May 2005 Archives

It was interesting. In church yesterday they wanted to reflect on the true purpose/meaning of Memorial Day. So they had everyone who has served in the military or who knows someone who has or is serving in the military stand up. I hate to be a picker of knits but that's Veteran's Day which comes in November. Memorial Day is a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. The Boy Scouts have it right, folks. Memorial Day is about the men and women who have died in the defense of our nation.

Memorial Day is, in the minds of most Americans, the first weekend of summer. The beginning of party time. Until September 11 2001, society had managed to push the military far below the surface. So much so that very few Americans, when they thought about the military thought about the individuals and the sacrifice they and their families make to defend the rights and privileges that Americans take for granted. Even today in a post Septmeber 11 world, many Americans think of the military as a faceless, nameless evil force bent only on destruction without cause or reason.

I believe that American society needs to be reminded at regular intervals who it is that makes up the military and what their real purpose is. Today's American military force is made up not only of full time military members but also of reservists. Today those who have raised their right hand and sworn to defend the Constitution include people who are a regular part of civilian society. It came as a great surprise to many people at Apple when I announced that I would be going on military leave to serve in the Gulf War. They had no idea that I was in the military. Many of those I served with had the same experience. Co-workers and neighbors were very surprised to hear that folks they knew personally were going to war.

Yet our nation has been built and maintained on the tradition of the citizen-soldier. The soldiers, sailors and marines who fought in the American Revolution were citizen soldiers. Men who put aside their occupations to serve in a military force that ultimately liberated America from British rule. 90 years later it was citizen-soldiers who fought to determine the form of government this nation would have. 60 years later it was citizen-soldiers who went to the aid of Europe, in part to help Europe but also to ensure America's continued freedom. Thirty years later it was citizen-soldiers who swarmed to the call to stop Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo. Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan and now Iraq. Citizen-soldiers were there for each of those conflicts. And each of those conflicts was about the maintenance of freedom and liberty. Some were misguided and probably should not have been pursued but that is not the decision of the military members who serve. That is the responsibility of those who serve in government and the citizens they serve.

Memorial Day is a day to remember those who have fallen in battle. Many, maybe most, of them are citizen-soldiers who heeded their nation's call and went to serve. Memorial Day, thankfully, is not about me and the great people I served with. Our day comes in November. Memorial Day is about those who will never come home. Memorial Day is about those who will forever guard the battlefields they fought on. If you don't have time to go to a cemetery and find the grave of a service member who died in conflict, decorate the grave of any service member. If even that is not possible, spend some time looking up the name and the story of someone who died in defense of this great nation.

I remember Lance Corporal Joseph B. Spence. Killed January 26, 2005. Go with God Marine, you stand relieved.

Aloha

The BBC's John Simpson titled this article 'Reporting the truth'. Given the content, I can't figure out why.

In short, it seems John Simpson is saying, it is perfectly permissible for the media to print and reprint single source, unverified stories that are inflammatory in nature. And if they are believed by the public then it is the responsibility of the authorities in question to create an environment where such stories could not be believe.

In most schools of journalism that is the very definition of irresponsible reporting. Single, anonymous sources quoting materials unobtainable by the reporter are called leads. Responsible journalism involves expending the time and effort to research the lead to find corroborating evidence, information or material. Newsweek openly admits that it based its statement on a single source and did not verify or corroborate the information provided by that source. When the source back peddled, the Newsweek was forced to admit that it could neither confirm or deny that the incidents took place. John Simpson states that Newsweek's editor seem to have been taken by surprise by the violent reaction to the story. If that is the case, Newsweek's editors have been living under rocks or in caves for the past three years.

John Simpson's logic then seems to be that because of previous events there is an environment in which the story published by Newsweek is believable. Therefore, Newsweek is not to blame but rather authorities and society at large are to blame for creating an environment in which such a story is believable.

Hogwash, all of it.

Where autrocities are occurring they need to be rooted out, corrected, and the responsible parties held accountable as is happening now in the case of Abu Ghaib. However, that does not in any way relieve news agencies of the responsibility to properly research and verify their stories before they publish. Proper research, corroboration and verification of the stories it prints is the only delineation between respectable news agencies and the likes of The National Enquirer.

Aloha

I am anxious to hear the outcry on this. This is all the things that the US government and the military are being accused of. Dissemination of misinformation and causing the death of innocents. 16 people were killed and 100 people were injured as result of uprisings and protest in reaction to an article published by Newsweek. Military and intelligence operations need oversight and accountability. The press is not the appropriate organization to perform this duty.

Having said all of that, I commend Newsweek for at least coming forward and admitting that they published unverified information. Mind you, Newsweek maintains that it "reported very carefully, with great sensitivity and concern" and is not considering any disciplinary action for any of its staff.

You have got to love the media.

Aloha

A while back you might remember that I blogged about a DJ in New York who aired a hate filled "parody" rap piece that made fun of the victims of the tsunami that devastated many areas around the Indian Ocean. After much public outcry and some three days time, Hot 97 suspended Miss Jones and her morning crew "indefinitely". Miss Jones is back on the air in her morning slot on Hot 97. Give it a little time, it will all blow over and be OK. Hot 97 and Miss Jones, you still disgust me.

Miss Jones seems to be without the "morning crew" that was part of her show back in January. One of the people on the show at the time called Miss Jones out on the air at the time the piece was aired. Miss Jones got pretty huffy and rude toward that individual. Then, later, as the public backlash grew, Miss Jones aired an apology talking about how contrite she was. Personally, I think Miss Jones and Hot 97 did not discover the heartlessness of their behavior but rather were attempting damage control.

Hot 97 and Miss Jones operate in an any thing goes segment of our society where irreverence is considered cool, the more irreverent, the more cool. The more shocking the better. In turn, the audience for this kind of entertainment prides itself on being unshockable, moving the bar to a higher level. We saw the culmination of this in January when Miss Jones released her parody which made heartless fun of the Tsunami victims even down to the newly orphaned and homeless children. The piece was hopelessly cold, heartless and insensitive. At a time when the rest of the world was joining together to help the victims, Hot 97 and Miss Jones were using tsunami and its victims for their own publicity.

I'd be interested to know the story of how Miss Jones was brought back to her regular slot. I'd be interested to know what Miss Jones and Hot 97 have done to help the tsunami victims. I would like to see some demonstration from both Hot 97, Miss Jones, and the other DJs on the show that they understand why there was such public outcry. I would like to see Hot 97 and Miss Jones demonstrate in some meaningful form that they will be responsible for their actions.

Aloha

It's been about eight months since I landed at North Island Naval Air Station, the final stop in my trip home from the Kuwait. Eight months is a long time. The unit that relieved us should be getting relieved themselves this month. It is now time for them to go home.

One year ago today I was setting up a communications center on KAAOT, about 13 miles off the coast of Iraq. In many ways, one of the most exciting experiences of my life. Definitely a highlight in my military career. Now that I'm home, I think about my experiences in the Gulf a lot. Almost everyday. I talk to a lot of people who have served in the gulf. They all say that they think about their time over there a lot. I have thought about going back over. Depending on how long it takes Iraq to get its feet, I might go back yet.

The experience for me was a life changing one. I think differently about my life and how I live it as a result of my time in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The changes are good one. More focus on my family. More importance placed on being involved with my family, my church and my community. Far less interest in "the rat race" and climbing the corporate ladder.

What I've experience is infinitesimal compared to what the guys who serve in World War II experienced but through this I begin to understand how they might view life. For them, nothing they do after World War II is ever going to be as significant. In a very real sense World War II veterans played a very active role in saving the world. Everything in life after that just isn't quite as big.

I have no idea what the future holds for me. I have a re-enlistment coming up in June. I'll probably sign up for another three years. The Army wants to pay me $15,000 go switch services but that would also include another trip to the sand, probably for 2006. With the business start-up I can't afford to go serve in Iraq for another year. But for right now, I have to say....

It is still really good to be home.

Aloha

So this whole thing seems really interesting. First I want to point out, in case anyone missed it, she was to take part in a wedding where there were to be 14 bridesmaids, 14 groomsmen and 600 guests. 600 guests! I don't think I even know 600 people! I've lived in a town that didn't have that many people inside the town limits. That's a lot of people.

What I really find interesting is the fact that everything resulting from this woman wanting to escape the circus that had her at it's center is suppose to be her fault. I have to wonder at that. In most of the cities I've lived in the police won't begin any kind of real investigation into a missing person until the person has been missing for 72 hours. The exception being hikers who fail to show up at the expected time from a hike. I guess going jogging is like going hiking but not really.

OK. So, Jennifer Wilbanks makes a plan to escape the circus at which she is the center ring act. She buys a bus ticket for Las Vegas and plans her escape. She boards the bus and, at least for a few days, she is free of the pressure and stress of an impending wedding. The logical question might be, why didn't she just talk to some one. Giving the reaction of the town, my answer might be, who the heck was she suppose to talk to? It doesn't sound like anyone was very open to the idea that the bride might want to slow things down a little bit.

I think it quite possible that Miss Wilbanks was feeling a lot of stress and didn't feel like she had any where to go for support. So, she bailed. Everyone over reacts and flies into a panic. Visions of Lacy Peterson dancing in their heads they among the long list of over-reactions demand that the groom to be take a lie detector test. Essentially proving the reason why Miss Wilbanks felt the need to get out of town for a little while.

Now, everyone's over reaction is Miss Wilbanks fault and she should pay the cost of a bunch of decisions, mostly bad ones, that she didn't make and really had no control over. Of course, none of the townspeople are in anyway responsible for their own over-reaction. It's all Miss Wilbanks fault. If she had simply stayed put and provided our entertainment like she was supposed to everything would have been fine. Then, after all the townsfolk had had their fun and entertainment if she was unhappy with things she could get counseling or a divorce. Hell, that's what everyone else does.

Miss Wilbanks, good on you. I think you should have gone on to Vegas and spent the week having a blast. Mr Mason, good on you for standing by the woman. I think both of you ought to take a quiet trip to Hawaii spend a week or ten days talking things over and then, if everyone is still up for it, have a quiet wedding on the beach. If you decide to go to Kauai send me an email and I'll have two people there to serve as witness and quietly celebrate your wedding with you.

Aloha

A couple of years ago I started something called Stress Free Fellowship. It's a gathering of families from church at the beach around a fire. There's no plan, there's no schedule, there's no anything. You just go and hang out. Without the stress of worrying about whether you're prepared, have you bought the right stuff, are we on time, how long will it last, etc. So, SFF continued last year while I was serving in the Gulf. Tonight it starts again. It will be fun to go.

Aloha,
Smittie

On April 21 by web hosting company had some difficulties that took my site down. It took about a week to get the site back up at all and as of this writing I'm still waiting for them to get my install of MovableType restored. I am hunting for a new web host but no one really offers what Eclipse does. I have a total of six domains. Three of them point to one web site, two of the domains each point to their own web sites and one is domain only has a mail server. Eclipse allows me to run my three web site from a single a web host account which is very cool or at least convenient.

In other news, I completed the Cabrillo College Oedipus Rex DVD. It came out very well. I was quite happy with the final product. I'm putting the final touches on the George Kahumoku DVD. I'll be sending that off to him early next week. I have several projects that are in the early stages and all of them are dependent on others. In all cases I'm waiting on those others to go moving. On Sunday I'll be going out to a car race track to shoot some video of a group of hobbists who take their car out to the track. I'll be mounting one camera inside the car and then using a second camera out on the track. Should be interesting. The primary purpose of the outing is to see what's possible and what these folks might be interested in.

On Thursday I went to a chamber of commerce networking mixer. I met a banker who was interesting. I maybe talking to her some more in the near future. I met a gentleman who publishes a magazine that covers the news of Santa Cruz and Monterey wineries. I'd like to be talking to him again soon. Lastly, I met a realtor who apparently has some ideas she'd like to talk about. Some interesting possibilities. It'll be fun to see what comes to fruition.

Aloha,
Smittie