I earned my degrees at two different universities: Florida State and the University of Illinois. Question – what do these two schools have in common?
Author Archives: David
Marines welcome at the Ritz
Public Broadcasting Irrelevance, Part II
From the advertisement for this week’s edition of PBS’s NOW (formerly with Bill Moyers):
A new wave of bombings across London this week has some asking new questions about those detained in the war on terror.
Three questions:
1. Who exactly is asking new questions?
2. What is “new” about the questions?
3. What business does the government have funding media aimed at the American public?
[Hat tip: The Corner]
Clueless at NPR
More evidence of the irrelevance of mainstream media comes this morning from NPR’s Ace Legal Affairs Reporter Nina Totenberg. Talking with Scott Simon on Weekend Edition, Totenberg had this to say about Sandra Day O’Connor’s impending retirement: “Nobody knew it was coming.”
Really? That will come as news to William Kristol at The Weekly Standard (“O’Connor, Not Rehnquist?“) and the folks at RedState. It’s been all over the blogs for about a week now. When we heard it in the car this morning, my wife just about busted a gut laughing. She reads the blogs.
Granted, a lot of this was speculation, but to describe O’Connor’s departure as a surprise is pushing it. Nina needs some new sources.
Air Force Space and Missile Pioneer Dies
From Air Force News, June 21, 2005:
SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) — Retired Gen. Bernard Adolph Schriever, widely regarded as the father and architect of the Air Force space and ballistic missile programs, died of natural causes at home in Washington on June 20.
I’m embarrassed to say that I thought General Schriever had passed away years ago. Nonetheless, I am deeply in his debt. In 1983, when I was still a 1Lt, my unit, the 20th Missile Warning Squadron, was one of the first in the newly formed Air Force Space Command (simply called Space Command back then). It was cool to be on the cutting edge, since it was obvious even then that Space Command was the place to be. And look how far it’s come since then.
Actually, the General’s influence on me personally goes back even further. In the early 60s, my dad was part of the team that introduced the Minuteman to F.E. Warren AFB (General Schriever helped develop the Minuteman program, as the AF news article points out). Living on base in Cheyenne is one of my earliest memories, and being an Air Force brat obviously played a part in my later decision to join the military.
I was unaware that the General was born in Germany (he came to America in 1917).
Perhaps this is a name to add to this list of 100 greatest Americans, since this list is unredeemable.
UPDATED 6/22/05: I thought I had a link that would let you quickly see Discovery Channel’s entire top 100 Americans list, but they fooled me. I have found such a link now (the second of the two links in the last paragraph above). For more on this list, see my post at Ticklish Ears.
Dear Sean Hannity
“Three hours a day. That’s all we ask.”
You say that quite a bit on your radio show. And I try to give you as much of that time as I can (which, admittedly is not very much, since I have a life to lead, which usually keeps me away from my radio from 3-6PM).
But when you take one of those three hours and devote it entirely to Michael Jackson, including going over the litany of charges repeatedly, I must say you’re asking too much.
I look to you for cutting edge political commentary, interviews with some of the great conservative luminaries of our day, and the occasional useless debate with some liberal. I admire your unwavering support for our troops and their families. But I do not need to hear about the Michael Jackson trial on your show. And I especially don’t want to hear a list of molestation charges (and the details) when my seven-year-old daughter is traveling with me (as she was today). We eventually turned you off.
Get over Mr. Jackson (which I guess you can, now that the verdict is in) and get back to what you do best. Give me three hours that I can look forward to.
Regards,
Lt Col Sage
Graduation controversy at Petaluma High
There’s a story here of a graduating high school senior and recent Marine boot camp grad who is not being allowed to wear his Marine uniform to graduation. Well, he can wear it, but he has to wear his cap and gown over it.
I read the story at The Education Wonks, where I also left a comment. Here’s an excerpt:
… I’d have to agree with the Marines, who said that the young man should conform to the wishes of the school.
One thing that Mr. Kiernan (either the son or father, take your pick) will come to understand about the military is that they appreciate the importance of tradition, including the traditions of other institutions. Tradition for high school graduation is no different in this respect. The principal even adopted the right tone: cap and gown is the “uniform of the day.”
My concern is that this story has the potential to become one of those that travels around the internet as a tale of the anti-military attitude of public school officials. I hope not. Sounds to me like the prinicpal has done nothing that I would consider anti-military, and it appears that the Marines agree. It’s certainly nothing like the story of the Georgia principal I wrote about last week who wouldn’t let a Marine visit a Middle School classroom.
In the end, it sounds like a gracious compromise has been reached:
A possible solution to the whole dilemma, “to pacify a lot of flames that have been brought up with veterans groups,” would be for the high school to announce Kiernan’s military status when they read his name, the Marine Sgt. said.
I’d be curious what others think, but really, do you want to argue with a Marine Sgt?
Marine not welcome at Georgia middle school
I’ve written about this over at Ticklish Ears.
Don’t read go there if you have high blood pressure or if you are holding heavy objects that you might throw.
Religious Extremism
You know, I get sick and tired of these religious extremists forcing their morality on us.
Oh? You thought I was talking about embryonic stem cells? Maybe abortion restrictions? Creationism? Or same-sex marriage?
No. I’m talking about those pesky Unitarians and their battle against global warming. Go read the column. You’ll learn of the great fight by Unitarians and folks like Emerson and Thoreau to end the scourge that was slavery (and you thought that maybe folks like William Wilberforce or Abraham Lincoln had something to do with it).
You’ll be treated to gems like this:
We eliminated the tyranny of slavery; now its time to eradicate the tyranny of fossil fuels.
These non-theist fundamentalists and their moral superiority! They think global warming is wrong. Don’t they know that only the Sith believe in absolutes?
Thanks to Marc at The Culture Wasteland for reminding me about this story in our local paper, and for his own insightful and charming commentary. He’s the smartest man in Asheville. And he makes reading the Citizen-Times so much more enjoyable.
Four downs, six downs, whatever…
[begin shameless self-promotion]
Besides my occasional posting here at the Daily Brief (which finally picked up again after too long of a hiatus), I’ve started my own blog: Ticklish Ears (www.ticklishears.com). I’ll continue to post here at The Brief on military stuff, hot-potato political items, and other general nonsense. At Ticklish Ears, I’ll focus more on cultural, religious, and academic issues as seen through the eyes of a conservative, evangelical college professor. I hope you’ll check it out.
I thought today was a good day to introduce my alter-ego since I’ve got an item over there that might be of interest. It concerns a math word problem that appeared on a statewide seventh-grade end of year test . Apparently, some of our educators don’t understand how the game of football is played (State Math Test Drops the Ball on Football Question).
[end shameless self-promotion]
British Army Amarillo Video
A must see at The TTR2 Blog (hat tip: Jackson’s Junction).
Go there! Now!
Diversions on a Saturday Afternoon
Just a couple of interesting places to visit on the web:
Despair, Inc. has lots of (de)-motivational items (mugs, posters, etc.). Very funny stuff.
And the fact that I know about this site makes me one of the “cool professors.” See especially Strong Bad’s emails. I even used his email on How to Write An English Paper in my senior seminar.