December 2007 Archives

What is amazing here is that this story was the lead story for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Santa Cruz is famous for its extremely liberal politics. I usually refer to Santa Cruz as the second most liberal city in America. While I was on my last deployment, my wife stopped telling people why I was gone because of the negative reactions she got. Santa Cruz is a very hard place for military families to live.

One of the lessons of Vietnam has been that denigrating soldiers because you're against the war is not something that America society is willing to accept again. So, the anti-war movement is struggling to find a way to hate the war and love the soldier. But the simple fact is, at least on the large scale, they can't do it. When I returned from my last deployment I experienced thinly veiled hostility. I was called a murderer. I was asked how I can do such terrible things. Those who were actually willing to engage me in open minded conversation discovered that they really didn't know very much about what was going on on the ground in Iraq.

Santa Cruz is a hard place for military families to live. That's why I am very grateful, first to Jennifer Pittman for writing the article about Sergeant First Class Jason Wood and his family, and second, to the this story for choosing to run it as a lead story. I'm quite certain they will receive more than a few angry letters.

Aloha
Smittie

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[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: military, politics

She said it does worry her that future employers could see these photos when she applies for a job. "I know an employer won't [realize] I know how to separate work and personal time, and I have no intentions of being wrapped around a toilet at a job."

This poor girl doesn't even begin to understand why future employers will find publicly available pictures of her drunken behavior a problem. More importantly, these people do not understand the ramifications of their decision to embrace the abuse of alcohol. It is absolutely amazing to me that anyone would celebrate drunken behavior to this extent.

I drank heavily for about 15 years. I am quite thankful that there are no pictures of my drunken behavior. I find even the memories in my head embarrassing. I cannot imagine what it would be like to discover pictures of those memories posted on the Internet.

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...but only if it's paid for by politically neutral entities.

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP)--NBC reversed course Saturday and decided to run a conservative group's television ad thanking U.S. troops. The ad, by the group Freedom's Watch, asks viewers to remember the troops during the holiday season. NBC had refused to air the ad because it guides viewers to the Freedom's Watch Web site, which NBC said was too political. But in a statement issued Saturday evening, NBC said: "We have reviewed and changed our ad standards guidelines and made the decision that our policy will apply to content only and not to a referenced Web site. Based on these amended standards the Freedom's Watch ad will begin to run as early as Sunday." For the full text of this article, please click here.

So, until this change in policy, NBC was more concerned about the political posture of the organization placing the ad than they were about the content of the ad? Interesting.

I applaud NBC's review and revision of their policy. I thank Freedom's Watch for spending the money to recognize military service personnel and their families. I think it's bullshit that recognition of military service personnel ever takes a back seat to politics.

Smittie

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: politics, military

Forrester's James L. McQuivey says it's time for Apple to change its video game plan, starting with winning NBC back.

Yesterday Greg Sandoval, quoting McQuivey's report, tried to convince us that Apple should go grovelling after NBC because they represent 30% of a business that is used by 19% of iPod owners. This is a very low margin business sector for Apple. Apple gets a very small piece of the $1.99 they charge for a TV show.

Today, McQuivey tells us that there's no way to put your existing video library on your AppleTV or video iPod. Apparently, Mr. McQuivey hasn't bother to investigate software such as Roxio's Popcorn or Flip4Mac's Drive-In. Moreover, McQuivey completely ignores the elephant in the room, YouTube. McQuivey also ignores the growing popularity of video podcasts and the emergence of internet only production companies like Revision3.

NBC looks for all the world like the first dinosaur to get stuck in the tar pits.

Smittie

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