totality any regulation that prevents the freedom of speech on the net. It's the bottom of the ninth and we have one strike against us already in the McCain-Feingold and FEC regulations.
This is a monumental battle that needs to fought by the left and the right collectively. Do not ignore what is happening. The cement around our feet is hardening and we are standing on the edge of the pier. Do you think I'm being an alarmist? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!!
read on:
This is a monumental battle that needs to fought by the left and the right collectively. Do not ignore what is happening. The cement around our feet is hardening and we are standing on the edge of the pier. Do you think I'm being an alarmist? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!!
read on:
"People should not be alarmed," said Ellen L. Weintraub, a Democratic commissioner. "Given the impact of the Internet," Ms. Weintraub said, "I think we have to take a look at whether there are aspects of that that ought to be subject to the regulations. But again, I don't want this issue to get overblown. Because I really don't think, at the end of the day, this commission is going to do anything that affects what somebody sitting at home, on their home computer, does."
"Weintraub wants people to relax, but that argument won't fly. Having the authority to regulate the speech in the first place is what has us worried, and if Weintraub chooses not to use it, that's fine. However, a precedent has been set that the FEC has that ability to determine whether online pamphleteering equates to campaign contributions -- and notice that she's careful not to eliminate that as a possible end solution."
Ed MorrisseyCaptian's Quarters http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/March 5th 2005
Translation: "We have the power to regulate you if we want to, and we're going to move in on the Net in some way, at some time (no complete exemptions here, buster). But don't worry -- trust us with your sacred liberties -- because we're reasonable people. Besides, most of you don't amount to anything, and we're only going after the big guys."
Winfield MyersDemocracy Project March 5th and 6thhttp://www.democracy-project.com/archives/001308.htmlhttp://www.democracy-project.com/archives/001310.html
Also via Steve, Tom Smith at Right Coast writes:
"I certainly hope all this anxiety of the threat of FEC regulation of the blogosphere is misplaced. But it's not too early to express the opinion that they can stop us from blogging and saying whatever we think, especially about political candidates, when they pry our keyboards from our cold, dead fingers. I mean, really. If some combination of the FEC and the courts really start to say, oh, you can't say that on your blog within 90 days (or whatever) of election day, I think we are really talking about a time for civil disobedience. Think Poland, Lebanon, Tianamen [sic] Square. OK, not Tianamen [sic] Square, but the rest. There are too many of us, and too few of them. Just let them try to squelch this new realm of free speech."
And from antimedia:
http://antimedia.blogspot.com/2005/03/country-needs-you.html
AS LONG AS WE LET THE "FUNGUS" GO UNCHECKED IT WILL SURELY SPREAD TO THE FINGERS ON YOUR KEYBOARD...............ROVIN
Eds throwin' the guantlet down over at Captian's Quarters with John McCain. I always somehow gave John the benefit of the doubt, even with the often "left of center " idiologies, given what the man had been through in his younger days. But this tends to "take the cake" and the last straws on the camel's back. It's time for John two switch partys and run with Hillery (if she'll have him). Say it ain't so Johnny?
Thursday, March 03, 2005
THE UNRELENTING WARRIOR
"What is it with you Americans? A couple of buildings fall down
and you scatter the earth looking for terrorist." Question from Afghanistan operative working with our soldiers in a "Jag" episode.
But the question does beg for an answer, indeed some kind of a resolution. What is it that drives us to want to eliminate every terrorist on the face of the planet? In the short history of the United States we have become (at times) the unrelenting warrior.
When thirteen colonies decided that words like liberty, freedom, and equality were worth dieing for, a young nation was founded.
And the blood that was shed in those first battles for the freedom we so cherish formed the patriotism of our society. Indeed, in the short two hundred years of our existence there have been wars that have left scars in the hearts and minds of our people. We do remember Stalin, Hitler, and Tokyo Rose. From our civil war to the conflict in Viet Nam we have developed an American Warrior that is unrelenting in the fight for the liberties we take so much for granted today. And then a couple of buildings fell down that ripped the gut right out of us. The very foundation of our liberties are suddenly threatened. Our new enemy is hell bent on eliminating our very existence. Their only goal in life is to end ours. If these terrorist think we are unrelenting and ruthless now, just knock another building down.
The parasites that preach we somehow deserved 9/11 and the taking of innocent lives are the scum of the earth. They have no faith in the blood that was shed by our forefathers for the very liberties and freedoms we enjoy today. The vile that spews from their mouths stomps on the graves of the brave warriors who sacrificed so much before us. God will not tolerate the slaughter of "His" children for the sole purpose of anyone's ideology and the righteous will prevail. As a civilized country we should negotiate for peaceful solutions to the ideologies of others across the globe. But as long as these cowards choose to hide in the dark and take innocent lives they will remain the hunted. May God bless and watch over our American warriors who have made the supreme sacrifice to fight for all of us who believe in the liberties and rights to live in a free society. We salute you proudly.
Rovin
Check out Gregs post from "Down Deep in Texas" if anyone doubts we are at war
and you scatter the earth looking for terrorist." Question from Afghanistan operative working with our soldiers in a "Jag" episode.
But the question does beg for an answer, indeed some kind of a resolution. What is it that drives us to want to eliminate every terrorist on the face of the planet? In the short history of the United States we have become (at times) the unrelenting warrior.
When thirteen colonies decided that words like liberty, freedom, and equality were worth dieing for, a young nation was founded.
And the blood that was shed in those first battles for the freedom we so cherish formed the patriotism of our society. Indeed, in the short two hundred years of our existence there have been wars that have left scars in the hearts and minds of our people. We do remember Stalin, Hitler, and Tokyo Rose. From our civil war to the conflict in Viet Nam we have developed an American Warrior that is unrelenting in the fight for the liberties we take so much for granted today. And then a couple of buildings fell down that ripped the gut right out of us. The very foundation of our liberties are suddenly threatened. Our new enemy is hell bent on eliminating our very existence. Their only goal in life is to end ours. If these terrorist think we are unrelenting and ruthless now, just knock another building down.
The parasites that preach we somehow deserved 9/11 and the taking of innocent lives are the scum of the earth. They have no faith in the blood that was shed by our forefathers for the very liberties and freedoms we enjoy today. The vile that spews from their mouths stomps on the graves of the brave warriors who sacrificed so much before us. God will not tolerate the slaughter of "His" children for the sole purpose of anyone's ideology and the righteous will prevail. As a civilized country we should negotiate for peaceful solutions to the ideologies of others across the globe. But as long as these cowards choose to hide in the dark and take innocent lives they will remain the hunted. May God bless and watch over our American warriors who have made the supreme sacrifice to fight for all of us who believe in the liberties and rights to live in a free society. We salute you proudly.
Rovin
Check out Gregs post from "Down Deep in Texas" if anyone doubts we are at war
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
The Arrogant Stupidity of the US Supreme Court
Congrats to all you "young skulls full of mush". Yes, all you babys under the age of 18. As of yesterday March 1st, 2005, the US Supremes have deemed you to be too stupid to know the difference from right or wrong. Indeed, if you are 17 and a half and in your senior year of high school and preparing to enter college or a trade, try to remember that the Supremes have ruled that you and your younger brothers and sister are still and forever officially stupid. Of course until you turn eighteen. Then by some metamorphosis (on the day of your 18th birthday) you will be transformed into an intelligent human. All that you have learned from your parents, your teachers, your pastors, even your older brothers and sisters about the things that are "right","truthful"and "just", have all been thrown out the window. YOUR ARE STILL STUPID.
Now, in all fairness to the other side, (those of you under the age of eighteen), the Supreme Court of this great land wants you to understand that if you intend on committing a capital crime, please remember to do this before your eighteenth birthday. Take a permanent ink marker and write it somewhere on your body, right next to the "brand" that says "THE SUPREME COURT HAS DEEMED ME STUPID"
This is, (in my opinion) one of the most shameful decisions ever made by the highest court in our lifetime.
Rovin (un-edited)
Now, in all fairness to the other side, (those of you under the age of eighteen), the Supreme Court of this great land wants you to understand that if you intend on committing a capital crime, please remember to do this before your eighteenth birthday. Take a permanent ink marker and write it somewhere on your body, right next to the "brand" that says "THE SUPREME COURT HAS DEEMED ME STUPID"
This is, (in my opinion) one of the most shameful decisions ever made by the highest court in our lifetime.
Rovin (un-edited)
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
THE WORLD IS CHANGING RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES
OPEN YOUR EYES!
NO.....WAIT.....THOSE OF YOU ON THE RADICAL LEFT.............. Reach down between your legs, pull your head
out of your ass, and then open your eyes.
When the "tunnel vision" starts to focus a bit look around and
see that the world is changing (for the better) right before your
eyes. Maybe this spreading of free democracies around the world
is not what these "impiralistic-war-mongering americans" had in
mind. What the main-stream media, (MSM), and the radical
liberal left want you to hear is that the world is in total disarray. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our Presidents vision of
taking the battle off our shores and directly to the heart of the
problem, ie: where the tyranny lives and breeds, has sent
shockwaves thru regions of the world that have been controlled by
brutal dictators who had convinced their own people that the
oppression, torture, and their down-trodden lives were all the
result of the "greedy, capitalist Americans. Amazing how a
couple of free democracies can change peoples minds. For
generations these people were poisoned and led to believe that it
was all our fault for their miserable existence. The nay-sayers said "leave these people alone". "What give us the right to tell these people they have the right to have free elections"? "How dare we
tell these people they have individual liberty and the right of
self-government"? Well, guess what? They are called HUMAN
RIGHTS and we do not hold any exclusive rights to these
RIGHTS. To quote an old back-country texas cowboy.........."FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH"
posted by Rovin (READ ON)
NO.....WAIT.....THOSE OF YOU ON THE RADICAL LEFT.............. Reach down between your legs, pull your head
out of your ass, and then open your eyes.
When the "tunnel vision" starts to focus a bit look around and
see that the world is changing (for the better) right before your
eyes. Maybe this spreading of free democracies around the world
is not what these "impiralistic-war-mongering americans" had in
mind. What the main-stream media, (MSM), and the radical
liberal left want you to hear is that the world is in total disarray. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our Presidents vision of
taking the battle off our shores and directly to the heart of the
problem, ie: where the tyranny lives and breeds, has sent
shockwaves thru regions of the world that have been controlled by
brutal dictators who had convinced their own people that the
oppression, torture, and their down-trodden lives were all the
result of the "greedy, capitalist Americans. Amazing how a
couple of free democracies can change peoples minds. For
generations these people were poisoned and led to believe that it
was all our fault for their miserable existence. The nay-sayers said "leave these people alone". "What give us the right to tell these people they have the right to have free elections"? "How dare we
tell these people they have individual liberty and the right of
self-government"? Well, guess what? They are called HUMAN
RIGHTS and we do not hold any exclusive rights to these
RIGHTS. To quote an old back-country texas cowboy.........."FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH"
posted by Rovin (READ ON)
More From the Positive.........
Jack Kelly: All but won http://www.postgazette.com/pg/05058/463080.stmThe media can't see that Iraq is close to secure Sunday, February 27, 2005
Lt. Col. Jim Stockmoe, chief intelligence officer for the First Infantry Division, roared with laughter as he recalled the increasing missteps of the resistance in Iraq in an interview earlier this month with British journalist Toby Harnden, writing for The Spectator."There were three brothers down in Baghdad who had a mortar tube and were firing into the Green Zone," Stockmoe said. "They were storing the mortar rounds in the car engine compartment and the rounds got overheated. Two of these clowns dropped them in the tube and they exploded, blowing their legs off."The surviving brother sought refuge in a nearby house, but the occupants "beat the crap out of him and turned him over to the Iraqi police," Stockmoe told Harnden, "It was like the movie 'Dumb and Dumber.' ""The nine election day suicide bombers averaged about three victims each, a strike rate so bad that Allah might soon start rationing the virgins to show his displeasure," Harnden wrote.Stockmoe has heard so many similar stories that he created an Iraqi version of the "Darwin Awards." Created in 1993 by a student at Stanford University, the Darwin awards commemorate those who "contribute to our gene pool by removing themselves from it in a really stupid way."The number of insurgent attacks has fallen off significantly since the Fallujah offensive last November, and the attacks that are being made are less effective.There are about 50-60 attacks a day on coalition forces, about half the pre-Fallujah level. Almost all are within the Sunni Triangle, and most are ineffective. "Most of these are ambush-style attacks that result in no casualties," noted StrategyPage.com.The news media report the attacks, but tend not to report, as StrategyPage does, that "dozens, sometimes over a hundred, of the attackers, or suspects, are arrested every day."Unbalanced reporting has given Americans a false impression of how the war is going, said Austin Bay, a retired colonel in the Army Reserve who was called to active duty in Iraq last year."Collect relatively isolated events in a chronological list and presto: the impression of uninterrupted, widespread violence destroying Iraq," said Bay, who is also a syndicated columnist. "But that was a false impression. Every day coalition forces were moving thousands of 18-wheelers from Kuwait and Turkey into Iraq, and if the insurgents were lucky, they blew up one. However, flash the flames of that one diesel rig on CNN and 'Oh my God, America can't stop these guys' is the impression left in Boston, Boise and Beijing."It will be some months before the news media recognize it, and a few months more before they acknowledge it, but the war in Iraq is all but won. The situation is roughly analogous to the battle of Iwo Jima, which took place 60 years ago this month. It took 35 days before the island was declared secure, but the outcome was clear after day five, with the capture of Mt. Suribachi.Proof of this was provided by Sen. Hillary Clinton. Iraq is functioning quite well, she said in a press conference in Baghdad Feb. 19. The recent rash of suicide attacks is a sign the insurgency is failing, she said."When politicians like [Clinton] start flocking to Iraq to bask in the light of its success, then you know that the corner has been turned," a reader of his blog wrote to Bay.More substantive signs abound. The performance of Iraqi security forces is improving, as are their numbers. Nearly 10,000 men showed up at a southern Iraqi military base Feb. 14 to volunteer for 5,000 openings. Only 6,000 had been expected.Sunni Arab politicians have admitted they made a big boo-boo in boycotting the Jan. 30 election, and are pleading to be included in the political process. Some ex-Baathists are seeking terms for laying down their arms.Those who get their news from the "mainstream" media are surprised by developments in Iraq, as they were surprised by our swift victory in Afghanistan, the sudden fall of Saddam Hussein, the success of the Afghan election and the success of the Iraqi election.Journalists demand accountability from political leaders for "quagmires" which exist chiefly in the imagination of journalists. But when will journalists be held to account for getting every major development in the war on terror wrong?Jack Kelly is national security writer for the Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio (jkelly@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1476).
More from CaptainsQuarters:
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/003950.php
And more from DowndeepinTexas:
http://downdeepintexas.blogspot.com/2005/02/just-when-i-take-break-from-blogging.html
Lt. Col. Jim Stockmoe, chief intelligence officer for the First Infantry Division, roared with laughter as he recalled the increasing missteps of the resistance in Iraq in an interview earlier this month with British journalist Toby Harnden, writing for The Spectator."There were three brothers down in Baghdad who had a mortar tube and were firing into the Green Zone," Stockmoe said. "They were storing the mortar rounds in the car engine compartment and the rounds got overheated. Two of these clowns dropped them in the tube and they exploded, blowing their legs off."The surviving brother sought refuge in a nearby house, but the occupants "beat the crap out of him and turned him over to the Iraqi police," Stockmoe told Harnden, "It was like the movie 'Dumb and Dumber.' ""The nine election day suicide bombers averaged about three victims each, a strike rate so bad that Allah might soon start rationing the virgins to show his displeasure," Harnden wrote.Stockmoe has heard so many similar stories that he created an Iraqi version of the "Darwin Awards." Created in 1993 by a student at Stanford University, the Darwin awards commemorate those who "contribute to our gene pool by removing themselves from it in a really stupid way."The number of insurgent attacks has fallen off significantly since the Fallujah offensive last November, and the attacks that are being made are less effective.There are about 50-60 attacks a day on coalition forces, about half the pre-Fallujah level. Almost all are within the Sunni Triangle, and most are ineffective. "Most of these are ambush-style attacks that result in no casualties," noted StrategyPage.com.The news media report the attacks, but tend not to report, as StrategyPage does, that "dozens, sometimes over a hundred, of the attackers, or suspects, are arrested every day."Unbalanced reporting has given Americans a false impression of how the war is going, said Austin Bay, a retired colonel in the Army Reserve who was called to active duty in Iraq last year."Collect relatively isolated events in a chronological list and presto: the impression of uninterrupted, widespread violence destroying Iraq," said Bay, who is also a syndicated columnist. "But that was a false impression. Every day coalition forces were moving thousands of 18-wheelers from Kuwait and Turkey into Iraq, and if the insurgents were lucky, they blew up one. However, flash the flames of that one diesel rig on CNN and 'Oh my God, America can't stop these guys' is the impression left in Boston, Boise and Beijing."It will be some months before the news media recognize it, and a few months more before they acknowledge it, but the war in Iraq is all but won. The situation is roughly analogous to the battle of Iwo Jima, which took place 60 years ago this month. It took 35 days before the island was declared secure, but the outcome was clear after day five, with the capture of Mt. Suribachi.Proof of this was provided by Sen. Hillary Clinton. Iraq is functioning quite well, she said in a press conference in Baghdad Feb. 19. The recent rash of suicide attacks is a sign the insurgency is failing, she said."When politicians like [Clinton] start flocking to Iraq to bask in the light of its success, then you know that the corner has been turned," a reader of his blog wrote to Bay.More substantive signs abound. The performance of Iraqi security forces is improving, as are their numbers. Nearly 10,000 men showed up at a southern Iraqi military base Feb. 14 to volunteer for 5,000 openings. Only 6,000 had been expected.Sunni Arab politicians have admitted they made a big boo-boo in boycotting the Jan. 30 election, and are pleading to be included in the political process. Some ex-Baathists are seeking terms for laying down their arms.Those who get their news from the "mainstream" media are surprised by developments in Iraq, as they were surprised by our swift victory in Afghanistan, the sudden fall of Saddam Hussein, the success of the Afghan election and the success of the Iraqi election.Journalists demand accountability from political leaders for "quagmires" which exist chiefly in the imagination of journalists. But when will journalists be held to account for getting every major development in the war on terror wrong?Jack Kelly is national security writer for the Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio (jkelly@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1476).
More from CaptainsQuarters:
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/003950.php
And more from DowndeepinTexas:
http://downdeepintexas.blogspot.com/2005/02/just-when-i-take-break-from-blogging.html
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