12 October 2007
White Oak - Janesville - Friday Night Fish Fry
This entry was posted on 10/12/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Taverns Wisconsin, Friday Night Fish Fry.
Right near the corner of Parker Drive and Centerway Street in down town Janesville, Wisconsin is the White Oak. The restaurant is strategically located just around the corner from the main drag in town which is usually thought to be Milwaukee Street. Around another corner is the Farmer's Market on Main on Saturday mornings. For my purposes it is convenient because I work just around the corner so, it was easy to stop in. As fate would have it I have only been there one other time. I always find myself driving by it to or from work. This day I change that rut.
The front side of the building you will notice some military crests. It is inside that you get the timbre of the theme. The bar and seating area are decked in a menagerie of Korean War memorabilia.
This is an old time fish fry presentation. You get a good baked potato. It reminds me of the ones we cooked on the farm. It almost had a twice-baked flavor. You can also get fries. The cole slaw is diced into small pieces. It also reminds me of the home made cole slaw we ate on the farm. This Friday they offered either fried Cod, Perch, or Catfish. I chose the Perch. It was crisp on the outside and tender inside. It looked and tasted like fried Perch should. There was also some rye bread and a good scoop of whipped butter. The tarter sauce tasted smooth and also home made. If you desire, one extra piece of fish is included if you are still hungry. With a Diet Pepsi and a 15-percent tip I got out of there for $11.00.
White Oak is cool with Cool Dadio. White Oak is a well known local spot so give yourself extra time in case you have to wait a bit. Call (608) 756-4070 for more details. White Oak can be found at 429 North Parker Drive in down town Janesville.
Note: You can find a chronological list at the Cool Dadio Media Fish Fry Page of these fish frys as we have visited them. The list presents the most recently visited fish fry at the top, in lieu of alphabetical order.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is 24-year-old U.S. Marine Corporal Brian R. Prening. Corporal Prening who is from Plymouth, died while engaging the enemy in Babil Province, Iraq, on November 12, 2004. Prening was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve. The unit is from Chicago. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Brian is a graduate of Plymouth High School. He had gotten married on August 13, 2004, and he and wife Amy were expecting their first child. CNN.com lists the Prenings as from Sheboygan. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned Brian went to Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland, Wisconsin where he got a degree completing the tool-and-die program. Brian worked at Kohler Company. His Marine Reserve unit was activated. Corporal Prening was the 27th soldier from Wisconsin killed in the fighting in Iraq. Brian is survived by a twin brother, Bill, a younger sister, Ann, 21, wife Amy, a step son, and mother and father Brian and Deborah Prening.
3,822 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
28,171 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
81 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
115 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Date with fate - post 8 - Duck and cover
3 October 2007
Date with fate - post 8 - Duck and cover
This entry was posted on 10/3/2007 10:38 PM and is filed under That Darn Orwell, Are we really inept, Fate Fairies.
Periodically in grade school, we were herded into the basement of my three-room Wisconsin country school for "Duck and Cover" drills. Some drill. Sit under a table for what seemed like hours and tell jokes and giggle. My wife's little school did not have a basement. She was ushered into the hall way. They were to huddle near their respective rooms as so if the "big one" dropped, the recovery crews could link the bodies to names and ages. Like there would be a recovery crew and if there was one, like they would have time to check on one of hundreds of schools.
When the Cuban Missile Crisis happened 45 years ago this month, it was hard to tell if it was "drill," or a real alert. We were sent home early one day during the Crisis. The buses waited as we exited the school in regimented columns. "Run Bobby," my teacher yelled to me. "You are not taking this serious."
"Why? We would be incinerated soon enough. No need to rush." I was six years old.
It was collective child abuse on a macro scale. In high school we had to take a class called "Medical Self Help." It taught us how to treat wounds and burns from a nuclear blast. I am told we were the last class to take it in my school. It was determined that it so depressed the students, the cost benefit analysis dictated it be canned. Besides, we all hounded the math teacher with comments like, "So why study for the algebra exam, we are all going to be incinerated anyway soon enough."
We weren't incinerated. The paradigm that insists we are too smart to incinerate ourselves stands tall. We are smug in our clever survival.
Society smugly proclaims, "We must be smart, see, we are not shadows on the sidewalks. We ain't blowed ourselves up!"
I see it as a date-with-fate on a colossal scale. Millions of people were not incinerated. At least so far. The fate fairies were otherwise preoccupied for the last 60 years. But again, regardless of fate - we as a society, are too smart to blow ourselves up, right? ...right?
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Staff Sergeant Todd Cornell, age 38, who died Tuesday, November 9, 2004. The Iraqi unit he was serving with came under attack in Fallujah, Iraq. Sergeant Cornell was the 26th soldier from Wisconsin killed in action in Iraq. Cornell died while he was serving in an advisory role with the Iraqi unit. Cornell was assigned to the Detachment 9, 1st Battalion, 339th Infantry Regiment, Army Reserve, based in Michigan. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Todd is survived by his mom and dad Renee and Robert Cornell, a daughter, Catlin, 10, and a son, Jake, 8, and a brother and a sister. Staff Sergeant Cornell had been in the military 16 years. He arrived in Iraq in February of 2004. The Journal Sentinel went on to mention Todd Cornell joined the military after graduating from high school in Menomonee Falls. He lived in West Bend when home from duty.
3,809 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
28,093 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
79 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Date with fate - post 8 - Duck and cover
This entry was posted on 10/3/2007 10:38 PM and is filed under That Darn Orwell, Are we really inept, Fate Fairies.
Periodically in grade school, we were herded into the basement of my three-room Wisconsin country school for "Duck and Cover" drills. Some drill. Sit under a table for what seemed like hours and tell jokes and giggle. My wife's little school did not have a basement. She was ushered into the hall way. They were to huddle near their respective rooms as so if the "big one" dropped, the recovery crews could link the bodies to names and ages. Like there would be a recovery crew and if there was one, like they would have time to check on one of hundreds of schools.
When the Cuban Missile Crisis happened 45 years ago this month, it was hard to tell if it was "drill," or a real alert. We were sent home early one day during the Crisis. The buses waited as we exited the school in regimented columns. "Run Bobby," my teacher yelled to me. "You are not taking this serious."
"Why? We would be incinerated soon enough. No need to rush." I was six years old.
It was collective child abuse on a macro scale. In high school we had to take a class called "Medical Self Help." It taught us how to treat wounds and burns from a nuclear blast. I am told we were the last class to take it in my school. It was determined that it so depressed the students, the cost benefit analysis dictated it be canned. Besides, we all hounded the math teacher with comments like, "So why study for the algebra exam, we are all going to be incinerated anyway soon enough."
We weren't incinerated. The paradigm that insists we are too smart to incinerate ourselves stands tall. We are smug in our clever survival.
Society smugly proclaims, "We must be smart, see, we are not shadows on the sidewalks. We ain't blowed ourselves up!"
I see it as a date-with-fate on a colossal scale. Millions of people were not incinerated. At least so far. The fate fairies were otherwise preoccupied for the last 60 years. But again, regardless of fate - we as a society, are too smart to blow ourselves up, right? ...right?
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Staff Sergeant Todd Cornell, age 38, who died Tuesday, November 9, 2004. The Iraqi unit he was serving with came under attack in Fallujah, Iraq. Sergeant Cornell was the 26th soldier from Wisconsin killed in action in Iraq. Cornell died while he was serving in an advisory role with the Iraqi unit. Cornell was assigned to the Detachment 9, 1st Battalion, 339th Infantry Regiment, Army Reserve, based in Michigan. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Todd is survived by his mom and dad Renee and Robert Cornell, a daughter, Catlin, 10, and a son, Jake, 8, and a brother and a sister. Staff Sergeant Cornell had been in the military 16 years. He arrived in Iraq in February of 2004. The Journal Sentinel went on to mention Todd Cornell joined the military after graduating from high school in Menomonee Falls. He lived in West Bend when home from duty.
3,809 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
28,093 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
79 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Date with fate post 3 - Pipe in the Stomach - Walk it off Punk!
25 July 2007
Date with fate post 3 - Pipe in the stomach - Walk it off punk!
This entry was posted on 7/25/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
I must have been in Second Grade. John F. Kennedy was still President. A heavy set kid named Jacky who was in the Fourth Grade was a bully of sorts. He and his neighbor Dave would chuck rotten apples at us little kids as we rode our bikes home. The three-room school was in the village of Lima (population 90?). There were about 60 kids in the six grades. We did not have kindergarten in those days.
One day Jacky manifested his chicanery on the play ground. It was basically an old farm field. The baseball backstop was some chain-link fence stretched between a couple of old telephone poles. There was a couple of rusty swings, a creaking merry-go-round, and a couple of monkey-bar climbers. The skeletal framework of one of the climbers looked like the capsule of the Mercury space vehicles. We were after all in the "space race" then. The monkey-bars always mysteriously had some parts missing. During recess on the day in question, I looked up from a game of tag with pals to see a monkey-bar pipe rotating through the air right at me. In the background of the ever approaching projectile was the laughing face of..., Jacky. The pipe hit me crossways in the stomach - thank God - if it had hit me like a javelin it would have impaled me. I remember Jacky running up to me and saying with a snarl, "don't cry kid, and keep your mouth shut." My stomach hurt for a month. I didn't cry, I walked it off; and, I have kept my mouth shut for almost 50 years, of course until I needed fodder for this vignette.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Specialist Michelle Witmer, 20, who died Friday, April 9, 2004. Her tour in Iraq was a few days from ending when she died. Her vehicle came under attack from enemy using a roadside bomb and small-arms fire in Baghdad. Witmer had been stationed in Baghdad since March 2003 with the 32nd Military Police Company of the Wisconsin National Guard. Michelle joined the National Guard in November 2002, going into the same military police unit her older sister Rachel, 24 was in and also in Iraq. Charity Witmer, Michelle's twin sister, was a medic with Company B of the Wisconsin Guard's 118th Medical Battalion, and was likewise stationed in Iraq. Michelle was the 16th Wisconsin soldier to be killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. According the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Michelle and Rachel helped train Iraqi police. Michelle's job was during the night shift at the local police station. The Witmer children were home-schooled but Michelle went on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee before being sent to Iraq. At the time of her death, Michelle Witmer was survived by her two brothers Timothy, 22, Mark, 18, her sisters Rachel, 24, and Charity, 20, and her parents John and Lori Witmer.
3,644 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
26,953 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
78 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Date with fate post 3 - Pipe in the stomach - Walk it off punk!
This entry was posted on 7/25/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
I must have been in Second Grade. John F. Kennedy was still President. A heavy set kid named Jacky who was in the Fourth Grade was a bully of sorts. He and his neighbor Dave would chuck rotten apples at us little kids as we rode our bikes home. The three-room school was in the village of Lima (population 90?). There were about 60 kids in the six grades. We did not have kindergarten in those days.
One day Jacky manifested his chicanery on the play ground. It was basically an old farm field. The baseball backstop was some chain-link fence stretched between a couple of old telephone poles. There was a couple of rusty swings, a creaking merry-go-round, and a couple of monkey-bar climbers. The skeletal framework of one of the climbers looked like the capsule of the Mercury space vehicles. We were after all in the "space race" then. The monkey-bars always mysteriously had some parts missing. During recess on the day in question, I looked up from a game of tag with pals to see a monkey-bar pipe rotating through the air right at me. In the background of the ever approaching projectile was the laughing face of..., Jacky. The pipe hit me crossways in the stomach - thank God - if it had hit me like a javelin it would have impaled me. I remember Jacky running up to me and saying with a snarl, "don't cry kid, and keep your mouth shut." My stomach hurt for a month. I didn't cry, I walked it off; and, I have kept my mouth shut for almost 50 years, of course until I needed fodder for this vignette.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Specialist Michelle Witmer, 20, who died Friday, April 9, 2004. Her tour in Iraq was a few days from ending when she died. Her vehicle came under attack from enemy using a roadside bomb and small-arms fire in Baghdad. Witmer had been stationed in Baghdad since March 2003 with the 32nd Military Police Company of the Wisconsin National Guard. Michelle joined the National Guard in November 2002, going into the same military police unit her older sister Rachel, 24 was in and also in Iraq. Charity Witmer, Michelle's twin sister, was a medic with Company B of the Wisconsin Guard's 118th Medical Battalion, and was likewise stationed in Iraq. Michelle was the 16th Wisconsin soldier to be killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. According the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Michelle and Rachel helped train Iraqi police. Michelle's job was during the night shift at the local police station. The Witmer children were home-schooled but Michelle went on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee before being sent to Iraq. At the time of her death, Michelle Witmer was survived by her two brothers Timothy, 22, Mark, 18, her sisters Rachel, 24, and Charity, 20, and her parents John and Lori Witmer.
3,644 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
26,953 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
78 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Date with fate - post 2 - Crying 16-year-old Buick-girl vs old four-door Ford
18 July 2007
Date with fate - post 2 - Crying 16-year-old Buick-girl vs old four-door Ford
This entry was posted on 7/18/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
The prevailing wisdom in Janesville for as long as I can remember is that our stop and go lights are in sync. The mantra has been for decades, "Catch one green light and you can get through them all down on Milwaukee Street." Nothing is farther from the truth. They are actually set out of sync to slow the flow of cars - "traffic calming." People have bought into the juxtaposed logic ("Wisconsin Logic") for so long they actually think the lights are in sync. And, like a well-kept family secret - people get cynical when they finally realize one of the kids came from the milk man so to speak.
I must have been in Fourth grade or so. Mom and Dad were carting Grandma around in our old four-door Ford car one afternoon. She could not drive. This was a periodic ritual. Even forty-five years ago the stop and go lights in Janesville annoyed me. Grandma and I were in the back seat as usual. She was going on about some doings in Janesville. She loved Janesville. Grandpa had moved the family there in the 1920s so he could work at General Motors. He died shortly after that and my uncles had to finish building the house. It seems like I am just about the only one left from the whole crowd in this story. Mom and Dad were in the front seat having one of their usual chats. Suddenly a car careened over one of the ubiquitous Janesville hills on a street to our side and slammed on its brakes at the stop sign. The car came inches from lambasting our car in a T-bone wreck. I could see the bumper of the car out my window. It was so close to our car I could see my own reflection in its shinny chrome. Grandma was looking out the other window as she prattled on about something. Mom and Dad were oblivious as the action was over their right shoulders by now. I could see the face of the sixteenish year old girl at the wheel of the screeching car. She was crying about something - no doubt what ever it is sixteen year old girls cry about.
I remember being so nonchalant about it. Growing up on a dairy farm gives one such a "some you win, some you lose," outlook in life. I did not scream or warn the others in our car. I just thought for a couple seconds and remember saying as if it were yesterday, "God, I hate Janesville." Grandma looked truly hurt and began a monologue on how wonderful Janesville had been to her considering they used to live in a shack in Harvard. The rest of the way to Grandma's house and then all the way back to Lima, I was likewise lectured by my mother on the nuances of thinking before I spoke.
I never did tell them we all almost kicked the bucket that afternoon - killed in a gory mess of tangled metal and glass - smashed to bits by a crying sixteen year old in her daddy's Buick.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Ryan M. Jerabek, 18, of Hobart who was killed in Ramadi, Iraq on April 6, 2004. Jerabek was in the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He was killed in what has been described and a long firefight against insurgents. Ryan was the Fifteen Wisconsin service member to die in Iraq. He had been in Iraq less than a month. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Pfc. Jerabek enlisted in the delayed entry program for the Marine Corps in his junior year in high school. He did his boot camp in San Diego in July, 2003. Ryan is survived by his mother and father Rita and Ken Jerabek. Dad Ken Jerabek served in the Army during Vietnam.
3,618 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
26,695 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
76 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Date with fate - post 2 - Crying 16-year-old Buick-girl vs old four-door Ford
This entry was posted on 7/18/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
The prevailing wisdom in Janesville for as long as I can remember is that our stop and go lights are in sync. The mantra has been for decades, "Catch one green light and you can get through them all down on Milwaukee Street." Nothing is farther from the truth. They are actually set out of sync to slow the flow of cars - "traffic calming." People have bought into the juxtaposed logic ("Wisconsin Logic") for so long they actually think the lights are in sync. And, like a well-kept family secret - people get cynical when they finally realize one of the kids came from the milk man so to speak.
I must have been in Fourth grade or so. Mom and Dad were carting Grandma around in our old four-door Ford car one afternoon. She could not drive. This was a periodic ritual. Even forty-five years ago the stop and go lights in Janesville annoyed me. Grandma and I were in the back seat as usual. She was going on about some doings in Janesville. She loved Janesville. Grandpa had moved the family there in the 1920s so he could work at General Motors. He died shortly after that and my uncles had to finish building the house. It seems like I am just about the only one left from the whole crowd in this story. Mom and Dad were in the front seat having one of their usual chats. Suddenly a car careened over one of the ubiquitous Janesville hills on a street to our side and slammed on its brakes at the stop sign. The car came inches from lambasting our car in a T-bone wreck. I could see the bumper of the car out my window. It was so close to our car I could see my own reflection in its shinny chrome. Grandma was looking out the other window as she prattled on about something. Mom and Dad were oblivious as the action was over their right shoulders by now. I could see the face of the sixteenish year old girl at the wheel of the screeching car. She was crying about something - no doubt what ever it is sixteen year old girls cry about.
I remember being so nonchalant about it. Growing up on a dairy farm gives one such a "some you win, some you lose," outlook in life. I did not scream or warn the others in our car. I just thought for a couple seconds and remember saying as if it were yesterday, "God, I hate Janesville." Grandma looked truly hurt and began a monologue on how wonderful Janesville had been to her considering they used to live in a shack in Harvard. The rest of the way to Grandma's house and then all the way back to Lima, I was likewise lectured by my mother on the nuances of thinking before I spoke.
I never did tell them we all almost kicked the bucket that afternoon - killed in a gory mess of tangled metal and glass - smashed to bits by a crying sixteen year old in her daddy's Buick.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Ryan M. Jerabek, 18, of Hobart who was killed in Ramadi, Iraq on April 6, 2004. Jerabek was in the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He was killed in what has been described and a long firefight against insurgents. Ryan was the Fifteen Wisconsin service member to die in Iraq. He had been in Iraq less than a month. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Pfc. Jerabek enlisted in the delayed entry program for the Marine Corps in his junior year in high school. He did his boot camp in San Diego in July, 2003. Ryan is survived by his mother and father Rita and Ken Jerabek. Dad Ken Jerabek served in the Army during Vietnam.
3,618 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
26,695 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
76 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Date with Fate - post 1 - Semi vs Old Four-door Ford
11 July 2007
Date with Fate - post 1 - Semi vs old four-door Ford
This entry was posted on 7/11/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
It must speak to passing 50 years old. I never pondered it much 20 years ago. That slide into mortality consciousness one realizes with age. It happens one day without fanfare. You suddenly have an epiphany one day as you step back out of an intersection to avoid a car and say to yourself, "Woe, I could of just died here." There have been so many of these instances in my life, I feel it begs visiting them.
Hence begins, "Fate Fairies." You know the fate fairies. Those spiritual trouble makers that answer to what ever god you carry with you. If you are lucky they are preoccupied with minutia like hiding your car keys and wallet and other such nonsense. Mine, however seem to act as if they smoke pot and party all night - then only to show up for work and spend a great deal of intellectual resources figuring out ways to almost kill me but not succeeding. My fate fairies seem to bask in orchestrating perennial near misses for me with the after life - or what ever you would like to call the place one goes after your services are no longer needed here on earth - make up your own name for it.
One of my first vivid memories is of mom and dad heading home as we drove out of Janesville back to the farm. Highway 26 north of Janesville has always been notorious. It must have been around 1960-61 or so. Dad had to get back home to do the never ending farm chores. We had probably been to Janesville to see my Mom's mother. Grandma lived alone in the house my grandfather built on the near north side of Janesville. He had died in the mid-1930s. My Dad headed out of town on the then narrow, two-lane, hilly, State Highway 26. All I remember is Mom hollering at him to look out. An eighteen wheeler roared over the hill in our lane as it passed a car. In those days the trucks and cars were built like tanks - iron welded to iron. Wrecks often looked like film footage from war movies - heaps of iron and steel with a tire or two sticking out. Also, in those days the road shoulders did not always exist like today. Dad flung the old Ford four-door (we never owned a new car) into the ditch. Some of those old ditches were deep. The old Ford held, the semi passed within inches, and Dad slung the car back out into the lane. I do not remember the conversation on the rest of the 14 mile ride home to the farm. I never remember the instance ever, I mean ever, being brought up again as long as either one of my parents were alive.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Corporal Jesse L. Thiry, age 23, of Casco, Wisconsin. Jesse was in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Corporal Thiry was killed by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq, on April 5, 2004. Casco is a small town just north east of Green Bay. Thiry died in Fallujah, where a mob attacked, killed, and mutilated four U.S. contractors just the week prior. Jesse was the fourteenth Wisconsin military member to die in Iraq. At the time of Thiry's death, 631 U.S. service members had been killed in the Iraq war. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Thiry had been in Iraq less than a month when killed and was part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's mission of occupying Fallujah, Ramadi and other cities about 30 miles west of Baghdad. At the time it was one of the areas of Iraq with the most intense fighting during the U.S. military's 11-month deployment in Iraq. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned that Cpl. Thiry was a Marine weapons instructor in Quantico, Virgina. He transfered to an assignment that would take him to Iraq just eight months before he was scheduled to leave the military. Jesse Thiry is survived by his mom and dad Susan and Randy Thiry and seven siblings. He is the fourth of eight children and a graduate of Luxemburg-Casco High School where he wrestled and ran track. He entered the Marine Corps shortly after graduation.
3,607 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
26,558 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
76 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
108 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Date with Fate - post 1 - Semi vs old four-door Ford
This entry was posted on 7/11/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
It must speak to passing 50 years old. I never pondered it much 20 years ago. That slide into mortality consciousness one realizes with age. It happens one day without fanfare. You suddenly have an epiphany one day as you step back out of an intersection to avoid a car and say to yourself, "Woe, I could of just died here." There have been so many of these instances in my life, I feel it begs visiting them.
Hence begins, "Fate Fairies." You know the fate fairies. Those spiritual trouble makers that answer to what ever god you carry with you. If you are lucky they are preoccupied with minutia like hiding your car keys and wallet and other such nonsense. Mine, however seem to act as if they smoke pot and party all night - then only to show up for work and spend a great deal of intellectual resources figuring out ways to almost kill me but not succeeding. My fate fairies seem to bask in orchestrating perennial near misses for me with the after life - or what ever you would like to call the place one goes after your services are no longer needed here on earth - make up your own name for it.
One of my first vivid memories is of mom and dad heading home as we drove out of Janesville back to the farm. Highway 26 north of Janesville has always been notorious. It must have been around 1960-61 or so. Dad had to get back home to do the never ending farm chores. We had probably been to Janesville to see my Mom's mother. Grandma lived alone in the house my grandfather built on the near north side of Janesville. He had died in the mid-1930s. My Dad headed out of town on the then narrow, two-lane, hilly, State Highway 26. All I remember is Mom hollering at him to look out. An eighteen wheeler roared over the hill in our lane as it passed a car. In those days the trucks and cars were built like tanks - iron welded to iron. Wrecks often looked like film footage from war movies - heaps of iron and steel with a tire or two sticking out. Also, in those days the road shoulders did not always exist like today. Dad flung the old Ford four-door (we never owned a new car) into the ditch. Some of those old ditches were deep. The old Ford held, the semi passed within inches, and Dad slung the car back out into the lane. I do not remember the conversation on the rest of the 14 mile ride home to the farm. I never remember the instance ever, I mean ever, being brought up again as long as either one of my parents were alive.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Corporal Jesse L. Thiry, age 23, of Casco, Wisconsin. Jesse was in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Corporal Thiry was killed by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq, on April 5, 2004. Casco is a small town just north east of Green Bay. Thiry died in Fallujah, where a mob attacked, killed, and mutilated four U.S. contractors just the week prior. Jesse was the fourteenth Wisconsin military member to die in Iraq. At the time of Thiry's death, 631 U.S. service members had been killed in the Iraq war. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Thiry had been in Iraq less than a month when killed and was part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's mission of occupying Fallujah, Ramadi and other cities about 30 miles west of Baghdad. At the time it was one of the areas of Iraq with the most intense fighting during the U.S. military's 11-month deployment in Iraq. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned that Cpl. Thiry was a Marine weapons instructor in Quantico, Virgina. He transfered to an assignment that would take him to Iraq just eight months before he was scheduled to leave the military. Jesse Thiry is survived by his mom and dad Susan and Randy Thiry and seven siblings. He is the fourth of eight children and a graduate of Luxemburg-Casco High School where he wrestled and ran track. He entered the Marine Corps shortly after graduation.
3,607 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
26,558 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
76 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
108 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Tubby's Too - Richmond, Wisconsin - Friday Night Fish Fry
25 May 2007
Tubby's Too - Richmond, Wisconsin - Friday Night Fish Fry
This entry was posted on 5/25/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Taverns Wisconsin, Friday Night Fish Fry.
Years ago, when I got out of the Army, I told a friend I just wanted to sit in an old Wisconisn tavern for a bit to reconnect with my Wisconsin. He took me to a tiny old bar out on Higway A between Richmond and Elkhorn. That was 30 years ago, I believe it was called Tubby's back then too.
After we sat for a bit and had an adult beverage or two, my friend said, "Happy now?"
Last Friday Cool Dadio and Heide headed out on the teal and cream Harley to Tubby's Too Bar & Grill. Tubby's is the consummate Wisconsin Tavern. It is out in the lake country of Southern Wisconsin in Walworth County. It is a small place but the peoples' presence gives it a big heart. Try to get there earlier because it is usually busy and you may have to wait a bit.
They start dishing up the fish on Fridays about 5:00 p.m. and serve 'till about 9:00 p.m. They offer deep fried Walleye or Cod. The two-piece is $6.50 and the three-piece is $7.50. This price I think is very fair considering the cost of transportation of sea food these days. Also, some places charge extra for Walleye just because they can. At Tubby's you get a fair shake for your buck. You will get a choice of potato pancakes or fries. You get a cup of cole slaw and some tender dark bread with butter. The tarter sauce is my style - just tart enough to know it is there, yet creamy. The potato pancakes do not look like the traditional homemade cake, but they taste like homemade. Every time Heide and I go out there to Tubby's Too we clean every crumb off our plates. That's probably the final seal of approval in the world of tavern fish fry. On Friday they also offer a 16 ounce T-Bone for $14.95 and Butterfly Shrimp for $8.95.
Tubby's is owned by Tubby Brewer. He used to bartend there and has been the owner for about seven years or so. The origin of the need-a-second-look name according to Mark the Bartender and a couple patrons is that it was chosen because there is a bar "up nort" with a similar name. So Tubby had to improvise a bit. Tubby's dad was also called Tubby so the current owner is a Tubby too.
Their other special night is on Tuesdays. They offer Steak and Shrimp; Steak and Lobster; Steak, Lobster & Shrimp; 16 oz. T-Bone; Butterfly Shrimp; and Prime Rib. The prices vary from $10.95 to $15.95.
Tubby's Too is cool with Cool Dadio
To get there from Janesville, take County Highway A out past Highway 89 in Richmond. Cross over 89 and stay on A and Tubby's is a mile or so down on the right. W8497 County Road A, Delavan, WI 53115. Folks may also refer to it as being in Richmond, Wisconsin. Phone (608) 883 - 2909.
Note: You can find a chronological list at the Cool Dadio Media Fish Fry Page of these fish frys as we have visited them. The list presents the most recently visited fish fry at the top, in lieu of alphabetical order.
Wisconsin Military Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person or military connected person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Specialist Eugene A. Uhl III, 21, of Amherst. Uhl was with Battery C, the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Eugine was Wisconsin's seventh soldier to die in Iraq. Uhl was his family's only son, the youngest of four children, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted his mother as saying he would have been the last male family member likely to pass on the Uhl name. He was scheduled to be married in June of 2004. According to the Journal Sentinel his mother also said he would have turned 22 on Thanksgiving. Uhl had been stationed in Iraq since February. He entered the regular Army in June 2002 after first joining the Army National Guard in 1999 and he expected to make the military a career. Eugene was killed when two 101st Airborne Division UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters collided in mid-air over Mosul, Iraq, on November 15, 2003. This was the same crash that killed Army Sgt. Warren S. Hansen, 36 who was last week's Daily Dadio honored Wisconsin soldier.
3,435 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,378 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
75 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
102 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Tubby's Too - Richmond, Wisconsin - Friday Night Fish Fry
This entry was posted on 5/25/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Taverns Wisconsin, Friday Night Fish Fry.
Years ago, when I got out of the Army, I told a friend I just wanted to sit in an old Wisconisn tavern for a bit to reconnect with my Wisconsin. He took me to a tiny old bar out on Higway A between Richmond and Elkhorn. That was 30 years ago, I believe it was called Tubby's back then too.
After we sat for a bit and had an adult beverage or two, my friend said, "Happy now?"
Last Friday Cool Dadio and Heide headed out on the teal and cream Harley to Tubby's Too Bar & Grill. Tubby's is the consummate Wisconsin Tavern. It is out in the lake country of Southern Wisconsin in Walworth County. It is a small place but the peoples' presence gives it a big heart. Try to get there earlier because it is usually busy and you may have to wait a bit.
They start dishing up the fish on Fridays about 5:00 p.m. and serve 'till about 9:00 p.m. They offer deep fried Walleye or Cod. The two-piece is $6.50 and the three-piece is $7.50. This price I think is very fair considering the cost of transportation of sea food these days. Also, some places charge extra for Walleye just because they can. At Tubby's you get a fair shake for your buck. You will get a choice of potato pancakes or fries. You get a cup of cole slaw and some tender dark bread with butter. The tarter sauce is my style - just tart enough to know it is there, yet creamy. The potato pancakes do not look like the traditional homemade cake, but they taste like homemade. Every time Heide and I go out there to Tubby's Too we clean every crumb off our plates. That's probably the final seal of approval in the world of tavern fish fry. On Friday they also offer a 16 ounce T-Bone for $14.95 and Butterfly Shrimp for $8.95.
Tubby's is owned by Tubby Brewer. He used to bartend there and has been the owner for about seven years or so. The origin of the need-a-second-look name according to Mark the Bartender and a couple patrons is that it was chosen because there is a bar "up nort" with a similar name. So Tubby had to improvise a bit. Tubby's dad was also called Tubby so the current owner is a Tubby too.
Their other special night is on Tuesdays. They offer Steak and Shrimp; Steak and Lobster; Steak, Lobster & Shrimp; 16 oz. T-Bone; Butterfly Shrimp; and Prime Rib. The prices vary from $10.95 to $15.95.
Tubby's Too is cool with Cool Dadio
To get there from Janesville, take County Highway A out past Highway 89 in Richmond. Cross over 89 and stay on A and Tubby's is a mile or so down on the right. W8497 County Road A, Delavan, WI 53115. Folks may also refer to it as being in Richmond, Wisconsin. Phone (608) 883 - 2909.
Note: You can find a chronological list at the Cool Dadio Media Fish Fry Page of these fish frys as we have visited them. The list presents the most recently visited fish fry at the top, in lieu of alphabetical order.
Wisconsin Military Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person or military connected person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Specialist Eugene A. Uhl III, 21, of Amherst. Uhl was with Battery C, the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Eugine was Wisconsin's seventh soldier to die in Iraq. Uhl was his family's only son, the youngest of four children, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted his mother as saying he would have been the last male family member likely to pass on the Uhl name. He was scheduled to be married in June of 2004. According to the Journal Sentinel his mother also said he would have turned 22 on Thanksgiving. Uhl had been stationed in Iraq since February. He entered the regular Army in June 2002 after first joining the Army National Guard in 1999 and he expected to make the military a career. Eugene was killed when two 101st Airborne Division UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters collided in mid-air over Mosul, Iraq, on November 15, 2003. This was the same crash that killed Army Sgt. Warren S. Hansen, 36 who was last week's Daily Dadio honored Wisconsin soldier.
3,435 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,378 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
75 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
102 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Boorish Billboard
9 May 2007
Boorish Billboard
This entry was posted on 5/9/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Marriage, Assignment of Meaning.
The Chicago billboard advertising divorce legal service is a treasure trove of social commentary. See: Divorce Billboard. Coincidently the law firm that put it up is an all female firm - not sure if that is relevant. The billboard simply says: "Life's short. Get a Divorce." The words are flanked only by a picture of a man's bare chest and a woman's cleavage. The talk radio stations are salivating with analysis, other attorneys groan that this is just the latest bad-taste advertising for their profession, and the religious right is sure to note, "see, we told you they are all cretins of debauchery."
Other than the usual suspects' ruffled feathers mentioned above, the analysis of this simple message is a gold mine in the assignment of meaning. Everyone seems to put a deep meaning in the two sentences with five words total. Clearly the offending law firm has struck a sour nerve. Advertising that gets a little too close to the truth is sometimes dangerous for the advertisers. Radio talk show hosts have been asking, "What does it say about our society?" Well, for one it cuts to the chase that marriage in today's America is a ruse. People and society have been holding marriage up as a sacred cow while in reality beating marriage to death for decades.
Sociologists should agree that modern marriage has nothing to do with raising children, perpetuating society, or love. It instead has everything to do with entertainment. Couples get married either by subconscious or design to simply be amused by the latest pop culture, entertainment value of marriage. Any children can be cared for by nannies, relatives, neighbors, or grand parents. An economy relentless in its deconstruction of the middle class leaves the unassuming couple unable to attain the entertainment pop culture life that was implied was at their finger tips when they got married. Once a couple is locked legally in the contract of marriage, society adds insult to injury and seems to work diligently in a collective hive to make sure they are economically beat to death - day care, school fees, insurance, taxes, mortgages, car payments, and on and on. The billboard simply suggests if you want out of that marriage construct, be sure and go for it.
That idea of getting out of the modern entertainment marriage so easily makes all parties uncomfortable. Perhaps it is not that the offending attorneys are all female that is relevant at all, but rather perhaps, they are showing their youth and naivety about advertising. We all play patty cake in the big American play house - but you have to be more nuanced when you advertise about tragic realities. The morrow of the story is, beat around the reality bush and people are cool with the ad - wink, wink, nod.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld, a member of the 527th Military Police, V Corps. Pfc. Bosveld was killed Sunday October 26, 2003, in a mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib Police Station in Baghdad. Rachel would have turned 20 on November 7, 2003. She was a 2002 graduate of Waupun High School. Rachel Bosveld was the fifth Wisconsin resident to die in the Iraq War. She was the state's first female soldier to die since Sgt. Cheryl LaBeau-O'Brien, of Caledonia, who died in a helicopter accident during the first Gulf War in 1991.
3,377 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,245 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Boorish Billboard
This entry was posted on 5/9/2007 1:30 AM and is filed under Marriage, Assignment of Meaning.
The Chicago billboard advertising divorce legal service is a treasure trove of social commentary. See: Divorce Billboard. Coincidently the law firm that put it up is an all female firm - not sure if that is relevant. The billboard simply says: "Life's short. Get a Divorce." The words are flanked only by a picture of a man's bare chest and a woman's cleavage. The talk radio stations are salivating with analysis, other attorneys groan that this is just the latest bad-taste advertising for their profession, and the religious right is sure to note, "see, we told you they are all cretins of debauchery."
Other than the usual suspects' ruffled feathers mentioned above, the analysis of this simple message is a gold mine in the assignment of meaning. Everyone seems to put a deep meaning in the two sentences with five words total. Clearly the offending law firm has struck a sour nerve. Advertising that gets a little too close to the truth is sometimes dangerous for the advertisers. Radio talk show hosts have been asking, "What does it say about our society?" Well, for one it cuts to the chase that marriage in today's America is a ruse. People and society have been holding marriage up as a sacred cow while in reality beating marriage to death for decades.
Sociologists should agree that modern marriage has nothing to do with raising children, perpetuating society, or love. It instead has everything to do with entertainment. Couples get married either by subconscious or design to simply be amused by the latest pop culture, entertainment value of marriage. Any children can be cared for by nannies, relatives, neighbors, or grand parents. An economy relentless in its deconstruction of the middle class leaves the unassuming couple unable to attain the entertainment pop culture life that was implied was at their finger tips when they got married. Once a couple is locked legally in the contract of marriage, society adds insult to injury and seems to work diligently in a collective hive to make sure they are economically beat to death - day care, school fees, insurance, taxes, mortgages, car payments, and on and on. The billboard simply suggests if you want out of that marriage construct, be sure and go for it.
That idea of getting out of the modern entertainment marriage so easily makes all parties uncomfortable. Perhaps it is not that the offending attorneys are all female that is relevant at all, but rather perhaps, they are showing their youth and naivety about advertising. We all play patty cake in the big American play house - but you have to be more nuanced when you advertise about tragic realities. The morrow of the story is, beat around the reality bush and people are cool with the ad - wink, wink, nod.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld, a member of the 527th Military Police, V Corps. Pfc. Bosveld was killed Sunday October 26, 2003, in a mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib Police Station in Baghdad. Rachel would have turned 20 on November 7, 2003. She was a 2002 graduate of Waupun High School. Rachel Bosveld was the fifth Wisconsin resident to die in the Iraq War. She was the state's first female soldier to die since Sgt. Cheryl LaBeau-O'Brien, of Caledonia, who died in a helicopter accident during the first Gulf War in 1991.
3,377 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,245 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Lesley Stahl vs Lou Dobbs
8 May 2007
Lesley Stahl vs Lou Dobbs
This entry was posted on 5/8/2007 1:30 PM and is filed under Journalism, Journalists become the news.
Lesley Stahl should know better after 40 years in journalism to take on an old curmudgeon like Lou Dobbs. She started in journalism as a write for New York mayor John Lindsay in 1966. She railed on Dobbs on the 60 Minutes piece on May 6, 2007. The subject Stahl pressed was that Dobbs attacked certain issues like illegal immigration over and over again. Some of the dialogs is as follows:
"Reporters don't 'take on' issues. Reporters 'report' issues, and there's a big difference there," Stahl says. "Do you think you're a journalist?"
"Absolutely," Dobbs says. "I may be an advocacy journalist, but I'm a journalists."
"The idea that a reporter should be disqualified because he or she actually cares, actually isn't neutral about the well-being of the country and its people, that's absurd," he says. (cbsnews.com)
Had Ms. Stahl majored in journalism rather than zoology, she might know journalism has no hard and fast rule other than to be mindful of slander and libel. One can be:
A "fly-on-the-wall" journalist or an "observer" journalist
An "undercover" journalist - infiltrating the mafia for example
An "advocate for an agenda" type journalist
A "corporate" journalist - writing for the boss
A "political journalist" - writing speeches (Lesley?)
A press secretary or public relations spokes person - giving out the talking points
A "news reader" journalist - reading someone else's stuff
A "news presenter" journalist - letting the audience decide if the class is half full or half empty
Also, one can be captured or injured and actually become part of the story one reports on
There are probably many other possibilities
The above things speak to philosophy, none address journalistic niches such as: sports; food; kids; weddings; death; entrainment; theater; cinema; opinion / editorial; law; medicine; farm; business; travel; war; etc.; etc;
I can't believe someone like Stahl could be so out of touch with the job she has had for decades. Unless of course, she was falling on the sword for CBS. Lou Dobbs has just been hired by CBS News to join The Early Show as a weekly commentator. This story also reminds me of the phenomena of journalist becoming the story. Is Lou the story or are the illegal immigrants he rants about, the story? Stahl has made Dobbs the story. The one thing I do think that one should watch out to avoid as a journalist is that of actually inserting oneself in an event or issue and stealing the show and veering attention toward yourself rather than the story you should be investigating.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld, a member of the 527th Military Police, V Corps. Pfc. Bosveld was killed Sunday October 26, 2003, in a mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib Police Station in Baghdad. Rachel would have turned 20 on November 7, 2003. She was a 2002 graduate of Waupun High School. Rachel Bosveld was the fifth Wisconsin resident to die in the Iraq War. She was the state's first female soldier to die since Sgt. Cheryl LaBeau-O'Brien, of Caledonia, who died in a helicopter accident during the first Gulf War in 1991.
3,377 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,245 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Lesley Stahl vs Lou Dobbs
This entry was posted on 5/8/2007 1:30 PM and is filed under Journalism, Journalists become the news.
Lesley Stahl should know better after 40 years in journalism to take on an old curmudgeon like Lou Dobbs. She started in journalism as a write for New York mayor John Lindsay in 1966. She railed on Dobbs on the 60 Minutes piece on May 6, 2007. The subject Stahl pressed was that Dobbs attacked certain issues like illegal immigration over and over again. Some of the dialogs is as follows:
"Reporters don't 'take on' issues. Reporters 'report' issues, and there's a big difference there," Stahl says. "Do you think you're a journalist?"
"Absolutely," Dobbs says. "I may be an advocacy journalist, but I'm a journalists."
"The idea that a reporter should be disqualified because he or she actually cares, actually isn't neutral about the well-being of the country and its people, that's absurd," he says. (cbsnews.com)
Had Ms. Stahl majored in journalism rather than zoology, she might know journalism has no hard and fast rule other than to be mindful of slander and libel. One can be:
A "fly-on-the-wall" journalist or an "observer" journalist
An "undercover" journalist - infiltrating the mafia for example
An "advocate for an agenda" type journalist
A "corporate" journalist - writing for the boss
A "political journalist" - writing speeches (Lesley?)
A press secretary or public relations spokes person - giving out the talking points
A "news reader" journalist - reading someone else's stuff
A "news presenter" journalist - letting the audience decide if the class is half full or half empty
Also, one can be captured or injured and actually become part of the story one reports on
There are probably many other possibilities
The above things speak to philosophy, none address journalistic niches such as: sports; food; kids; weddings; death; entrainment; theater; cinema; opinion / editorial; law; medicine; farm; business; travel; war; etc.; etc;
I can't believe someone like Stahl could be so out of touch with the job she has had for decades. Unless of course, she was falling on the sword for CBS. Lou Dobbs has just been hired by CBS News to join The Early Show as a weekly commentator. This story also reminds me of the phenomena of journalist becoming the story. Is Lou the story or are the illegal immigrants he rants about, the story? Stahl has made Dobbs the story. The one thing I do think that one should watch out to avoid as a journalist is that of actually inserting oneself in an event or issue and stealing the show and veering attention toward yourself rather than the story you should be investigating.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld, a member of the 527th Military Police, V Corps. Pfc. Bosveld was killed Sunday October 26, 2003, in a mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib Police Station in Baghdad. Rachel would have turned 20 on November 7, 2003. She was a 2002 graduate of Waupun High School. Rachel Bosveld was the fifth Wisconsin resident to die in the Iraq War. She was the state's first female soldier to die since Sgt. Cheryl LaBeau-O'Brien, of Caledonia, who died in a helicopter accident during the first Gulf War in 1991.
3,377 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,245 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Learning about Iraq four years too late
7 May 2007
This entry was posted on 5/7/2007 2:01 AM and is filed under Iraq vs Vietnam, Presentations of Bob.
I had a chance to speak to around 75 students at the Janesville Academy of International Studies on Friday. They had some speakers come in to talk about Iraq. I was lucky enough to be one of them. There was a professor from Beloit College, Congressman Paul Ryan, and myself. It is an honor to speak about my media work in Iraq because as an independent journalist, I am shoved under the rug - at least that is what it feels like. The kids were from the Janesville school system and were probably between 13 and 18 years of age. They asked intelligent questions and tough ones too. I love tough questions - as a journalist I do not have to take ownership of "most of" the things I have seen - I only have to relay them to others. And, I do not remember the kids of my generation being so polite and thoughtful when addressing adults, especially those adults who discussed the Vietnam War. Now these kids of today were giving due diligence to a contentious topic - Iraq.
Paul Ryan our Wisconsin Congressman from the 1st District spoke to the kids just before me. He had been to Iraq recently on a fact finding mission. He had done his home work on the war and Iraq and the people. He patiently explained the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite Muslim to the students. Ryan put together some things he thought the United States had done wrong in the war there. Now all this I thought, is a good thing to be pontificating about. But something came to mind as I sat and listened. This is what we had done in Vietnam - decided to learn about a region we are warring in four years into it.
When I took a class on the Vietnam War at Madison Area Technical College, Mr. Rosebury the teacher and who had actually been in "Nam" often noted that the soldiers did not understand the county they were in. And now, like in Vietnam days, here we were four years later, Mr. Ryan and myself talking about what we just recently found out about Iraq - four years into the war. Congressman Ryan was not even born until 1970, after the United States had began to unravel its commitment to be in the Vietnam War. In 1975, our South Vietnamese allies collapsed.
For someone like me who lived in the Vietnam Era, served in the military at the end of the Era, and now watches as we make many of the same mistakes in Iraq, it is almost unconscionable to bear. Are we just that stupid as a people, or is our system simply so inept it is inherent for us to make the same mistakes over and over again? You can bet our enemies have not let this nuance about our system go unnoticed.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld, a member of the 527th Military Police, V Corps. Pfc. Bosveld was killed Sunday October 26, 2003, in a mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib Police Station in Baghdad. Rachel would have turned 20 on November 7, 2003. She was a 2002 graduate of Waupun High School. Rachel Bosveld was the fifth Wisconsin resident to die in the Iraq War. She was the state's first female soldier to die since Sgt. Cheryl LaBeau-O'Brien, of Caledonia, who died in a helicopter accident during the first Gulf War in 1991.
3,377 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,090 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
This entry was posted on 5/7/2007 2:01 AM and is filed under Iraq vs Vietnam, Presentations of Bob.
I had a chance to speak to around 75 students at the Janesville Academy of International Studies on Friday. They had some speakers come in to talk about Iraq. I was lucky enough to be one of them. There was a professor from Beloit College, Congressman Paul Ryan, and myself. It is an honor to speak about my media work in Iraq because as an independent journalist, I am shoved under the rug - at least that is what it feels like. The kids were from the Janesville school system and were probably between 13 and 18 years of age. They asked intelligent questions and tough ones too. I love tough questions - as a journalist I do not have to take ownership of "most of" the things I have seen - I only have to relay them to others. And, I do not remember the kids of my generation being so polite and thoughtful when addressing adults, especially those adults who discussed the Vietnam War. Now these kids of today were giving due diligence to a contentious topic - Iraq.
Paul Ryan our Wisconsin Congressman from the 1st District spoke to the kids just before me. He had been to Iraq recently on a fact finding mission. He had done his home work on the war and Iraq and the people. He patiently explained the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite Muslim to the students. Ryan put together some things he thought the United States had done wrong in the war there. Now all this I thought, is a good thing to be pontificating about. But something came to mind as I sat and listened. This is what we had done in Vietnam - decided to learn about a region we are warring in four years into it.
When I took a class on the Vietnam War at Madison Area Technical College, Mr. Rosebury the teacher and who had actually been in "Nam" often noted that the soldiers did not understand the county they were in. And now, like in Vietnam days, here we were four years later, Mr. Ryan and myself talking about what we just recently found out about Iraq - four years into the war. Congressman Ryan was not even born until 1970, after the United States had began to unravel its commitment to be in the Vietnam War. In 1975, our South Vietnamese allies collapsed.
For someone like me who lived in the Vietnam Era, served in the military at the end of the Era, and now watches as we make many of the same mistakes in Iraq, it is almost unconscionable to bear. Are we just that stupid as a people, or is our system simply so inept it is inherent for us to make the same mistakes over and over again? You can bet our enemies have not let this nuance about our system go unnoticed.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld, a member of the 527th Military Police, V Corps. Pfc. Bosveld was killed Sunday October 26, 2003, in a mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib Police Station in Baghdad. Rachel would have turned 20 on November 7, 2003. She was a 2002 graduate of Waupun High School. Rachel Bosveld was the fifth Wisconsin resident to die in the Iraq War. She was the state's first female soldier to die since Sgt. Cheryl LaBeau-O'Brien, of Caledonia, who died in a helicopter accident during the first Gulf War in 1991.
3,377 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,090 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Third Job of Bob - Gas Station Jockey
4 May 2007
Third Job of Bob - Gas Station Jockey
This entry was posted on 5/4/2007 at 01:30 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
In my senior year of high school it came to my attention that the gas station down from the high school was looking for a gas jockey. A gas jockey was a guy who pumped the gas into your cars. This was the days before self service. Anyway, the lady who sold eggs to the gas station (they had a dairy cooler) knew my mom. Mom bought our eggs from the egg-lady also. The egg-lady said the station manager was looking for another guy to help out. Mom dropped the tip to me and I stopped in the station after school.
Those were the days before human resources rules. Expecting to get grilled by the manager, I brought notes to help fill out the application. Ol' Ray the manager just asked if I was the kid who had worked on the farm since I was 12, took a puff on his cigarette, and asked from a veil of smoke, "can you start tomorrow?"
Ol' Ray was a chain smoker and sent me down to the bank sometimes with a bag of money. He had me use his own pickup truck. The ash trays were always spilling over and he had one of those bean bag ash trays on the dash too - also over flowing. The ash trays in the store were alway bulging too. Ray was a Korean War era veteran and always took a big drag on one of his lit cigarettes when he would mention he spent the time in France not Korea. He mentioned things he had a chance to do in France but never did. "What would it matter now," he always would say.
I will never forget the smell of old ash and window cleaner. You see we pumped the gas and cleaned the car windows. Ray insisted we have all our money bills facing the same way with face up, and small bills to the inside of the roll with the roll stuffed in our work shirt pocket. The people paid us at the pumps. Every so often we would come in the store and ring up some of the cash. To this day I always carry my extra bills that way.
The drinking age was 18 and after work me and the assistant manager Dave who was about 23 hit the college bars. Dave had been in the Army during Vietnam. Some of his stories inspired me to make rather reasonable decisions about my own military time. Dave was also picking away at college - he seemed to know everyone in town and the college. Just before I shipped out that fall, Ray asked me if I could work the day before I would be leaving. Of course I said yes. Mom said if he did not count on me he would never have asked. That logic still seems Wisconsinish.
The one regret I have is that after I came home after three years, now myself a Vietnam era veteran, I can't remember checking in on Ray. I spent my time in Germany, not Vietnam just like Ray had spent his time in France and not Korea. I know Ray died a while after I got home. I remember Mom bringing it up. I remember going into the station after I got back but I never caught up with Ray. I have since learned you can't re-do things like that. Now in retrospect I sure would have liked to chat with Ray a bit when I got back. Dave too, but he had left town I heard.
The lasting image of Ray I have is of him on every Friday night pulling into the station to fuel up his truck. His pretty wife always smiled and chatted with the employees politely. Side note: Ray had a beautiful daughter also who was only a year or so behind me in school. When I got out of the Army she asked me once why I had never asked her out. I did not admit it but I just assumed she was too pretty for an old farm kid like me - lost chances - but I digress. Any way Ray always pulled in the station with a crisp, clean gas station uniform on. The name Ray was proudly displayed over his shirt pocket. He worked there seven days a week - he always opened about 4:30 a.m. and left after the evening shift had settled in about 6:00 p.m. It was also the beginning of the days when places like that were open seven days a week for long hours. The one pleasure he allowed himself was to take his wife out every Friday night to a tavern for the traditional Wisconsin fish fry.
I hope they have fish fry where every you are Ray.
This week's soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,361 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,090 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Third Job of Bob - Gas Station Jockey
This entry was posted on 5/4/2007 at 01:30 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
In my senior year of high school it came to my attention that the gas station down from the high school was looking for a gas jockey. A gas jockey was a guy who pumped the gas into your cars. This was the days before self service. Anyway, the lady who sold eggs to the gas station (they had a dairy cooler) knew my mom. Mom bought our eggs from the egg-lady also. The egg-lady said the station manager was looking for another guy to help out. Mom dropped the tip to me and I stopped in the station after school.
Those were the days before human resources rules. Expecting to get grilled by the manager, I brought notes to help fill out the application. Ol' Ray the manager just asked if I was the kid who had worked on the farm since I was 12, took a puff on his cigarette, and asked from a veil of smoke, "can you start tomorrow?"
Ol' Ray was a chain smoker and sent me down to the bank sometimes with a bag of money. He had me use his own pickup truck. The ash trays were always spilling over and he had one of those bean bag ash trays on the dash too - also over flowing. The ash trays in the store were alway bulging too. Ray was a Korean War era veteran and always took a big drag on one of his lit cigarettes when he would mention he spent the time in France not Korea. He mentioned things he had a chance to do in France but never did. "What would it matter now," he always would say.
I will never forget the smell of old ash and window cleaner. You see we pumped the gas and cleaned the car windows. Ray insisted we have all our money bills facing the same way with face up, and small bills to the inside of the roll with the roll stuffed in our work shirt pocket. The people paid us at the pumps. Every so often we would come in the store and ring up some of the cash. To this day I always carry my extra bills that way.
The drinking age was 18 and after work me and the assistant manager Dave who was about 23 hit the college bars. Dave had been in the Army during Vietnam. Some of his stories inspired me to make rather reasonable decisions about my own military time. Dave was also picking away at college - he seemed to know everyone in town and the college. Just before I shipped out that fall, Ray asked me if I could work the day before I would be leaving. Of course I said yes. Mom said if he did not count on me he would never have asked. That logic still seems Wisconsinish.
The one regret I have is that after I came home after three years, now myself a Vietnam era veteran, I can't remember checking in on Ray. I spent my time in Germany, not Vietnam just like Ray had spent his time in France and not Korea. I know Ray died a while after I got home. I remember Mom bringing it up. I remember going into the station after I got back but I never caught up with Ray. I have since learned you can't re-do things like that. Now in retrospect I sure would have liked to chat with Ray a bit when I got back. Dave too, but he had left town I heard.
The lasting image of Ray I have is of him on every Friday night pulling into the station to fuel up his truck. His pretty wife always smiled and chatted with the employees politely. Side note: Ray had a beautiful daughter also who was only a year or so behind me in school. When I got out of the Army she asked me once why I had never asked her out. I did not admit it but I just assumed she was too pretty for an old farm kid like me - lost chances - but I digress. Any way Ray always pulled in the station with a crisp, clean gas station uniform on. The name Ray was proudly displayed over his shirt pocket. He worked there seven days a week - he always opened about 4:30 a.m. and left after the evening shift had settled in about 6:00 p.m. It was also the beginning of the days when places like that were open seven days a week for long hours. The one pleasure he allowed himself was to take his wife out every Friday night to a tavern for the traditional Wisconsin fish fry.
I hope they have fish fry where every you are Ray.
This week's soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,361 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,090 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Expensive gas - dead pets
Two tragic realities in the United States drive home why we are playing with Third-World status. Travel is another word for freedom. Pets are the last line of happiness in an increasingly happyless appearing society.
The Marginal Class (those that used to be Lower Middle Class) is further driven to quasi-Third-World status by simply making it hard for them to travel. I have noticed people in Vietnam a new-and-improved Third-World county, define us in America as rich simply because we can travel at the drop of a hat.
I don't know whether to be mad at the oil players or at us rabble for letting the constant raising fuel pricing happen to ourselves without a whimper. I can see with my own eyes it is causing people to curb their travel (freedom). I struggle to hold back the cynicism that says, "we are getting what we deserve."
As far as I can tell from my work in Vietnam, the Vietnamese don't trust the Chinese (currently the People's Republic of China) - apparently never have trusted them. This is something we did not pick up on during our Vietnam War. Is it not poetic we learned nothing to relate to Iraq from our long war in Vietnam and now as quasi-friends with Vietnam we learn nothing from their thousands of years dealing with the Chinese? We don't believe them when they warn in subtle innuendos, "sleep with the Chinese - bury your pets."
Today's comments inspired by blogs "Waxing America" and "Rocknetroots."
This week's soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,355 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,090 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The Marginal Class (those that used to be Lower Middle Class) is further driven to quasi-Third-World status by simply making it hard for them to travel. I have noticed people in Vietnam a new-and-improved Third-World county, define us in America as rich simply because we can travel at the drop of a hat.
I don't know whether to be mad at the oil players or at us rabble for letting the constant raising fuel pricing happen to ourselves without a whimper. I can see with my own eyes it is causing people to curb their travel (freedom). I struggle to hold back the cynicism that says, "we are getting what we deserve."
As far as I can tell from my work in Vietnam, the Vietnamese don't trust the Chinese (currently the People's Republic of China) - apparently never have trusted them. This is something we did not pick up on during our Vietnam War. Is it not poetic we learned nothing to relate to Iraq from our long war in Vietnam and now as quasi-friends with Vietnam we learn nothing from their thousands of years dealing with the Chinese? We don't believe them when they warn in subtle innuendos, "sleep with the Chinese - bury your pets."
Today's comments inspired by blogs "Waxing America" and "Rocknetroots."
This week's soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,355 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,090 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Another Day in Vietraq
I walked up on a couple of friends of mine today engaged in an obvious lively discussion. Charles was talking about the unpopular President and his even more unpopular Vice President. The Executive he insisted, was at grid lock with Congress about how to fight the war. The President had lost the people's confidence. There was a call for the Vice President's resignation.
Robert Lee insisted the Congress was trying to micro manage the long war. He said the two political parties seemed to have no distinguishing characteristics any more either.
Charles said the President's expansion of the war was ill advised, and in fact the original premise of the war was flawed.
Robert Lee said, "If the enemy was clever they would just wait about seven years and the whole American war construct would collapse."
"Just like George Washington's strategy with our long war for independence against the British," I chimed in uninvited. Neither friend paid me any mind.
"Our system is inherently flawed in the means to fight a long war," said Robert Lee. "The people eventually lose interest and Congress always tampers with the funds for the war," he continued.
"Yes, and the soldiers keep dying and languish in the middle of an Asian civil war while the two political parties fight and flounder about in the big American political play house," said Charles in a mocking tone.
"The war was affecting the economy," Robert Lee said and frowned. "Gas and groceries were outrageous. Schools were being closed. Can you imagine what we could have done with all the billions spent on the war?" he then asked. "People needed health care, and the money is being dumped down a hell hole in Asia."
"The people are cynical and disenfranchised from the political system," returned Charles. "And the wisdom of the war has our allies in the World second guessing our international leadership."
The two friends shook their heads together and bid one another good-bye until next time. I followed Charles as he was going my direction. "Man," I said. "You two sure are despondent about the War in Iraq."
Charles stopped and turned and looked me in the eyes and shock his head. "Boy!" he said with an incredulous look on his face and a perturbed tone. "We have been talking about the Vietnam War!"
This week's soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,352 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
24,912 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Robert Lee insisted the Congress was trying to micro manage the long war. He said the two political parties seemed to have no distinguishing characteristics any more either.
Charles said the President's expansion of the war was ill advised, and in fact the original premise of the war was flawed.
Robert Lee said, "If the enemy was clever they would just wait about seven years and the whole American war construct would collapse."
"Just like George Washington's strategy with our long war for independence against the British," I chimed in uninvited. Neither friend paid me any mind.
"Our system is inherently flawed in the means to fight a long war," said Robert Lee. "The people eventually lose interest and Congress always tampers with the funds for the war," he continued.
"Yes, and the soldiers keep dying and languish in the middle of an Asian civil war while the two political parties fight and flounder about in the big American political play house," said Charles in a mocking tone.
"The war was affecting the economy," Robert Lee said and frowned. "Gas and groceries were outrageous. Schools were being closed. Can you imagine what we could have done with all the billions spent on the war?" he then asked. "People needed health care, and the money is being dumped down a hell hole in Asia."
"The people are cynical and disenfranchised from the political system," returned Charles. "And the wisdom of the war has our allies in the World second guessing our international leadership."
The two friends shook their heads together and bid one another good-bye until next time. I followed Charles as he was going my direction. "Man," I said. "You two sure are despondent about the War in Iraq."
Charles stopped and turned and looked me in the eyes and shock his head. "Boy!" he said with an incredulous look on his face and a perturbed tone. "We have been talking about the Vietnam War!"
This week's soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,352 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
24,912 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
"Motor cycle season" sounds like "Duck Season"
Motorcycle season - sounds like "duck season." Or, "deer season." It means, pilgrims are'a gonna die Slim! A peripheral co-worker of mine years ago always called them, "murder cycles." However, when did it enter the culture of our language that in every crash, we must note if the person had a helmet or in the case of cars, a seat belt on? Language is funny that way - all of a sudden those notations are in every crash report in every paper across the nation. I love the one that said:
"Joe Buckyucknuck slid off the road to avoid a deer and was thrown from his motorcycle. He flew 100 feet, hit an electric pole, was slung back out to the street and was run over by an 18-wheeler. Buckyucknuck was subsequently electrocuted when the wire snapped from the pole he hit and landed on his body in the road. Buckyucknuch was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers on the scene said Buckyucknuck was wearing a helmet."
Ah, did it really matter at that point? Think about it the next time you hear a crash report on the radio or read one in the paper. They do the same thing for seat belts. Does it really matter if they have to use four body bags to carry parts of you off the crash scene? Is the news you had a seat belt on, relevant at that point? Being a communication junkie I like to take notice of the language foisted down our throats by the self annotated language Nazis.
Ah, the weekend warriors are out with their big machines. They never rode a motorcycle until they turned 35 and got a job finally, that paid more than five dollars an hour. I have always had a motorcycle since I was twelve because I never really broke out of the five-dollar-an-hour-job culture. I have had almost every brand of "bike." And they all got good gas mileage - my latest machine gets almost 60-miles-to-the-gallon - something one must be cognizant of if you make five dollars an hour. Experts in social psychology (and paid apologists for norms and mores and kin to the aforementioned language Nazis) tell me that five-dollar-an-hour thing is my fault - something about refusing to be beholden to society's backside every day - but I digress. Anyway, I have had to ride them to work. A couple of times I even got stuck in snow - something the new age, power marketed, once-a-month-weekend-riding, yuppie, leather-clad, motor cycle fashion-disciple can't comprehend.
I have a Harley, it is teal and cream - girl colors. I don't wear leather - I wear the same thing I wore to Iraq as a journalist - cargo pants, tennis shoes, and a t-shirt. People usually give me a perturbed look at the intersection stoplights but then turn back to the light when they realize I am sitting on a Harely with more horse power under my torn cargo pants than is in their new hybrid and getting better gas mileage to-boot. Hmmm, I lived through Iraq in casual wear and was toured around there by maniac taxi-mafia drivers, but it was close a couple of times. The cars I rode in over there did not even have seat belts. And, I haven't been killed in 40 years of gonzo motorcycle riding - but it came close a couple of times. Is there a pattern here, can you guess if I wear a helmet? You might be surprised. Right now one of those social psychologist, mores defending, language Nazi types is taking a Valium tablet and a shot of Jack Daniels and cursing me I think. Cheers Doc!
This weeks soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,351 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
24,912 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
This weeks soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,351 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
24,912 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Not Another Lechner Accolade
On The Janesville Gazette's Friday, April 27 front page was yet another story about Johnny Lechner, UW-Whitewater's perennial college student. It is not Lechner that concerns me. As an older college student, I worked in UW-Whitewater's Adult Resource Center for a couple years. There we tried to help older returning college students. Many of them were back to re-tool for the third time - some not so much older than Lechner. Many had children, jobs, elderly parents, and downsizing jobs to contend with while going back to college. Many were veterans - some combat veterans. Many had more combined years in college and credits than Lechner. Lechner's years and credits are something the media always lauds over. The other older students presented a tapestry of fascinating stories and challenges, yet it is always Lechner the media drags out as an aberration.
If I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I might have stayed in college too for ten years after high school. But Lechner and I are not the heroes. So I say shame on the media yet again for perpetuating one man's shameless narcissism. The real stories of academic heroes go untold as they fend for themselves and languish in obscurity. Of course, the real heroes don't have PR machines either.
This weeks soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,351 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
24,912 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
If I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I might have stayed in college too for ten years after high school. But Lechner and I are not the heroes. So I say shame on the media yet again for perpetuating one man's shameless narcissism. The real stories of academic heroes go untold as they fend for themselves and languish in obscurity. Of course, the real heroes don't have PR machines either.
This weeks soldier to remember is Specialist Paul J. Sturino, 21 of Rice Lake who died on September 22, 2003 from a non-hostile gunshot wound. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was in an area south of Mosul in northern Iraq. He was in Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sturino was the fourth Wisconsinite killed during military operations in Iraq. Originally with a tank detail based in Lawton, Oklahoma, Paul transferred to the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky to be a paratrooper. He went to Iraq in March 2003. Sturino had re-enlisted for another year as a member of the 101st but his tour of duty was subsequently extended because of the war.
3,351 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
24,912 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
72 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Second Job of Bob - Rock Band
My second job was during my junior year in high school. In 1973 I hooked up with some classmates to join their rock band as their saxophonist. They were all excited. Bands had had the sax in the rock music since the 1950s. The 1970s were no different. There were five of us. Like any band the members changed from time to time. Sometimes they had six members. I worked with them throughout the school year. We made 25 dollars each per gig. That was a big deal in 1973.
It taught me about being where you are suppose to be when the time is agreed. Event coordinators have no sense of humor for late entertainers. Nor do the guests. I remember being pulled over after a gig one night because my Fairlane had a burned out head light. I was 17 and there was a curfew in that Wisconsin town and it was after midnight. My quick response surprised even me when I pointed to the sax case in the back seat and said, "I just got off work - wedding dance." The cop did not even bat an eye and just gave me an equipment warning.
I quit the band because the sporadic event times drove me nuts. I suppose if I had applied myself, I could have been a better sax player and perhaps expanded on the fledgling career. Girls, cars, the farm, football, and then finally the Army got in the way of ever taking the sax beyond high school. I look at it once in a while. It still sits in its case in my make-shift library down in the basement. So many things have been lost, stolen, forgotten, but it still got moved around the country for a life time. My parents had bought it used on top of that. Here's to a path never taken. Maybe in the next life.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,334 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
It taught me about being where you are suppose to be when the time is agreed. Event coordinators have no sense of humor for late entertainers. Nor do the guests. I remember being pulled over after a gig one night because my Fairlane had a burned out head light. I was 17 and there was a curfew in that Wisconsin town and it was after midnight. My quick response surprised even me when I pointed to the sax case in the back seat and said, "I just got off work - wedding dance." The cop did not even bat an eye and just gave me an equipment warning.
I quit the band because the sporadic event times drove me nuts. I suppose if I had applied myself, I could have been a better sax player and perhaps expanded on the fledgling career. Girls, cars, the farm, football, and then finally the Army got in the way of ever taking the sax beyond high school. I look at it once in a while. It still sits in its case in my make-shift library down in the basement. So many things have been lost, stolen, forgotten, but it still got moved around the country for a life time. My parents had bought it used on top of that. Here's to a path never taken. Maybe in the next life.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,334 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Uncle Senator Herb Kohl - Republicrat or Demolican?
Help me people! I am cruising the newspaper Web sites just before I write my blog entry to make sure I have not missed the latest mass murder or the latest invasion of a Third-World nation and there on the Sports Section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl's mug. I know he owns the Milwaukee Bucks, so he has some validation to be on the sports page, yet...and yet, I never see him on any other section of any paper. How about the National section talking about our killed soldiers? - nope! How's about the business section talking about a generation who has never heard of a full-time job or has never realized people used to not work on weekends every weekend of their life? - nope!
Is it just because the Bucks are a lousy basketball team that Kohl seems to catch my attention? Is he a Republican or a Democrat? Don't answer that, I know he is officially a Democrat. But, I mean...what is he really? He reminds me of that eccentric uncle that always comes to the holiday family gathering and gives the nieces and nephews presents like leather bound books they never open until they are 40. Every time someone walks in the Kohl Center in Madison they should think, "O'l uncle Herb built and paid for this here fancy palace."
I admire that a federal law maker actually has a job on the side. I am thinking to myself, most of them there millionaires in Washington don't got no job. They ain't never had no kind'a job no ways. So at least you know how to make a payroll uncle Herb. But, who does he represent? Not me. I can't even afford to go to any event at his Kohl Center in Madison. I sure can't afford a professional basket ball ticket for his Bucks in Milwaukee. Besides, the last time I watched pro basket ball a tall kid from New York then L.A. named Lew Alcindor was dominating the court. But I digress.
Herb Kohl comes close to being the quintessential and consummate Republicrat type Demolican. I don't think Wisconsin's republican party has even put up a candidate to run against him in years. The last challenger I remember was some poor old dude who wanted to legalize pot. He got about six votes.
Elected officials like Kohl are post card portraits of why people are so cynical about our government. Kohl embodies the two-party paradigm. When the going is good he buys a basket ball team. When the going is tough, he has a town hall meeting with some languishing farmers. But one thing is certain about O'l Uncle Herb, thousands of soldiers have died on his watch while he looks over his potential next college ball players. I wounder if he spends so much time dwelling over our dead Wisconsin soldiers - his real constituents. The citizens remain cynical and disenfranchised.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,334 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Is it just because the Bucks are a lousy basketball team that Kohl seems to catch my attention? Is he a Republican or a Democrat? Don't answer that, I know he is officially a Democrat. But, I mean...what is he really? He reminds me of that eccentric uncle that always comes to the holiday family gathering and gives the nieces and nephews presents like leather bound books they never open until they are 40. Every time someone walks in the Kohl Center in Madison they should think, "O'l uncle Herb built and paid for this here fancy palace."
I admire that a federal law maker actually has a job on the side. I am thinking to myself, most of them there millionaires in Washington don't got no job. They ain't never had no kind'a job no ways. So at least you know how to make a payroll uncle Herb. But, who does he represent? Not me. I can't even afford to go to any event at his Kohl Center in Madison. I sure can't afford a professional basket ball ticket for his Bucks in Milwaukee. Besides, the last time I watched pro basket ball a tall kid from New York then L.A. named Lew Alcindor was dominating the court. But I digress.
Herb Kohl comes close to being the quintessential and consummate Republicrat type Demolican. I don't think Wisconsin's republican party has even put up a candidate to run against him in years. The last challenger I remember was some poor old dude who wanted to legalize pot. He got about six votes.
Elected officials like Kohl are post card portraits of why people are so cynical about our government. Kohl embodies the two-party paradigm. When the going is good he buys a basket ball team. When the going is tough, he has a town hall meeting with some languishing farmers. But one thing is certain about O'l Uncle Herb, thousands of soldiers have died on his watch while he looks over his potential next college ball players. I wounder if he spends so much time dwelling over our dead Wisconsin soldiers - his real constituents. The citizens remain cynical and disenfranchised.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,334 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
David Halbestam
It is never a good time to die. I know. I have come close more than once. It was not on my to-do list on those day I came close to the "big sleep." Let's see, I need soda pop, some windshield wiper fluid, some bread, and oh yeh, I will be dying later too. No, that is not how it works.
I am sure David Halberstam did not set out the other morning to die in a car crash later that day. But, it is poetic that the man that wrote The Best and the Brightest (1972) andThe Making of a Quagmire: America and Vietnam during the Kennedy Era (1965) died in the midst of a battle between President George Bush and Congress over funding the continuation of the Iraq War. Both of Halberstam's books dissect the construct of the Vietnam War. In a nutshell Halberstam tries to figure out how so many smart people got us into such a mess of a war. It is also noteworthy to mention he wrote them while the American Vietnam War was happening - one book at the beginning and one near the end.
It is almost like some fate fairy of sorts is trying to say, "hey, people check out this guy's analysis of a war we had 40 years ago- a now similar war in construct and debate to the one we have now." The books have always been out there. I wonder now in his death if any one will read them and bristle at the disturbing similarities on the construct of the two wars? I fear no one will notice the poetic irony of the timing of Halberstam's death.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,333 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
I am sure David Halberstam did not set out the other morning to die in a car crash later that day. But, it is poetic that the man that wrote The Best and the Brightest (1972) andThe Making of a Quagmire: America and Vietnam during the Kennedy Era (1965) died in the midst of a battle between President George Bush and Congress over funding the continuation of the Iraq War. Both of Halberstam's books dissect the construct of the Vietnam War. In a nutshell Halberstam tries to figure out how so many smart people got us into such a mess of a war. It is also noteworthy to mention he wrote them while the American Vietnam War was happening - one book at the beginning and one near the end.
It is almost like some fate fairy of sorts is trying to say, "hey, people check out this guy's analysis of a war we had 40 years ago- a now similar war in construct and debate to the one we have now." The books have always been out there. I wonder now in his death if any one will read them and bristle at the disturbing similarities on the construct of the two wars? I fear no one will notice the poetic irony of the timing of Halberstam's death.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,333 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Vietnam - we don't like to talk about it
I have noticed the oddest nuance concerning the discussion of Iraq in the context of Vietnam. Some conservatives and Republicans still think we won the Vietnam War, and the South Vietnamese lost it after all, after we turned the war over to them. Conservatives and Republicans get uncomfortable talking about the possibility of turning the Iraq War over to the Iraqis.
Liberals and Democrats get defensive when Iraq is brought up in the context of Vietnam. They after all, assured an entire generation there would never be another Vietnam.
Perhaps all four politicals should try a new line of work. Perhaps used-car-sales for example. And, and then the rest of us rabble could actually have room to participate in a reasonable governmental process.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,332 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Liberals and Democrats get defensive when Iraq is brought up in the context of Vietnam. They after all, assured an entire generation there would never be another Vietnam.
Perhaps all four politicals should try a new line of work. Perhaps used-car-sales for example. And, and then the rest of us rabble could actually have room to participate in a reasonable governmental process.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,332 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Media Pimps - Consumer Prostitutes - Misery Addicts
It did not take the big media long to create a perennial drama out of the events at Virginia Tech. To their credit, it was the worst mass murder in our history - 32 people gunned down. But that lends me to ask, "Then what was Oklahoma City?" Anyway, I digress. Nor, did it take long for 'us peoples' to hop on the saga. Local media all over the county tries to find connections with Virginia Tech. They dig out a guy who had a cousin who once called the school by mistake. "I need the day off man, I was too close to the thing man. Like, ya dig dude?" the guy laments. "We have councilors available," the news lady says with a tear in eye.
I have seen how the big media sweeps into a town with their big satellite vans for some aberrational event. When they get what they want they vanish in the night. It sounds like Virginal Tech has begged them to leave now. Not so fast - the big media pimps the event, we prostitute ourselves to them, and the rest of us enjoy sharing in the misery of the event. People are wearing Virginia Tech clothing today who never heard of them just eight days ago.
I used to work with a guy named Charles whose mother-in-law died three times. Each time, enough time lapsed and the management had turned over so no one realized he was pulling one over on them. Each time he got three days off to tend to his mother-in-law's needs. I however was counting, and I laughed out loud in church when a few years later he had actually died and his 'supposed-to-be-dead mother-in-law got up to speak at his eulogy.
How poetic the timing of the movie, Children of Men. In the beginning of the futuristic tale, we are thrown into a world where women have not been able to have children for 18 years - a generation. We never find out why the condition has stricken humans world wide. But, in the opening scene the people in the coffee shop grieve as they learn on TV that the youngest human on earth (18 years old) has been killed in a knife fight. The BBC has theme music [oh yeah, so did FOX, CNN, MSNBC....last week for Virginia Tech] to put in the back ground of the story.
I have seen how the big media sweeps into a town with their big satellite vans for some aberrational event. When they get what they want they vanish in the night. It sounds like Virginal Tech has begged them to leave now. Not so fast - the big media pimps the event, we prostitute ourselves to them, and the rest of us enjoy sharing in the misery of the event. People are wearing Virginia Tech clothing today who never heard of them just eight days ago.
I used to work with a guy named Charles whose mother-in-law died three times. Each time, enough time lapsed and the management had turned over so no one realized he was pulling one over on them. Each time he got three days off to tend to his mother-in-law's needs. I however was counting, and I laughed out loud in church when a few years later he had actually died and his 'supposed-to-be-dead mother-in-law got up to speak at his eulogy.
How poetic the timing of the movie, Children of Men. In the beginning of the futuristic tale, we are thrown into a world where women have not been able to have children for 18 years - a generation. We never find out why the condition has stricken humans world wide. But, in the opening scene the people in the coffee shop grieve as they learn on TV that the youngest human on earth (18 years old) has been killed in a knife fight. The BBC has theme music [oh yeah, so did FOX, CNN, MSNBC....last week for Virginia Tech] to put in the back ground of the story.
After the coffee shop is coincidentally blown to bits (a violent society it is indeed in the future), the movie's anti-hero who narrowly escapes goes to his office. There he finds his co-workers sobbing and watching the saga of the dead teenager on their computers. The anti-hero goes to his boss and says he is broke up and needs the day off. Next we see him telling his friend that people crying are whackers and stupid - the anti-hero and his friend then smoke a joint. Charles, I hope where ever you are, you can see movies. I know you would appreciate Children of Men's stab at society's nitwitery.
How about now that the awful event at Virginia Tech is a week past, we leave them alone to sort out their grief and we spend the media money and resources we are spending there now to do some profiles on our killed soldiers in Iraq. After all, we often lose 32 of them over there a week. Ah, wait, that's a crazy idea.
How about now that the awful event at Virginia Tech is a week past, we leave them alone to sort out their grief and we spend the media money and resources we are spending there now to do some profiles on our killed soldiers in Iraq. After all, we often lose 32 of them over there a week. Ah, wait, that's a crazy idea.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve. Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions. Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
3,323 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
3,323 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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