Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Into Thine Hand I Commit My Spirit

Michael Yon has written a solemn and touching tribute to a memorial erected by soldiers in Afghanistan:

Arghandab, Afghanistan
New Year's Eve, 2009

On this small base surrounded by a mixture of enemy and friendly territory, a memorial has been erected just next to the Chapel.  Inside the tepee are 21 photos of 21 soldiers killed during the first months of a year-long tour of duty.  The fallen will belong forever to the honor rolls of the 1-17th Infantry Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and they will join the sacred list of names of those who have given their lives in service of the United States of America.

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British Ministry of Defence cancels Michael Yon's embed

Michael Yon has the greatest respect for the troops he embeds with and does an incredible job of communicating their bravery and resourcefulness in the face of hardship and constant danger. Not since Ernie Pyle has there been a war correspondent who was as respected by the fighting men he wrote about.

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) canceled Michael Yon's embed after yesterday's dispatch.  I think this will be a blow to the troops he lived with and wrote about.

Please read "Bad Medicine" and see for yourself what the life of a British soldier in Afghanistan is like.

Michael really identified with the troops and gave us real insight on their views and what they face in this war. This statement from a British soldier is an indication of the trust that they have in him:

Finally, Axle said, “You Yanks are great.  You like to hear stories about us smashin’ the Taliban but people at home want to know how much we miss our families.”  We both chuckled,

The MoD may have been upset with Michael's frank assessment of conditions and his no-nonsense reporting. On the other hand, it might have been comments like these two that upset the MoD.

From David:

I can't help but think your dispatches should be required reading for all politicians in Washington, London, and other allied capitals so they can draw upon a realistic inside narrative to the nature of this fight when pondering national security policy.

From Cara Sims:

Quite frankly up until Michael joined the 2nd Rifles in Helmand Province I didn’t think about the British soldiers and their contribution to the Afghan War. But daily through his words and pictures I grew to value and hold your troops in high warm regard.

I, and the thousands of people in the U.S. who read Michaels DISPATCHES, learned to respect and honor your troops in Afghanistan. We’ve wept over their deaths and prayed for their families, we rejoiced in their survival from horrendous wounds, and thanked God for them.

They have become our heroes along with our own troops.
Michael Yon has given a face and voice to the British soldiers and their amazing efforts.
I don’t know why you have chosen to silence that voice or remove those faces.

If you believe what he wrote today Bad Medicine[24 August 2009] diminished our regard and respect for the soldiers of the 2nd Rifles you are wrong.

And you are wrong to take this precious contact Americans have with the British Soldiers in Afghanistan away.

I am sure that we will hear more about this.

TV without Letterman?

David Letterman has lost all value as an entertainer.

He has made the long descent from his early wise-cracking humor to making lewd remarks about 14-year Willow Palin.

This was not an off-the-cuff remark. It was a carefully scripted and rehearsed part of the Letterman show on CBS.

His degraded attempts to throw up a smokescreen afterward show his lack of human decency.

Firms like Olive Garden, Mars Candy, and Kelloggs have no place supporting the leering comments from this long past sell-date TV figure. Great positioning guys!  Corporate America has enough on its hands without supporting sexual assault on minors.

CBS must be looking at new ways to boost ratings. What will they think of next?

Sebastian Gray suggests how to communicate viewer displeasure to Letterman's advertisers.

Look for Sarah Palin interview with Charles Gibson

Veteran newscaster and blogger Charles Gibson will be interviewing Sarah Palin on ABC’s World News Tonight later this week.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has agreed to sit down with Gibson later this week for her first television interview since the Republican Convention.

According to McCain adviser Mark Salter, Palin will sit down for multiple interviews with Gibson in Alaska over two days, most likely Thursday and Friday.

The interview is a coup for Gibson, who also had the only sit-down with McCain during the Republican National Convention.

I and a few million other voters will be watching this one. It should be entertaining and hopefully will give us more understanding of what motivates Sarah. Both interviewer and interviewee are a pleasure to watch anytime. Seeing them interacting will be enjoyable.

(image credits: Palin, Gibson)

CNN presents McCain Revealed and Obama Revealed

I spent two hours tonight riveted in place watching these back to back presentations from CNN. There was a lot that I learned about both men and their wives. I feel as if I understand both men better now and I certainly have more empathy for both of them.

Both have overcome long odds to arrive at where they are now. I feel that either will do the best they can to serve the country, but only one can win.

If winning is the result of underhanded tactics on either side, it can severely reduce the effectiveness of those who are elected. With the intense scrutiny afforded by the internet, hopefully there will be a major effort by all concerned to run extremely clean campaigns. Dead people voting more than once, or at all, should be severely frowned upon. I think that those who plan to fudge results in any way will get far more publicity than they expect. Let us hope that the election is relatively free of equipment malfunctions and mistakes.

In the event that Barack wins, I feel that John McCain will take it in stride and continue working as before to reduce pork and corruption.

If John McCain wins, I feel that Barack will have a really hard time accepting it. He has lost only once before and it almost devastated him.

In either event, I think we have to make a choice between two entirely different futures. The only way to make that choice intelligently is to watch and listen carefully to both sets of candidates, not the talking heads who would interpret what they think you should hear.

We don't have much time left. Get all of the information you can.

The latest Sarah Palin rumors

The nicest thing about the Internet is that there are thousands of people doing research for you on almost every possible subject.

Bloggers and journalists need not embarrass themselves by spreading old and discredited rumors about the top political candidates of the day. Any poliitian seems to be fair game, but John McCain's running mate stands head and shoulders among the rest.

Sarah Palin has singlehandedly created a cottage industry for rumor mongers so it was only a matter of time until someone established "rumor central" for Sarah Palin rumors. Traffic has been so heavy that the servers went into "meltdown" on more than one occasion.

You too can contribut to Global Warming by checking out the latest tidbits on Sarah Palin Rumors. 

Watching C-Span clears up misconceptions

Watching the Republican National Convention on C-Span last night was an interesting experience. I got to see unadulterated subject matter without distracting and biased comments!

It hit me hard that my past rejection of most things political came from having to endure the second-guessing of wanna-be pundits and aging talking heads with anger management problems.

In the past I would watch Obama and McCain and would tune out quickly after the usual barrage of fawning or disparaging comments from the talking head TV personalities.

Unadulterated speeches are far more interesting to me because I can actually take in the content, the body language, and the emotions accompanying the delivery.

Last night I got to hear for the first time how John McCain experienced a transformation from a hotshot pilot to a dedicated patriot, from a focus on self to a focus on service, through the care and support he received from fellow American prisoners of war. As he put it, "He fell in love with his country" as a result of his experiences in prison.

Though still crippled from his experience, he is not bitter nor is he stuck in the past regarding his torture. He seems to have learned to be a better person which is one of the best possible outcomes from such a travail.

I would not have had the pleasure of getting the whole story from John McCain's viewpoint if I had not watched his convention speech on C-Span.

Getting information straight from the source is a liberating experience.

Watching Sarah Palin the night before was a similar revelation. From the very first sentences she made it plain that she is a force to be reckoned with. Her pointed observations about Barack Obama's experience and the media started at the very beginning of her speech and increased in intensity throughout her 36 minute speech.

According to my neighbor, James Carville said Sarah was making nice for the first part of her speech and then they flipped the switch and she started hitting the Republican talking points.

Sarah Barracuda is evidently more than Carville can confront. She was in high gear from the moment she started speaking, like a pit bull with lipstick. What she said made a lot of sense to voters who are tired of the leftward tilt in American politics.

If you want to make up your mind about Sarah Palin, John McCain, Barack Obama, or Joe Biden, you need to see what they say and how they say it. Listening to a media "political expert" is an absolute waste of time, unless you want a biased viewpoint.

Watch events on a channel that gives you the news, not one that "interprets" and "shapes" the news.

(The above is my own opinion, based on my personal observations. Your mileage and reactions may be quite different.)

Like a waiter with his thumb in your soup....

The talking head model of news broadcasting and newspaper editorializing / reporting leaves a lot to be desired. Secondhand news that is pre-digested by someone who "knows what you should hear" is no substitute for first-hand exposure to the source.

I watched the Democratic National Convention on CNN while Nancy Pelosi was speaking. Did CNN give coverage of Nancy's speech? Not when I was watching. The talking heads were busy interviewing Governor Tim Kaine, who could have been given airtime at another time.

Nancy Pelosi may have had something vitally important to say and I only got to hear a meaningless talking head interview. I may or may not agree with her, but I can decide for myself if I hear what she has to say.

I watched another talking head interview the Olympic Volleyball champions after their victory and all the interviewer could ask about was how one of the girls had disposed of her mother's ashes. It was so satisfying to see one of the girls take the microphone from the interviewer's hand and use it to give a heartfelt thanks to President Bush for his support.

After watching Sarah Palin last night on C-Span, I realized that we need fewer talking heads sticking their faces in front of important news. I was fascinated with the uninterrupted coverage of the speakers who preceded her on stage.

Good. bad, indifferent or smashing, we got to hear it all on C-Span. No Blitzer, Geraldo, or Cooper adulteration or spin. Just a straight feed from the Republican National Convention to our living room.

We could see and hear what was said and could make up our own minds as to what it all meant.

I will be watching the rest of the campaign on C-Span and on the Internet.
I like news without the added ingredients and opinions hidden as news.

What a candidate says and how they say it conveys more to me than hours of post speech "analysis" by journalists who each have an axe to grind and airtime to sell.

(The preceeding is my personal opinion and is based on my personal observations. Your experience and mileage may vary.)

Sarah Palin will make the next few months very interesting

Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate.

Down to earth, executive experience and a hockey mom.

The American Presidential race will be a thriller
and the Republican Party may never be the same.

How her experience compares with Barack Obama's.

(Top photo courtesy of No Looking Backwards)

More information about drilling in Alaska please

I am sure that there are reasons for caution in exploiting natural resources anywhere but scare tactics based on political expediency are still unpersuasive.

One of the main points of opposition to drilling at ANWR seems to be the concerns about the effect on the local wildlife. So, let's see how wildlife is being affected at Prudhoe Bay, about 100 miles west of ANWR. The bear is strolling along a Prudhoe Bay pipeline. It would appear that he is taking advantage of the pipeline, not avoiding it.

Notice these well-fed Caribou. They are grazing and generally hanging out next to a Prudhoe Bay facility. Does it look like they are being subjected to undue stress? We should all be so laid back.

From these images, one might conclude that caribou and bears have adapted to the presence of oil wells and pipelines in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Perhaps the same will be true for ANWR. Maybe we should do some actual research instead of generating rumors.

Who benefits financially from extending our dependency on foreign oil?

Could it be the same people who benefit from promoting the threat of global warming?

Inquiring minds want to know.

And for those who claim that these bears are Photoshopped, here are a few more images to admire. Bear and pipelines, you can't seem to keep them apart. What is the world coming to?

Read more about these images here, here, and here.