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I would love to! I wasn't impressed with the pattern when I originally saw it on Knitty, but the colors on the one shown on Spousebuzz convinced me! Now to find the yarn & get going...
Posted by: Toni at September 13, 2007 06:12 PM (OoGre)
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Yeah, the original Danica is neat only in that it's entrelac, but with that SWS yarn...awesome. Check google images for a few pics using the different color choices.
Posted by: Sarah at September 14, 2007 01:31 AM (TWet1)
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Wow! I'd love to do that! Is there any way to translate that to crochet? I haven't expanded my horizons yet.
Posted by: Green at September 14, 2007 08:29 AM (VqW06)
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A search of "crochet entrelac" yielded this website:
http://knitknotpurlcurl.wordpress.com/2006/09/30/my-first-try-at-tunisian-crochet-entrelac/
It seems it's possible...though I'm not sure I'm up to the task of converting the pattern!
Posted by: Sarah at September 14, 2007 08:58 AM (TWet1)
Posted by: Mare at September 15, 2007 04:50 PM (5PAuk)
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this looks way cool. I also found some info on knitting 'backwards', which apparently makes this pattern a bit less unwieldy? Do you guys do it that way? I wouldn't be able to start for another month or so, but would love to participate, too!
Posted by: prophet at September 17, 2007 04:53 AM (Yagmr)
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I love knitting backwards for rows with not-so-many stitches. There's a good tutorial at Knitty with vivid pictures: http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer06/FEATreverse.html
Posted by: Sarah at September 17, 2007 06:21 AM (TWet1)
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Thanks for the link, Sarah. I got some yarn out just to see if I could figure it out, and managed OK, which surprised/pleased me. Have you started already? I'm going to be tied up for at least another month, like I said. . . . bummer.
Posted by: prophet at September 18, 2007 04:23 AM (4mFKZ)
NO MAN IS A FAILURE WHO HAS FRIENDS
Something wonderful happened today. Someone who barely knows me did something very kind for me. And tonight, I feel like this.
To Sarah, the richest woman on the internet...
It really is a wonderful life.
Posted by: Beth at September 13, 2007 01:37 PM (VoZuu)
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hm.....{tilts head, scratches head, shrugs shoulders, smiles}
Whatever it was they did, I am very happy that it made you post a clip from my VERY FAVORITE MOVIE from THE OTHER ONE of my HEROES in life.....Brigadier General James Maitland Stewart, USAF....(there is a story there)
Posted by: A Soldier's Wife at September 13, 2007 04:37 PM (M7kiy)
Imagine if a more reliably sober-minded sort — say Zbigniew Brzezinski, David Broder — prophesied six years ago that in 2007, Bin Laden would still be at-large and giving televised addresses in which he offered generous blurbs for Noam Chomsky, touted global warming, expressed disappointment with the Democratic majority in Congress and championed a flat tax so low it would make Steve Forbes blush like John Ashcroft at a Pussycat Dolls audition. Most of us would have suggested that Messrs. Brzezinski or Broder should open the window when they cook their meth.
MACROSCOPIC
German co-worker was always leery of the US. She thought it was such a dangerous place. Of course, she was born and raised in rural Bavaria, and her only experience in the US was in her in-laws' run-down neighborhood in Detroit. I, on the other hand, know several families in the Midwest that don't even lock their front doors. Danger is in the eye of the beholder.
So which is the real US? Someone from rural Wisconsin will have a completely different idea than someone from the barrio in L.A. Neither one of these places is less real, but you might not even recognize them as the same country if you saw descriptions of them side by side.
So which is the real Iraq? Is it Erbil?
Or is it Baghdad?
It would be hard for an Iraqi living in either one of these places to give a good bird's eye view on what the country as a whole is like. Just like someone from Wisconsin would be lousy at describing the barrio. It's just really hard to do. And even harder to do when you're an outsider.
My husband had a pretty good understanding of what his sector was like in 2004-2005. But he's the first one to admit that that means nothing today. His experiences are outdated, and the same neighborhoods are quite different two years on. And even while he was boots on the ground, he had no experience whatsoever with what was going on in Basra or Tikrit. His view was microscopic.
I have been thinking about this a lot tonight, ever since I read Thomas Sowell's latest article, which begins with the brilliant line, "Sometimes I feel as if I must be one of the few people left in America who is not a military expert."
For example, all sorts of politicians have been talking about all sorts of ways we ought to “redeploy” our troops. The closest I ever came to deploying troops was marching a company of Marines to the mess hall for chow.
But people who have never even put on a uniform are confident that they know how our troops should be redeployed. Maybe this is one of the fruits of the “self-esteem” that is taught in our schools instead of education.
If my husband's information on Iraq is microscopic and outdated, I can't begin to describe Congress'. An overnight trip to the Green Zone doesn't teach you a lot about what Iraq is like. You'd be better off reading a book on Iraq than sitting in a Baghdad hotel.
But these days, everyone is a military expert. Nothing has made that more painfully obvious than this New York Times article on General Petraeus' speech.
Under the timetable embraced Monday by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the number of American combat brigades would decline by one-fourth by next summer, to 15 in July from 20 now, with the prospect of deeper, if as yet unscheduled, reductions to come.
But such a move would raise the question of how the United States can avert an increase in violence in Iraq while carrying out a gradual drawdown. One approach embraced by many lawmakers would be to modify the American mission to emphasize the training and advising of Iraqi security forces so that Iraqis would be pushed into the lead and a vast majority of American combat troops could be quickly withdrawn.
This proposal, which was offered last year by the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan panel led by Lee H. Hamilton, a former congressman, and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, has appealed to many Democrats and some Republicans who want to achieve a measure of stability in Iraq while shrinking the role of the American military.
But in his testimony on Monday, General Petraeus offered a very different vision. He proposed an American presence that would not only be longer and larger than many Democrats have advocated but would also provide for a greater American combat role in protecting the Iraqi population.
They may as well have started the article with "Most Americans we polled want to bring the troops home, but unfortunately some jerkwad named Petraeus is in charge and he doesn't want to listen to all of us." I mean, really. This is how they set up this article? "One approach embraced by many lawmakers"? As if they really have any clue what they're talking about. Didn't only one of the Iraq Study Group guys ever leave the Green Zone? They seriously set up this article about General Petraeus' speech as "Here's what we think is best but Petraeus disagrees." That is not only extremely poor journalism, it's oh so sanctimonious.
General Petraeus' grasp on Iraq is likely not perfect either, but it's probably as macroscopic as it gets. And they hired him to do a job -- assess what we need to do to win in Iraq -- and now no one wants to hear the results.
General Petraeus acknowledged that some military officers in Washington favored faster change in the American mission, but he said that his approach reflected his best judgment on how to cope with the violence in Iraq.
General Petraeus promised a more detailed discussion of the “post-surge” phase in March. But one point was made abundantly clear: if he has his way, in the next phase the United States will not rely largely on a program to advise and train the Iraqi Army while removing its own forces from the battlefield.
Translation: He says he's giving us his "best judgement," but it's not what we wanted to hear. Now, let's go write some more articles to try to sway public opinon so he doesn't have his way.
No one is going to have a perfect picture of what will bring absolute success in Iraq. Most Americans couldn't even tell you how to stop crime in their own neighborhoods, but all of us are military experts these days. And apparently all of us know better than Petraeus.
HERE AND THERE
AWTM wants me to post at SpouseBUZZ about 9/11. She said, "I think it is funny how Homefront6 describes the disbelief and sadness, you pride, and me disappointment today." She wanted me to show another perspective.
But I don't think I can do it.
Expressing pride on 9/11 is not the normal feeling, even if it is the pride of knowing that your family is working to make sure it never happens again. And, for me, any expression of pride has to come with an explanation rooted in politics. Because, sadly enough, 9/11 is still highly political. And SpouseBUZZ is not.
So I can tell you here that I feel good that, six years on, my anger is properly channeled and I've settled into a good pace on this marathon we're running. But I don't feel comfortable saying it there.
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Understood...
I however think a lot of us are proud families this 9-11. We are also one of those. But for the life of me it was not the emotion in the forefront yesterday...
I wish it could have been
I certainly hope this apathy around me is regional...
lthough I am doubting it
9/11 CHANGED EVERYTHING
I just heard Herman Cain on the radio, asking callers to call in and say where they were on 9/11/01 and how it changed their lives. I started thinking about what I'd say if I called in. I've said all this stuff before on the blog, but it's worth summarizing today.
On 9/11/01 I was a stupid kid who didn't know a thing about the world. I hated politics, put my fingers in my ears any time someone mentioned Israel, and was shockingly naive about how deep the world's hatred for my country ran. I was at school that day and was annoyed that my fellow classmates all wanted to go home; I thought they all just wanted an excuse for a day off. New York was 800 miles away, so there was no reason we couldn't continue with our lessons. I was engaged to a guy in Army ROTC, and the severity of 9/11 still didn't sink in. In short, I was a complete idiot.
Today I started thinking that if 9/11 hadn't happened, my life would be quite different. My husband was slated to join the Army for four years of Finance. My guess is that he would've completed his commitment and taken his business mind elsewhere for more money. Certainly he wouldn't have stayed in and chosen to learn Farsi. We'd probably be somewhere in the Midwest, working and living like most of our peers.
Although I was too obtuse and self-absorbed to realize it at the time, 9/11 changed everything for me.
And 9/11 changed the blogging world too. Early in the morning of 9/11/01, Steven den Beste wrote a post about online gambling. Guess what he posted on the rest of the week, and more or less for the rest of his blogging career. If it weren't for the path that he and others like him forged, I might still be sitting with my fingers in my ears.
Without 9/11, I never would've learned to think.
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REMEMBERING
Every year on this day, I spend some time refocusing. I remember my laser beam. But this year I feel pretty good, actually. I feel that my family is focused, that we're headed down the right path, that we will be useful to our country in the biggest struggle of my lifetime. My laser beam is intact, so today I will instead focus on remembering those we've lost, in NYC, in Bali, in Spain, in OEF and OIF. And daily in places that rarely get mentioned when people speak of jihad, like Thailand. This war is far from over.
The total number of victims killed six years ago — 2,974 — includes 2,750 at the World Trade Center site. Forty were killed in Pennsylvania and 184 died at the Pentagon. Those numbers do not include the 19 hijackers.
As they damn well shouldn't.
MORE TO GROK:
Jay Tea writes at Wizbang that, while most remember the sadness, 9/11 was a day of rage. I re-read my old post about the first anniversary of 9/11, and I still have plenty of rage: Anger.
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That used to drive me insane when, in the days following and counts of victims were given, that they included the 19 hijackers.
It seems so disrespectful.
Posted by: airforcewife at September 11, 2007 03:50 AM (emgKQ)
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No, they damn well shouldn't be included.
BTW, I beleive the memorial in Pennsylvania DOES include the scumbag's names. Pisses me off to no end.
Posted by: tim at September 11, 2007 03:56 AM (nno0f)
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Sarah,
I wish you would post this at SpouseBuzz today...
I think it is funny how Homefront6 describes the disbelief and sadness, you pride, and me disappointment today....
great post
LASSIE
The Swedes have a word that we don't have, a word for your degrees of separation with celebrities. If your brother's friend was a finalist on American Idol, then that's called a "Lassie" (Wikipedia explains why). That's probably my biggest Lassie, but I just discovered another one: a girl who was on study abroad in France at the same time as I was is now on that show Sunset Tan. I watched an episode -- and remembered why I hate reality shows; one episode is plenty -- just for kicks, and, um, yep...that's her. Whew, she grew up to be a spray tanner, so all is right in the universe.
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I don't think that I have a Lassie, will have to ponder on that one. I love this post and you gave me a giggle!
Posted by: LMT at September 10, 2007 09:36 AM (ASoq0)
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I guess my Lassie is Glenn Beck, but I'm not gonn'a explain here.
Posted by: tim at September 10, 2007 09:52 AM (nno0f)
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I believe NBC's Richard Engle and I were exchange students in Italy at the same time. If I recall correctly, we met a couple of times back then.
I used to babysit the half-brother of the current Mrs. Bruce Springsteen (Patti Scalifa).
Posted by: Butterfly Wifeq at September 10, 2007 09:58 AM (+2qii)
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I went to high school with Eric Szmanda (Greg on CSI). He was 2 years behind me in school.
Posted by: Tracy at September 10, 2007 06:56 PM (wFSe9)
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My son worked for Chris Carter at the beginning of X Files. His name, and his sister's name, were used in one of the later episodes. If you've watched them you will recognize who Ray and Teresa Hoese are in the plot. Now I have revealed all, but it's one
of my lassie's. Another is I am a third cousin to Betty Grable.
Posted by: Ruth H at September 11, 2007 11:26 AM (qwP0L)
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I tried to post this earlier, but somehow Micheal Lan!don was considered spam or something.
But anyway - when we lived on Catalina Island, my mother was threatened by Micheal Lan!don. I guess she deserved it, though, because she was following him around. Which is really creepy. I can say that, she's my mother.
And according to reunion gossip, one of the girls hubby went to school with was married to John Mayer. I can neither confirm nor deny, as I've wikied the hell out of it and can't find any more information.
And if she was, he dumped her like a hot potato, because he's been dating has been singers lately.
Posted by: airforcewife at September 12, 2007 03:35 AM (emgKQ)
PLAY MATCHING FUNDS WITH YOUR OWN MONEY
I missed this while I was on vacation a month ago, so forgive me for rehashing old news. But wtf?
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Thursday unveiled a plan that would increase taxes for the wealthy and create tax breaks for the middle class.
...
Among the proposals, Edwards would make long-term savings easier for low-income families with “Get Ahead Accounts” that would match savings up to $500 per year.
Wow. We really live in a country where a presidential candidate wants to take money that belongs in the earner's savings account, launder it through the government tax system, and put it in the savings account of someone who didn't earn it.
What I hate about Republican candidates is that they never seem to cut through the euphemisms. There's always a way to rephrase what Democrats want to do that makes them look bad. All you have to do is point out that someone worked hard to earn that money, and the government took it away and put it into someone else's bank account. If you get someone to admit that that's what he wants to see happen, you reveal something about his character and values. If you let him call it pretty things like Get Ahead Accounts, you let him frame the debate. Republicans need to refocus things like this on the taking of the money and stop letting Democrats focus on the giving of the money.
John Edwards wants poor people to take home rich people's money. That's fine if he wants to start passing out his own hundred dollar bills, but it plain stinks when he wants to force the whole country to participate.
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Agreed!
Tax increases for the rich never work, anyway, because they're rich in assets that are usually tax-free. The taxes have to come from somewhere, so it trickles down into the middle class.
Yeah, thanks but no thanks, Edwards. :p
Posted by: deltasierra at September 10, 2007 06:37 AM (815Xj)
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I think we should help out people who have simply hit a hard time in their lives, but it should be OUR CHOICE to do so. If nobody chooses to help out their fellow man, that's on them, between the individual person and their god(s). It's not the duty of other fellow men to beat charity out of each other.
Posted by: Green at September 11, 2007 07:58 AM (VqW06)
The Germantown administration on Wednesday defended its firing of three theater workers who tied stage-rigging ropes into hangman's nooses.
...
"I've seen plenty of stagehands whittling their time away by tying all kinds of knots," said Bob Hetherington, chairman of the department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Memphis.
"If they were trying to send a racial message of any kind, the fly system of a theater would be the last place anyone would see it."
But someone did see the nooses.
Another city employee, an African American, complained of a hostile work environment when he saw the nooses.
...
Laraway gave The Commercial Appeal his account of what happened.
"I was working with a gentleman I had never worked with before and we were talking about how to tie different knots. I asked him if he knew how to tie a bowline and he said yes. Then I asked him if he knew how to tie a hangman's noose, and I showed him.
So some people are sitting there with a bunch of rope, comparing different ways of tying them. Naturally, that makes them racist.
Geez Louise, have we completely lost touch of all common sense in this country?
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WHAT?
Today's I-can't-believe-they-actually-wrote-that line comes from (who else) Agence France-Presse in an article about Michael Moore's new anti-Bush movie:
Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Steve Earl, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Joan Baez break up the film with musical interludes.
Pop singer Cat Stevens, "who couldn't be here tonight" because he found himself on a US no-fly list after changing his name to Yusuf Islam, got a nod.
The egregious statement is bolded so it can sink in for a minute. Do they really think we're stupid enough to swallow that cause and effect chain? Cat Stevens was flying all over the place and then changed his name and accidentally got mistaken for a terrorist and now can't fly? Balderdash! Cat Stevens changed his name back in 19freaking78. He hasn't been Cat Stevens for nearly 30 years. And he's on the no-fly list because he's suspected of contributing money to Hamas, not because his name has the word "Islam" in it. And nice use of the phrase "found himself," as if the action were agent-less. He "found himself" on the list, instead of performed actions and made statements that had the authorities looking in his direction. It's all just a big snafu, right? Poor Cat Stevens just accidentally can't fly anywhere now. Mean old Bush.
If that isn't the biggest whitewashing of why Yusef Islam couldn't be in Michael Moore's movie...
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I wonder if MM tries to pass of Yusuf Islam's money contribution as an "Oops! I didn't realize!" kind of thing like the Body Shop woman (Anita something or other) does.
She contributed to Hezbollah, if I'm not mistaken. Or perhaps hers was Hamas, also.
I haven't shopped there in about 4 years now, and let me tell you I am very resentful. I used to live on that lotion (with peach, of course).
Posted by: airforcewife at September 09, 2007 08:41 AM (emgKQ)
SNOTNOSE PUNK ATTIRE
AWTM's son got a little upset at kindergarten the other day:
However, the other day upon picking Sir Rowland up from school, his teacher stopped me to tell me Sir Rowland was a little upset over one of the little girls t-shirts. It read. Girls are Smart, and in parenthesis said (boys are not). This upset Sir Rowland to no end. He was very upset, and made his teacher tell the little girl, that he a boy, was indeed smart.
One of my major pet peeves is t-shirts with suggestive and/or snotnosed punk sayings. What kind of person buys this crap for his child, let alone for one as young as a kindergartner? I think it's shameful enough when I see preteens wearing baloney like the "I may not be on time, but I'm worth the wait" shirt I saw a while back, or the kid in my neighborhood with the "Respect Me!" shirt. I was thankful to see an article at Slate a while back called Lolita's Closet: Unbearably Trampy Back-to-School Clothes. At least I'm not the only one who thinks that the teen shopping section is ripped right from the South Park "Stupid Spoiled Whore" script.
I know every parent on the planet, at one time or another, has uttered the words "my child will not wear that," but I seriously mean it. My child will not wear shirts with disgusting and degrading slogans. Period. Because I'm the mom, that's why.
MORE TO GROK:
My husband made a good point after hearing this story. He wonders how it would've gone over if a boy in the class were wearing a shirt that says that boys are smart and girls are not. Or, heaven forbid, insert a race or ethnicity. What would the teacher make of a "Puerto Ricans are dumb" shirt? Always curious about double standards...
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I completely agree. I have a daughter and a step-son so we are very aware of NOT degrading one or the other. The problem I have is when you see little girls with shorts/sweats on that says "Hottie" or something equally suggested on their butts. It is written right across their backside which then draws attention to a 12 year old bottom. It just grosses me out.
Posted by: sohos23 at September 09, 2007 06:06 AM (VrBqC)
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Kinda reminds me of the Southwest Airlines story that's been all over the news--the 23-year-old who was asked to cover up or get off of the plane. I was shocked when I seemed to be the only one thinking that what the airline did was fine.
Posted by: Nicole at September 09, 2007 07:25 AM (S/s4V)
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That type of attire has been around a long time. Not only did I not buy any for my kids - they never asked for or bought any for themselves.
I think the only tshirt I remember my son wearing - which I always thought was hilarious for some reason was "I Don't Play Well With Others" or something to that effect.
But by way of nasty degrading slogans... nope.
Posted by: Teresa at September 09, 2007 07:40 AM (rVIv9)
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Mine had a t-shirt that said, "Britney wants to be me", which I thought was hilarious because Brit-Brit is such a damn train wreck, and the shirt was being worn by my ever so cute and sweet blond third daughter.
I also think there was a "My sister did it!" shirt on my son, who also has one that says, "Ladies Man".
In any case, we're not really a t-shirt wearing family. I usually put my son in polos or the summer equivalent, and my girls generally wear non-t shirt materials and cuts. I'm not sure why.
Because we're weird, I'm sure.
I firmly believe that those stupid t-shirts (the "worth the wait" one and the "Out of Your League" one) are the reason I had so many attitude problems to deal with as a teacher.
And don't get me started on the ass writing. If you don't want people to come in the store, don't put out the open sign. Words to live by (attr. to Pastor Mike).
Posted by: airforcewife at September 09, 2007 08:36 AM (emgKQ)
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Yeah, I was indeed surprised this happenned at a private school. I sort of expect smartassery at public school, but a Christian school?
huh?
Oh and the sickening "bratz" trend continues with Halloween costumes, racier than those found in Fredericks this fall.
Indeed worth posting on, I just need to find the time!
300
The husband and I had a talk tonight, about going to war, about being left behind, about duty, honor, and glory. I shed a tear, we shared an embrace...and then we watched 300. It is such a fitting thing, to watch 300. And nothing gets to me like Queen Gorgo's speech:
I am not here to represent Leonidas; his actions speak louder than my words ever could. I am here for all those voices which cannot be heard: mothers, daughters, fathers, sons - three hundred families that bleed for our rights, and for the very principles this room was built upon. We are at war, gentlemen. We must send the entire Spartan army to aid our king in the preservation of not just ourselves, but of our children. Send the army for the preservation of liberty. Send it for justice. Send it for law and order. Send it for reason. But most importantly, send our army for hope - hope that a king and his men have not been wasted to the pages of history - that their courage bonds us together, that we are made stronger by their actions, and that your choices today reflect their bravery.
SMARTS AIN'T ALWAYS THE ANSWER
Miss Ladybug writes a nice post explaining her take on an article about why we need the draft. She does a good job of explaining her side. I have one thing to add about this part in the original article:
Consequently, we have a severe talent deficiency in the military, which the draft would remedy immediately. While America’s bravest are in the military, America’s brightest are not. Allow me to build a squad of the five brightest students from MIT and Caltech and promise them patrols on the highways connecting Baghdad and Fallujah, and I’ll bet that in six months they could render IED’s about as effective as a “Just Say No” campaign at a Grateful Dead show.
First of all, my husband just whooped MIT's butt at that Fast Money MBA Challenge, and he went to a state school and chose to be in the Army. So I'm thinking he could do just as well at "patrols on the highways" as Ivy Leaguers could. Hell, he would do better since he wants to be there instead of being forced to be there; I don't care how smart you were at school, if you don't have the drive and desire to apply your brain power to a problem, you ain't gonna fix it either.
But secondly, and here's my real contribution, smarter doesn't always make you a better soldier. My husband likes to tell one anecdote: The guy in their company with the highest ASVAB score, so presumably the smartest soldier, was the one my husband had to put in jail in Iraq. The best soldier they had, the one everyone wanted to work with, was the old gangbanger.
There are plenty of smart people in the military; I'd rather talk to Jack Army about the Middle East than anyone at Caltech. But book smarts isn't always what the Army needs, especially if it's been forced to be there. Somehow I get a little giggle imagining this Marine corporal trying to organize a squad of drafted Ivy Leaguers. I'm not sure it'd go as swimmingly as he thinks it would.
Posted by: prophet at September 07, 2007 04:24 AM (Yagmr)
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I have to agree. As a retired Infantryman I always found the enlisted braniacs as being the most difficult soldiers. The guys who may not have been the brightest, but understood why they were in the Army, and had a good does of stick-to-itivness where always the best soldiers.
The only thing the draft does is give you an unmotivated soldier who doesn't want to be there, and will endanger his comrades with his attitude.
Posted by: James at September 07, 2007 07:03 AM (DxgIR)
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I'm sure there are a lot of smart people in the Army, and I bet that a lot of creative solutions have been developed in the field. But not all problems are susceptible for field solutions--for some things, you need laboratories and factories. In WWII, for example, a soldier on the scene came up with the device for clearing the hedgerows of Normandy. But when it came to shooting down V-1 cruise missiles, it required the work of a Bell Labs scientist (based, interestingly, on an idea that came to him in a dream) and the collective output of several manufacturing plants.
The deficiency we have right now is neither brainpower in the front lines, nor brainpower back home--it is, rather, effective coordination to bring our industrial and technological power to bear on the problem. I have long felt that we need to have a Director of Industrial Mobilization to help establish priorities and cut through red tape. This individual should ideally be a respected retired executive who is afraid of nothing and nobody.
Here's an interesting post about GI ingenuity, both in the present war and WWII.
Posted by: david foster at September 07, 2007 11:51 AM (gguM0)
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That does irritate me - the "smart" thing. I'm not sure how to politely discuss it, because my immediate inference was that it means the people in the military are dumb. Or, at least, not as smart as they could be.
Of course, I could be sensitive about that, seeing has how my husband is pretty durn smart himself, smart enough to have fluency in two languages which do not share an alphabet. And a few other things, too.
I don't agree with a draft, because I don't want to return to the Vietnam era of soldiering. However, I do get very frustrated that so many do so little, and so few do so much.
Posted by: airforcewife at September 07, 2007 12:50 PM (emgKQ)
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What do I know about the Middle East? Now, if you want to discuss... uh... what do I know?
Posted by: JACK ARMY at September 10, 2007 02:18 AM (cxPqT)
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This is a very old subject. When Halberstam wrote The Best and The Brightest, it was a poke in the eye of the intellectualoids. As Sam Rayburn quipped at the time, I'd feel a whole lot better if one of them had run for county sheriff once.
WFB hit the same not when he observed that he'd rather be governed by the first 1500 names in the Boston telephone directory, than the faculty of Harvard, because the intellectualoids vote for utopianism, and the hunt for perfecting mankind in the 20th century has led us from the death camps, to the gulags, to the killing fields, and one might say, to the desert.
Finally, Leo delivers a great Howard Hughes line in The Aviator, "I've had those ivy league pricks looking down their noses at me all my life."
Posted by: Casca at September 10, 2007 06:13 AM (xGZ+b)
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Reading your post and these comments, what am I supposed to think as a proud Ivy League (Columbia U) graduate and a proud (enlisted Army) veteran?
I say that half-kiddingly. You know as well as anyone that today's soldiers must wear many different hats and our victory in the Long War demands that they achieve far more than the traditional soldiers' tasks, which in and of themselves, already require plenty of brains. In the Long War, they have to be peace-builders, too, which requires that they take on everything else.
I oppose the premise that the only way to get Ivy Leaguers to serve is the draft. Sadly, not just anti-military activists, but also too many military supporters promote that notion. We should be finding ways to constructively overcome the prejudices of the civil-military divide. I ask that you take care to avoid adding credence to the notion that being an Ivy Leaguer and serving in the military is an either/or proposition. Doing so only adds to the gaps in our society in a time when our nation needs unity of society and purpose.
Indeed, there is a substantial number of Ivy Leaguers, at least at Columbia University, who have served before attending college or will serve upon graduation. (EG, google the "U.S. Military Veterans of Columbia University" and the "Hamilton Society", Columbia's cadets and officer candidates campus group.)
Our military needs more people - bottom-line - in this arduous, complex war. Our presently serving soldiers need the help, and the talent, smarts, and potential on Ivy League campuses are undeniable. Just as Ivy Leaguers once were successfully recruited into war-time efforts like the OSS without being forced, we should be finding better ways today to recruit Ivy Leaguers to invest their abilities into the special challenges of this war.
The idea is for Ivy Leaguers to be force multipliers, to work alongside their fellow Americans, like your husband and all our other exceptional troops, not displace them.
Posted by: Eric Chen at September 11, 2007 07:48 PM (JlyXZ)
Love My Tanker does a good job of fisking this article. I will just point out a few things, less diplomatically than she does.
"I don't know one military family that is still together or anything like they were before the Soldier in the family went to war," 30-year-old Mylinda, whose husband was among the first Marines to be deployed in Iraq, told AFP.
We're still together and exactly the same as we were before. Only better. My husband has matured as a man, as a leader, and as a citizen. He is a far better person for having been to war because he now understands things that most of us only know from books. If he's changed at all, it's for the better. Me too, for I had to spend a year being self-reliant, not whiny, and strong.
"Now, you have boy scouts fighting over there. They get kids out of high school, put them in boot camp and then send them to fight.
"When they get out, all they know how to do is kill someone."
Yes, my husband now knows how to kill someone. He also knows how to talk to people about electricity, gas shortages, getting along with their neighbors, and training to be soldiers themselves. Because he went to war, he changed career paths and now is learning to speak their language so he can continue to talk to them about how to make their countries better. Talk to them. If he was just going to kill them, he wouldn't need to waste six months learning to speak their language.
My husband is a better person because he's been to war, and we're a stronger couple because of it. Better. Maybe you could interview someone like us next time.
MORE:
FbL points out that this article got picked up at Islam Online under the title "Unseen American Victims of Iraq." Great.
1
"They get kids out of high school..."
Apparently Mylinda gets her idiocy from her own mother (who made that statement). I guess Mylinda's mom never figured out that... the military has ALWAYS let 18 year olds enlist directly out of high school... With a statement like that, the rest of the article loses any and all meaning.
But since it's by the French news agency, I expected no less. I'm just wondering why military.com felt compelled to carry such a stupid article.
There are many complaints that can be made about the military, legitimate complains, not this kind of tripe!
Posted by: Teresa at September 06, 2007 03:40 PM (rVIv9)
2
How about military.com post an article like this, "Troops and Families Cracking Under the Strain of Stupid Media W***e Outlets"
Posted by: airforcewife at September 06, 2007 03:47 PM (emgKQ)
3
""About three-quarters of the veterans acknowledged having some family problem at least once a week.""
What constitutes a "family problem"? If it's just a disagreement, then my hubby and I fall into that category and he's not military! That is a very vague statement.
Posted by: Tracy at September 06, 2007 04:54 PM (wFSe9)
4
Thanks for the laugh, Sarah. I love it. The Army is now responsible for happy or unhappy marriages. We are the great, the powerful, OZ! She's entitled to her viewpoint, but I would be very interested to hear her husband's side of the story. I'm guessing it would be something about her whining all the time and nothing was ever her fault?
Boy, and the mother - she makes it sound like we're loading up flatbed trucks with crying boys in boy scout uniforms. Guess she forgot to mention that $20,000 bonus and the VOLUNTEER part of it. Very small brain pans on those two.
Posted by: Oda Mae at September 06, 2007 09:00 PM (I0e9i)
5
"They get kids out of high school..."
Following on from Teressa's point above: this one has always irritated me. Suppose they work at McDonald's for a month then sign up, would that be ok? What about two months?
Here in Britain the usual one is "He had only been out of basic training for 3 months when he died". Yes, its tragic when someone is killed before they have the chance to make something of themselves, but what do the media suggest? We keep them in a depot for three months (with the attendant 'skill fade'...) first? Maybe six months? Then you'd just get articles saying "He was only six months out of basic training..." or "He was only one month out of depot...".
At some age society accepts you are old enough to decide what you want to do. Some people choose to join the army. The army decides how much training you need before you can be sent to war - there is no possible benefit in under-training you if they need the job done. Once you have completed that you are ready (well, in so far as you ever will be).
Anyway, rant over. Hi, Sarah, I've been reading your blog for a few years now. Did you know you have an international military audience?
Posted by: RGT at September 06, 2007 11:50 PM (6lVxB)
6
"International military audience" makes me feel so exotic!
Posted by: Sarah at September 07, 2007 02:27 AM (TWet1)
7
Thanks for the link, Sarah!
Not only did it get picked up, but it got "edited for clarity," too. Very, very ugly.
Posted by: FbL at September 07, 2007 08:28 AM (TXlt9)
MAKING AN HEIRLOOM
After fussing and fighting and needle-breaking and ending up with a mere fourteen inches of thread left, the quilt is finally finished.
Posted by: Green at September 06, 2007 04:06 PM (VqW06)
4
Sarah that is beautiful. I wish that I could see the quilting better. You did such a great job. I think that I have to get to work on mine now.
Love ya and talk to you soon.
Kelly
Posted by: Kelly at September 06, 2007 07:58 PM (4LrZY)
1
I love the fact that people are so willing to do so much for their animals. I suppose it is b/c I am such an animal lover myself. We have about 5 houses of Saudi neighbors right now that have stated that they hate dogs and are afraid of them, it is making all of the American households in our neighborhood live on pins and needles with our animals! UGH! Lovin' the animal lovers even more right now
Posted by: LMT at September 06, 2007 05:51 AM (ASoq0)
When a scandal involves a Republican, his or her party affiliation is mentioned in the lead. When it involves a Democrat, party affiliation typically is mentioned deep in the story, if at all.
But media bias is not the main reason why Republicans suffer more from scandals. Democratic voters expect Democrats to steal on their behalf. Lawmakers are judged on the basis of how many goodies from the federal treasury they can shower on their constituents.
Instead, Sen. Craig copped a plea. Because of that, he should disappear from public life as swiftly as possible and embrace full time the anonymity he cherishes in his sexual encounters. Not, as the left urges, on grounds of "hypocrisy" – because he's a "family values" politician who opposes "gay marriage" yet trawls for rough trade in men's rooms. A measure of hypocrisy is necessary to a functioning society. It's quite possible, on the one hand, to be opposed to the legalization of prostitution yet, on the other, to pull your hat down over your brow every other Tuesday and sneak off to the cat house on the other side of town. Your inability to live up to your own standards does not, in and of itself, nullify them. The left gives the impression that a Republican senator caught in a whorehouse ought immediately to say, "You're right. I should have supported earmarks for hookers in the 2005 appropriations bill." That's the reason why sex scandals take down Republicans but not Democrats: Sex-wise, the left's standards are that whatever's your bag is cool – which is the equivalent of no standards.
1
I think party affiliation is at the top for both Democrats and Republicans. My issue is more with hypocrisy. If someone stands for family values and lobbies against gay marriage, then they shouldn't be asking for a blowjob in the men's room.
2
Non-Essen.,
Your right, he should have been lobbying for blowjobs in public restrooms. That way, no harm-no foul.
Did you read the post?
Posted by: tim at September 04, 2007 10:42 AM (nno0f)
3
NonE -- Yeah, if you didn't read the whole Mark Steyn article, I recommend it. It may not change your mind about "hypocracy", but yours is the exact argument Steyn tries to knock down. And the Kelly article points out that Dems do bad things too...but is it OK for them to do bad as long as they don't take a stance against bad stuff? Is it OK to solicit anonymous gay sex in an airport as long as you support gay marriage? I'm not sure those are 100% related.
Posted by: Sarah at September 04, 2007 11:09 AM (TWet1)
4
I'm not sure government officials should be dictating the standards of sexual behavior to begin with.
Posted by: Sabbrielle at September 04, 2007 11:38 AM (DpeUa)
Posted by: tim at September 05, 2007 03:33 AM (nno0f)
6
Tim, if he lobbied for blowjobs in public restrooms, he might have a better chance of winning the next election if he stays in the game. What man can turn down free blowjobs? =)
You're right -- I didn't get to Steyn. I read the Kelly clip and moved on. I've read far too many posts making this a Democrat vs. Republican thing when it really should just be a one failed leader thing.
I really feel that both Democrats and Republicans get it when they act badly. How long did the Clinton thing go on? As many Democrats have had their feet put to the flames.
I agree with Steyn to a certain extent. Life does have a certain amount of hypocrisy. But I, for one, would like to hold our political leaders to a higher standard. Sad and misguided, I know, but I feel that if someone takes on a leadership position they should be, if not above reproach, at least doing the best they can.
Maybe the gay marriage thing doesn't play (but it does make one thing). But this isn't only gay marriage. This is someone who is interested in legislating morality and is a reason why a cop has to sit in the public men's room to begin with. Frankly, if you are elected on a family values/morals platform, well, then perhaps you should think about walking the walk.
7
I don't think that legislating morality has anything to do with cops sitting in public restrooms. I have to send my son in there (alone, sometimes!), and aside from the obvious ick and health reasons - that is not something that people should be exposed to. Period. There are hotels everywhere - hook up in the privacy of a room whatever your sexual orientation is.
I'm not defending Craig, by the way, and I'm glad to see him go. But the equation of restroom sex to morality platforms in elections is absolutely disengenuous.
The one thing I did learn from this was how such a hook up "goes down" from a friend of mine. All that talk about "toe tapping", and I thought I would have to teach my son to walk into a bathroom dragging feet on the floor to absolutely avoid the faintest sound that could possibly be misconstrued as a tap.
Turns out that there's some complex "Simon Says" action going on.
Learn something new every day...
Posted by: airforcewife at September 05, 2007 02:10 PM (emgKQ)
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While our troops go out to defend our country, it is incumbent upon us to make the country worth defending. --Deskmerc--
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First, go buy a six pack and swig it all down. Then, watch Ace Ventura. And after that, buy a Hard Rock Cafe shirt and come talk to me. You really need to lighten up, man.
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If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained -- we must fight! --Patrick Henry--
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are usually just cheerleading sessions, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing but a soothing reduction in blood pressure brought about by the narcotic high of being agreed with. --Bill Whittle
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
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I am not willing to kill a man so that he will agree with my faith, but I am prepared to kill a man so that he cannot force my compatriots to submit to his.
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You can say what you want about President Bush; but the truth is that he can take a punch. The man has taken a swift kick in the crotch for breakfast every day for 6 years and he keeps getting up with a smile in his heart and a sense of swift determination to see the job through to the best of his abilties.
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--SarahBellum--
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. --Ronald Reagan--
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Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. --Mark Twain--
The Enlightenment was followed by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, which touched every European state, sparked vicious guerrilla conflicts across the Continent and killed millions. Then, things really turned ugly after the invention of soccer. --Iowahawk--
Every time I meet an Iraqi Army Soldier or Policeman that I haven't met before, I shake his hand and thank him for his service. Many times I am thanked for being here and helping his country. I always tell them that free people help each other and that those that truly value freedom help those seeking it no matter the cost. --Jack Army--
Right, left - the terms are useless nowadays anyway. There are statists, and there are individualists. There are pessimists, and optimists. There are people who look backwards and trust in the West, and those who look forward and trust in The World. Those are the continuums that seem to matter the most right now. --Lileks--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
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A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself. --John Stuart Mill--
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." --Dave Grossman--
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