Target Centermass

Category: Politics

  • Public Perceptions and Reality

    These days, the American public is pelted by story after story from “our” media about lack of progress, quagmire, pending doom and outright tragedy. Unsurprisingly, polls show that American attitudes have been negatively affected in several areas, but do these effects match reality or merely the impression that the media is spoonfeeding?

    Here are four postings I’d invite the reader to examine:

    All are good reads that present evidence that the predominant feelings of the American public are not grounded in reality or, in the global warming case, not based on solid scientific procedures.

    How can I explain any discrepancy between perception and reality? Well, that’s quite simple: the mainstream media, our information gatekeepers, are generally failing to bring us all the news thats fit to print, opting instead for all the news that fits their agenda or their mindset.

    Without alternative means to get information, I have to wonder how many times in the past that the will and attitude of the American people were shaped by shoddy reporting, misinformation, selective coverage and outright bias. Tet, of course, springs to mind — a huge victory that was painted as defeat and eventually was the trigger of our ultimate demise in Viet Nam.

  • Katrinalash

    These last few days have brought us an onslaught of Hurricane Katrina coverage to mark the one-year anniversary of the storm. I’ve taken shelter on ESPN.

    Still, there’s that old saying, something about a picture’s value and whole mess of words. Hat tip to Lex for pointing me toward this WSJ editorial, but all that’s really needed is the graphic.

    That, folks, is a federal response to a disaster that has been overwhelmingly exploited for political purposes.

  • Beauty Quote of the Day

    … and a darned good editorial to boot. Okay, so actually it’s two days old, but I just found it.

    Investor’s Business Daily has an editorial that begins by looking at the Democrats’ rearranging of the 2008 state primaries and caucases in hopes of “adding diversity and geographical balance” and countering the electoral failures of 2000 and 2004. The story goes on to state that the Dems actual problem is not scheduling; nor is it diversity or balance. Quite simply, it is their message on security, and it may have an effect in the pending 2006 balloting long before much of the nation turns a weary eye toward ’08.

    In 2000, Lieberman was the Democrats’ choice to balance the ticket, both geographically and ideologically. A mere six years ago he was the man the Democrats wanted to be the proverbial heartbeat away from the presidency.

    That was then. This is now. And now Lieberman is politician non grata for actually believing that politics should stop at the water’s edge, that our enemies are the Osama bin Ladens and Hassan Nasrallahs of the world, not Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove.

    2004 nominee John Kerry ripped Lieberman over the weekend,branding him on ABC’s “This Week” as “out of step with the people of Connecticut.” Which presumably is why polls have him leading the man who won the Connecticut primary, Ned Lamont.

    […]

    But Lieberman realizes that winning the war in Iraq means more than winning the next election.

    […]

    The American people may not be happy with events in Iraq. But they do know, especially after events in Lebanon and the foiled British bomb plot, that we’re in a war in which failure is not an option and for which repeating “Bush lied” is not a strategy.

    Americans will not put in power a party that accepts the proposition that global warming is a greater threat than terrorism, that thinks Wal-Mart is a plague on the poor and that wants to repeal the job-creating, economy-boosting and deficit-cutting Bush tax cuts.

    They will not put in power a party that thinks death is a taxable event and that success should be punished. They will not pass the reins to a party that denies us access to energy reserves offshore and in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and which thinks energy independence means building windmills and hugging caribou

    The editorial expresses more confidence than I feel about a public that is inundated by our media with bad news at the expense of almost all progress — hey, the building that does not burn is not news, nor is the school that is built or the NCO academy that is now entrusted over to Iraqis.

    Yes, there’s some great quotes above, but the key one is as follows:

    This is a party that thinks Dunkirk was a British redeployment and that doesn’t understand why Bush doesn’t just sit down and make nice with nuclear madmen like Korea’s Kim Jong-il and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

    Make no mistake — that is a money shot and it landed right on the back of Congressman John Murtha (D-IsForDefeat), friend of Code Pink and advocate of a retreat … err… redeployment from Iraq to Okinawa. Here’s a couple of good links related to that quote: Dunkirk and Diana Irey.

    Yes, the editorial is more optimistic than I feel. Still, it is hopeful that America may see the limp-wristed strategy that the Dems offer, cloaked in bold hindsight but little forward-looking detail, for what it is: defeatism and withdrawal. It is less hopeful that the American public will recognize that Iraq is a hand that we cannot fold on yet — no, we’re not all in, but we have to realize how our enemies will recognize our tossing in the cards. We have redeployed in the past after being bloodied, as Murtha now advoacates, from Viet Nam in ’73 and ’75, from Lebanon in ’84 and from Mogadishu in ’94. It must be noted that each of those retreats have been cited by our current enemies as signs of our weakness and used effectively as rallying cries to the expansionist cause of radical Islam.

    Hat tip to McQ at Q&O, who adds some good thoughts of his own.

  • Sheehan Returns to Crawford

    Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, never one to miss an photo-op, is back in the Lone Star state for a sequel to last year’s vigil in the Crawford heat.

    A year after her first war protest in President Bush’s adopted hometown attracted thousands and reinvigorated the nation’s peace movement, Cindy Sheehan resumed her vigil Sunday.

    Under the blazing Texas sun, Sheehan and more than 50 demonstrators again marched a mile and a half toward Bush’s ranch, stopping at a roadblock. As Secret Service agents stood silently, Sheehan held up her California driver’s license and said she wanted to meet with the president.

    ”It doesn’t say my new address, but I do live here now,” said Sheehan, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., and recently bought land in Crawford for war protests. ”My name is Cindy and Bush killed my son.”

    White House spokesman Tony Snow has said that neither Bush nor his staff plan to meet with Sheehan. ”I would advise her to bring water, Gatorade or both,” he said. ”Honestly, when you’re talking about the kind of issues that we’re talking about, Cindy Sheehan hasn’t risen to the level of staff meetings.”

    Well, I sincerely doubt this year’s attempt for Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan to talk to the president a second time — you see, what is rarely mentioned in the vigil coverage is that she actually did already meet with President Bush — will match the size and scope of last year’s sun-baked attempt. Still, I thought I’d point you to my little photoblogging of what the scene looked like in 2005.

    Other previous Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan blogging:

  • Not-Quite-Back-Yet Link Dump

    Okay, call it a Maui honeymoon hangover, but I’m not really back to the blogging yet. I’ll try to put up a few things, but I doubt I’ll get too serious until I’ve finished moving in with my new bride and setting up my new Fortress of Solitude in the upstairs office. Oh yeah, some time in the near future I hope to have some pictures for y’all of the joyous nuptials of Mr. and Mrs. Gunner.

    Still, I don’t want to leave you empty-handed tonight, so heres a few links worth your time.

    The Troops Have Moved On

    Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease.”

    So said Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address, describing a war that put 11 percent of our citizens in uniform and had by that point killed nearly one of out every seven soldiers. That his words are relevant again now is a troubling indicator of our national endurance.

    We are at the outset of a long war, and not just in Iraq. Yet it is being led politically by the short-sighted, from both sides of the aisle. The deterioration of American support for the mission in Iraq is indicative not so much of our military conduct there, where real gains are coming slowly but steadily, but of chaotic leadership.

    Somehow Operation Iraqi Freedom, not a large war by America’s historical standards, has blossomed into a crisis of expectations that threatens our ability to react to future threats with a fist instead of five fingers. Instead of rallying we are squabbling, even as the slow fuse burns.

    […]

    This confusion, in turn, affects our warriors, who are frustrated by the country’s lack of cohesion and the depiction of their war. Iraq hasn’t been easy on the military, either. But the strength of our warriors is their ability to adapt.

    […]

    Soldiers are sick of apologizing for a sliver of malcontents who are not at all representative of the new breed. But they are also sick of being pitied. Our warriors are the hunters, not the hunted, and we should celebrate them as we did in the past, for while our tastes have changed, warfare — and the need to cultivate national guardians — has not. As Kipling wrote, “The strength of the pack is the wolf.”

    Go read the whole thing. Hat tip to Blackfive.

    Final Salute

    A flag-draped casket.
    Rifle volleys.
    Taps.

    These are the images of war that many have seen since the beginning of the war.

    There are many more images that haven’t been seen before.

    For Marines stationed at Buckley Air Force Base and the families they touch, the images are unforgettable. According to Maj. Steve Beck, they should be.

    This is a stirring presentation that shows how the American military honors its fallen and helps their families take the beginning steps down the road to healing. The Rocky Mountain News put it together for last Veterans Day, and I’ll send a hat tip to Florida Cracker for linking it on Memorial Day. Today may seem a day late to bring it to your attention, but I don’t feel that it is — our military pays such tribute and shows such care any day of the year.

    New-to-me Blog: History Post

    Welcome to Anthony Tully’s Online Discussion log of various musings regarding history, political science, current events, and fields of expertise like Naval and Romano-Byzantine History. Be sure to visit our website for a look at some of my Pacific War articles and information on just published full study of the Battle of Midway.

    If the name Anthony Tully doesn’t ring a bell, please review this post where I asked Santa for a copy of the new book Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Santa may not have come through for me in this case, but critics and historians have voiced much love for work of co-authors Jonathan Parshall and, yes, Anthony Tully. Hat tip to Frankenstein at General Quarters. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve e-known both Mr. Tully and Frank for several years on my favorite discussion forum and have long valued their thoughts on history, religion, military and political matters.

  • Carnival of Liberty XLVII

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at New World Man. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

  • Carnival of Liberty XLIII and a Personal Note

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Searchlight Crusade. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

    As an unrelated note, this is possibly my last post until after my wedding this weekend, and maybe even until after my honeymoon. I cannot recommend enough the fine members of my blogroll — they do a wonderful job of keeping me informed and entertained.

  • Six Arrested in Minn. Antiwar Rally

    Okay, I lied. One more post before I call it a computing night. Sorry, but I’m motivated by disgust.

    I told y’all about the vandalism done to ROTC buildings at two N.C. universities this week. Well, now a recruiting office in Minnesota has fallen prey to paint and protest.

    Six people, including a man who allegedly splashed paint on a recruiting station, were arrested Friday following a rally of area high school and college students at the University of Minnesota to protest the war in Iraq.

    Police estimated the crowd at more than 200 people, who chanted and listened to nearly a dozen speakers for about an hour.

    […]

    When it came time for a march downtown, organizers changed course and went to a U.S. Army and Navy recruiting station near Washington Avenue and SE. Oak Street.

    One person, with face covered and dressed in all black, splashed a bucket of red paint on the station’s windows. Other protesters pounded the windows and scribbled messages including a peace sign over a sticker of the American flag.

    “They’re exercising their rights,” said Army Capt. Val Bernat, adding that campus police alerted the office days earlier of a potential incident. “However, we don’t appreciate the vandalism.”

    The protest group then dispersed at the nearby Coffman Memorial Union, where police arrested the man who apparently threw the paint, according to campus police Deputy Chief Steve Johnson. Five others also were cited for disorderly conduct and released, Johnson said.

    As military workers began cleanup outside the rented storefront, a group of students pitched in.

    “They disgraced our country and our military,” Ole Hovde, 19, a freshman, said as he wiped down the windows.

    Hat tip to Michelle Malkin, who adds the following:

    This is not “freedom of speech.” This is vandalism. It is a crime. The punks responsible for destroying property and trying to intimidate our volunteer military and potential recruits need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

    OpFor‘s Charlie Munn looks at one of the story’s pictures and questions the imagery entailed.

    For the life of me, I don’t understand this. From the picture, I get the symbolism: red paint=blood, but the peace signs? What this image shows me is the inherent fallacy of the “peace” movement. These protestors, who advocate a “peace” in our time, are actually demanding inaction in the face of genocide, murder, and ethnic cleansing. Millions of people should be allowed to die, according to this logic, but if one US combat brigade moves to stop it (and heaven forbid if it lines up with US national interest) then the only recourse can be “No Blood For Oil.”

    This picture shows me that the modern peace movement has blood on their hands. They have blood on their hands from the deaths of thousands of South Vietnamese that we didn’t help after our withdrawal. They have blood on their hands from the genocide in Cambodia that occurred when the “Domino Theory” came to fruition and Pol Pot got to enact his crazed thesis of societal equalization and wealth distribution (communism carried to its ultimate end state, where children killed their parents with machetes at the behest of the government).

    Mr. Munn goes on, citing more blood to date and potential blood to come. He’s right.

    I look at the picture, though, and I see shades of future dhimmitude brought on by misplaced and misdirected idealism. It is not the radical Islamist enemies fighting to destroy our civilization that sacrifice for these protestors’ freedom, but those enemies would quite happily bring the the peace of slavery or death to these idiots stained literally in paint and actually in blood.

  • Betrayal Within

    Cal Thomas opines very strongly on the developing Mary McCarthy leak story.

    What do you call someone who, in violation of her oath, reveals government secrets to a reporter, who then prints them and exposes a clandestine operation designed to get information from suspected terrorists that could save American lives?

    Here is what one dictionary says about that word: “One who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation or duty.” The word so defined is traitor.

    Ah, the dreaded T-word.

    All too often it has been bandied about, usually of late in the form of pre-emptive defensiveness much like unfounded claims of attacks on the patriotism of leftists and defeatists. Still, though facts may eventually show otherwise as much is yet to be known, it really is probably time for the T-word to at least enter into the media dialogue, as everything revealed so far seems to paint the picture of at least one rogue individual in our intelligence community, perhaps for personal or political reasons, deciding unilaterally and without legal authority what classified material should be exposed.

    If the accusations are shown to be true, the T-word is accurate and the actions are criminal. Mr. Thomas presents the key question.

    The Washington Post’s Dana Priest won the Pulitzer Prize for printing secrets allegedly leaked to her by Mrs. McCarthy. Miss Priest also won a George Polk Award and a prize from the Overseas Press Club. Leonard Downie Jr., The Post’s executive editor, said people who provide citizens the information they need to hold their government accountable should not “come to harm for that.”

    Would Mr. Downie have felt the same if Americans were leaking information to the Nazis or the Japanese during World War II? Imagine this scenario: A terrorist has information that, if revealed, could save tens of thousands of American lives. But interrogators cannot question him because leaks to the media prevent them from engaging in practices that would pry loose the critical information. Would Mr. Downie be defending the “right” of government employees to undermine the security of his country in the aftermath of a preventable attack?

    Former CIA operative Aldrich Ames went to prison for selling American secrets to the Soviet Union. Mrs. McCarthy allegedly gave hers away. If she is prosecuted and found guilty, her fate should be no less severe.

    This isn’t a political game in which a Clinton administration official serves as a mole for the Democrats within a Republican administration and then leaks information that may benefit her party; this is potentially harmful to the nation.

    Has politics come to this: that the national security of this country can be compromised for political gain?

    In-freakin’-deed.

    If you didn’t catch the McCarthy story at the beginning, feel free to go here for links to an intro and some advanced coverage.

  • Vandals Hit UNC, N.C. State ROTC Buildings

    EagleSpeak brings us the story and images of cowardice and criminality in North Carolina. As Eagle1 acknowledges, this one strikes at his heart for a reason.

    Over the decades, thousands of outstanding young men and women have passed through the doors of the ROTC buildings at Chapel Hill and in Raleigh. Men and women of character, courage and conviction. The slimeballs who marred the exterior of those buildings will never be able to lay claim to any of those honorable adjectives.

    And, yes, I have a personal stake. I graduated from the UNC Naval ROTC program in 1971 and my older son graduated from the UNC Naval ROTC unit in 2001. And we were just part of the long Carolina blue line.

    Go see the images [UNC images courtesy of Blackfive] and realize that our military, serving honorably and professionally on a scale unprecedented in military history and policing its own members who fail to do so, is already enduring the acts of a disgusting campaign against it at home.