Next Yon Installment

Was reviewing the results of the Watcher's Council over at the Glittering Eye. In an earlier post about msm bias and hysteria, I concentrated on public issues the media was actively trying to influence.

The news talkers suffer from urgency inflation. They must show that the merely problematic is a disaster. Anything unexpected is a "setback." A setback, then, is a "problem." A problem, as stated, has become a disaster. For example, the storm named "Katrina" was a disaster. But, while the response to it was organizationally difficult, there was plenty of heroism to go around. The storm was the disaster, not the response! But a "problem" can draw a bigger audience than a "setback" can. A disaster draws more viewers to the advertising platform than a "problem" does.

The are other kinds of manipulation. One is the media trying to play down or ignore the plain truth, such as with heroism or success in the Iraq war. I was reminded of this in the most recent M. Yon report, Death or Glory Part II of IV: Into the Desert With the Queen’s Royal Lancers Armed with plenty of great pictures, his commentary is just great.

Despite the British press reports that make their own soldiers out to be cowering on bases in Basra, truck after truck of them here were in high spirits. News flash: Those reports are false. Derelict media coverage is another aspect of this war British and American soldiers share, and it rankles here in the southern part of Iraq as deeply as it does everywhere else. Practically no one writes about the Brits down here. Important pages in history remain unwritten, while policy decisions are based on the public perception that all is lost here. That this public perception is based on what I have called “The Green Gator Phenomenon” is an irony that is noted, but not appreciated.

He adds to the subject of bias by acknowledging psychological/emotional baggage, or "truths" we carry around with us. Things we "know" are true, but are not true in fact. His example is of a person, who standing right next to an alligator (all of which are black when wet and gray when dry,) will often say, even insist, that the gator is green, because that is the color popular culture assigns to the animal. Micheal Yon convincingly demonstrates the importance of the phenomenon in understanding the public perception of the Iraq conflict.
As far as "public perception" goes he's correct of course. But the gator did not convince "perception" - the media did.
Mr Yon's article is accompanied with plentiful pictures and deserves not only attention, but our gratitude.

espresso beans tothe glittering eye

Quotes That U.S. Military Moms Love

Found a dandy list of United States Marines quotes at lubbock marine parents, folks so obviously proud of kids in harm's way, you can't help but say a prayer as you browse the sight! We are so proud of you!! I just went ahead and stole the entire article, it's that good.

I've been building a collection of quotes about and by Marines and our military for a while. Lots of us Marine moms like to have quotes in our signature lines on the message boards. That's where I got many of these. I'll start with the most popular quote (at least among the moms).

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."
- Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, 1985

"Marines are about the most peculiar breed of human beings I have ever witnessed. They treat their service as if it were some kind of cult, plastering their emblems on almost everything they own, making themselves up to look like insane fanatics with haircuts to ungentlemanly lengths, worshipping their Commandant almost as if he were a god, and making weird animal noises like a bunch of savages. They'll fight like rabid dogs at the drop of a hat just for the sake of a little action, and are the cockiest sons of bit**es I have ever known. Most have the foulest mouths and drink well beyond man's normal limits, but their high spirits and sense of brotherhood set them apart and, generally speaking, the United States Marines I've come in contact with are the most professional soldiers and the finest men I have ever had the pleasure to meet."
- an anonymous Canadian citizen

"People sleep peacebably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
- George Orwell

"You have earned the title "Marine" upon graduation from recruit training. It wasn't willed to you; it isn't a gift. It is not a government subsidy. Few can claim the title; no one may take it away. It is forever yours."
-Tom Bartlett, Leatherneck Magazine

"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps."
- Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945

"I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold."
- 1st Lt. Clifton B. Cates in Belleau Wood, 19 July 1918

"Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share."
- Ned Dolan

"I am convinced that there is no smarter, handier, or more adaptable body of troops in the world."
- Prime Minister of Britain, Sir Winston Churchill

"Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there."
- LtGen Victor H. Krulak, USMC April 1965

You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth- and the amusing thing about it is that they are.
- Father Kevin Keaney
1st Marine Division Chaplain, Korean War

"We steal the Eagle from the Air Force, the Anchor from the Navy, the rope from the Army, and on the Seventh Day when God rested, we overran his perimeter and stole the Globe, and have been protecting our shores ever since."
-USMC

"It is physically and morally impossible to support the troops but not the war. That is a coward's way of saying he/she hopes we lose. Either support our forces in their efforts to win or support our enemies. One cannot choose between the two."
-Steve Clayton

"As Marines, our message to our foes has always been essentially the same...'We own this side of the street! Threaten my Country or our allies and we will come over to your side of the street, burn your hut down, whisper in your ear 'Can you hear me now?' ...and then secure your heartbeat.'"
-Colonel James M. Lowe

espresso beans to jarhead john

Warriors Doing The Beach Boys

Cute as can be -- looks warm in Kosovo...

OUR USA BOYS!

espresso beans to dean

More Troops From Where?

espresso beans to watersblogged!

Irratated Vet and I are having a little conversation at his site. He thinks the number of troops in Iraq needs to be dramatically increased. From his perspective, (I hope I'm conveying his position properly) congressman Rangel's proposed legislation to re-institute the military draft ought to be given serious consideration. The armed forces don't currently have the capacity, he says, to bring thousands more troops that are sorely needed. There's a lot we don't see eye to eye on, but he's an intelligent guy, and he can make disagreeing fun.
IV calls his article, "acknowledging the elephant," so when I found this Cox & Forkum at Watersblogged, (where the draft is also being "debated") I realized I may be the only casual C & F reader in the sphere!
Watersblogged! links to Oliver North via RealClearPolitics. North's view of what motivates Mr Rangel's draft legislation follows:

....Now Democrats, after campaigning for change in Iraq, have a certain responsibility to improve the situation in Mesopotamia. Knowing that it's not as easy as they made it sound on the campaign trail -- and needing more leverage to try to get the troop withdrawal they want -- Rangel is leading the charge to make young Americans believe that if the troops don't come home tomorrow, Uncle Sam will outfit college students with fatigues and ship them overseas.
...."As long as Americans are being shipped off to war," Rangel says, "then everyone should be vulnerable."

I could not agree more. But that only aggravates the REAL issue.

....Rangel and others have claimed that conscription is necessary to ensure that our military more closely resembles the "economic makeup" of our nation. The Congressman from Harlem has said, "for those who say the poor fight better, I say give the rich a chance."
....But the allegation that the current war is being fought -- and that casualties are disproportionately suffered -- by poor, urban, minority males simply isn't substantiated by the racial, ethnic, economic and educational data available.

North's rebuttal is directed at the ridiculous notion that the current military make up are a bunch of losers that are "...stuck in Iraq." But that doesn't even begin to touch the very serious issue of, well, More Troops From Where? The draft is not an elephant, it's a carcass. It hasn't got a chance except as the scare tactic Rangel's looking for. But if not the draft, then what?
All we know for sure is that the current situation is not sustainable.