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.
Monday, April 30, 2007
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.
Friday, April 20, 2007
First Job of Bob - Dairy Farm - Part I - Things learned
From time to time I will revisit the jobs I have done in my life. It will take quit a few postings.
My first job was of course, working on the family farm in Wisconsin. Life on the family farm has been glamorized by popular media and culture - usually by those who never lived on one. My parents always told me we were well off - years later I realized we were actually rather poor. The days were long, and if you raised animals you were basically a prisoner to them. Yet, there was the freedom of owning one's own business.
From about 12 to 18 years old I worked on the farm. I got to work with my dad and his brother. This is something few kids get to do these days. So, I got to know my father quite well. I know things about him my mom probably never knew. You learn things about a person and all their nuances when you work with them, things you would never learn over a cup of coffee relationship.
Human resources people claim I should not use my farm work history on my resume. You might as well tell me you are taking away my American citizenship. The human resources culture can be deconstructed on another posting. Anyway, I will not let people take my farm history away from me.
A smart employer would realize that this humble farm work background instilled in me a knowledge of the four seasons. It taught me that there is a window to exploit the crops. Miss it and you have to wait until next season. It taught me to respect animals and how vital they were to the business. The cows were the milk and the milk was the pay check. They were not pets these huge beasts. Even the cats patrolled for mice among the grain bins.
It taught me the importance of making a payroll. And if you don't pay your bills in a small town you are as good as finished. It taught me that there is more reward in work than money. And it taught me that your finished product is a portrait of you in a way. Crocked corn rows and uneven shingles on a new shed roof mean you are probably an inattentive-to-detail person. And, everyone else then knows that too.
Working on the farm taught me to fix machines with no tools, parts, or resources. To this day I can keep machines running that should have been retired to a junk heap years ago. It taught me not to move someone's stuff. Tools and equipment often stayed in place season to season. Move them arbitrarily out of place and the work process is delayed. It taught me to get along with the neighbors. Someday they may have to save your property from god knows what while you just happened to be away for the afternoon.
It taught me that in a job many things happen at once and over time to make the process complete. On any given day dozens of things happen in the process of getting through the day. The cows are feed, the cows are milked, the cows are feed again, the barn is cleaned, some hay may be bailed, and some crop my be planted. The cows are milked again. Some equipment may be prepped for the next day. Some machine may be fixed. Fuel has to be ordered, a door may need to be repaired, a tire may need to be fixed. The cows are feed again. If you are lucky you can sneak an hour or two once a week to go to the high school football game.
Working on the farm taught me to respect the power of nature. One day the sky is beautiful, the next your buildings have been leveled by wind, your crops ruined by drought, and your animals at threat by disease. The farm taught me that things must be done by a team - usually the family in those days - and that was before the word "team" was in every business manifesto in America.
Dad insisted I not follow in his footsteps. He saw that farming was evolving into mega farms. The small guy's operation would be crushed, his body crushed to. He was prophetic. I moved on and he was glad I tried other things in life. That made him happy I know. He had said he always felt like a prisoner to the farm. But, he can take with him this. And that is for me at least, I take a piece of that farm work experience to work every day with every job I have ever had.
No human resources people, I am not going to apologize for spending my first job working on the farm for six years. It is part of who I am. If you try to take that from me you might as well ask me to pretend to be from another country.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,316 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
My first job was of course, working on the family farm in Wisconsin. Life on the family farm has been glamorized by popular media and culture - usually by those who never lived on one. My parents always told me we were well off - years later I realized we were actually rather poor. The days were long, and if you raised animals you were basically a prisoner to them. Yet, there was the freedom of owning one's own business.
From about 12 to 18 years old I worked on the farm. I got to work with my dad and his brother. This is something few kids get to do these days. So, I got to know my father quite well. I know things about him my mom probably never knew. You learn things about a person and all their nuances when you work with them, things you would never learn over a cup of coffee relationship.
Human resources people claim I should not use my farm work history on my resume. You might as well tell me you are taking away my American citizenship. The human resources culture can be deconstructed on another posting. Anyway, I will not let people take my farm history away from me.
A smart employer would realize that this humble farm work background instilled in me a knowledge of the four seasons. It taught me that there is a window to exploit the crops. Miss it and you have to wait until next season. It taught me to respect animals and how vital they were to the business. The cows were the milk and the milk was the pay check. They were not pets these huge beasts. Even the cats patrolled for mice among the grain bins.
It taught me the importance of making a payroll. And if you don't pay your bills in a small town you are as good as finished. It taught me that there is more reward in work than money. And it taught me that your finished product is a portrait of you in a way. Crocked corn rows and uneven shingles on a new shed roof mean you are probably an inattentive-to-detail person. And, everyone else then knows that too.
Working on the farm taught me to fix machines with no tools, parts, or resources. To this day I can keep machines running that should have been retired to a junk heap years ago. It taught me not to move someone's stuff. Tools and equipment often stayed in place season to season. Move them arbitrarily out of place and the work process is delayed. It taught me to get along with the neighbors. Someday they may have to save your property from god knows what while you just happened to be away for the afternoon.
It taught me that in a job many things happen at once and over time to make the process complete. On any given day dozens of things happen in the process of getting through the day. The cows are feed, the cows are milked, the cows are feed again, the barn is cleaned, some hay may be bailed, and some crop my be planted. The cows are milked again. Some equipment may be prepped for the next day. Some machine may be fixed. Fuel has to be ordered, a door may need to be repaired, a tire may need to be fixed. The cows are feed again. If you are lucky you can sneak an hour or two once a week to go to the high school football game.
Working on the farm taught me to respect the power of nature. One day the sky is beautiful, the next your buildings have been leveled by wind, your crops ruined by drought, and your animals at threat by disease. The farm taught me that things must be done by a team - usually the family in those days - and that was before the word "team" was in every business manifesto in America.
Dad insisted I not follow in his footsteps. He saw that farming was evolving into mega farms. The small guy's operation would be crushed, his body crushed to. He was prophetic. I moved on and he was glad I tried other things in life. That made him happy I know. He had said he always felt like a prisoner to the farm. But, he can take with him this. And that is for me at least, I take a piece of that farm work experience to work every day with every job I have ever had.
No human resources people, I am not going to apologize for spending my first job working on the farm for six years. It is part of who I am. If you try to take that from me you might as well ask me to pretend to be from another country.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,316 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Tormenting smokers - and liking it
I was so pleased with my response posting today on Paul Soglin's Waxing America blog that I am re-posting it here. I hope they do not mind. They were discussing yet another smoking law. This one is a statewide ban proposal. Here is my response to the pundits:
Ah, the poetry of irony. I don't smoke but always look for paradox in issues like this that advance the nanification-of-American society. Yet another smoking law would strain the paradigm of the notion of an orderly paradise. A person would not be able to smoke in a casino, but could gamble away their very soul under the smiling face of the government. A person would not be able to have one last cigarette with some friends at the neighborhood bar before going off to Iraq to be blown to bits. Smoking might advance a person's hastening of old-age health issues and burden the health care system - oh yes, many of us can't get health care anyway. Perhaps people could sneak out behind the barn an grab a drag - after all, the farmer does not use it, the family farm is just a patch of weeds now. Perhaps I could light one last butt up before some maniac guns me down while I stop on the way home for some soda pop and eggs at the quick mart. Don't smoke in front of your pets and kids either. Oh, yes, the Chinese poisoned my dog and a maniac gunned down my kid. And how is that war on drugs going?
Ah, the poetry of irony. I don't smoke but always look for paradox in issues like this that advance the nanification-of-American society. Yet another smoking law would strain the paradigm of the notion of an orderly paradise. A person would not be able to smoke in a casino, but could gamble away their very soul under the smiling face of the government. A person would not be able to have one last cigarette with some friends at the neighborhood bar before going off to Iraq to be blown to bits. Smoking might advance a person's hastening of old-age health issues and burden the health care system - oh yes, many of us can't get health care anyway. Perhaps people could sneak out behind the barn an grab a drag - after all, the farmer does not use it, the family farm is just a patch of weeds now. Perhaps I could light one last butt up before some maniac guns me down while I stop on the way home for some soda pop and eggs at the quick mart. Don't smoke in front of your pets and kids either. Oh, yes, the Chinese poisoned my dog and a maniac gunned down my kid. And how is that war on drugs going?
Cigarettes are a soft target. There is something satisfying about lording over those that are weaker than us non-smokers. Cigarette smokers have no power. They huddle in doorways in the icy wind while they steal a break from their non-benefit, part-time job. They are relegated to the status of crack addicts. They should be pushed to the underground culture of society were they belong. We should embrace that we can crush them socially and it affords us power to be arrogant and get away with it - and we like that. It is about the only thing in society we seem able to influence any more. And, smokers are the only group left it is politically correct to openly torment. I am concerned that once cigarette smokers are all gone, and the last lung cancer wing is turned into a compound for old people with no health care, we will have to find another class of people to lord over and that search may be fatiguing. Hey, wait, perhaps it could be the uninsured, it is their fault after all - just stay tuned.
We embrace gambling, war, guns, the Chinese mafia that supplies our food ingredients to us as our own farms fall by the way, we have a whole generation who has no health care, that same generation has never known what it is like to have weekends off, the illegal drugs keep pouring in, and many of us languish at part-time, non-benefit jobs; but, let my tell you this. By the grace of what ever God you bring with you, you better not smoke in that neighborhood bar.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,315 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A Tale of Two Kurdistans
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times - in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In January 2006 National Geographic Magazine did what I thought was a gritty piece ( Link ) on Northern Iraq. It was so stinging in its timbre that the first time I read it I thought in the back of my mind it is a bit out of character for that magazine. In a nutshell they said, Kurdistan of Iraq in Northern Iraq is happy it is realizing more and more autonomy and peace compared to the South of Iraq. They also hammered home that the Kurds like America. No hard feelings toward us for once being cozy with Saddam. They themselves had a few arrangements with the devil too. But, though National Geographic writer and journalist Frank Viviano drove home that although there are activities of growth, security, unity, and governance, Kurdistan of Northern Iraq has been and still could be a powder keg. They have fought a civil war amongst themselves, they are at war with the Turks (a well kept dirty little secret), and the Kurds want Mosel and Kirkuk to be Kurdish cities again. A gigantic oil field sits under Kirkuk.
The Kurds fly their own flag, they have their own government, they boast a loyal 175,000 man army. Baghdad, Washington, and Turkey call it a militia. While in Iraq last year I have seen their Kurdish Pesmerga Armyand it is not a militia in Hawaiian shirts and sandals with AK-47 rifles. Rather, it is a lean, mean fighting machine. They walk amongst the people. They are in the food shops, the markets, the barber shops, and they sit in the cafés - locked and loaded with cigarettes in mouth and AK-47s on shoulders chatting with the folk. They have the Kurdish flag on their often well-tailored uniforms. They have ubiquitous checkpoints. They are ubiquitous. They tolerate us only to a point. Having been in a combat trained unit in the U.S. Army myself I know fighting them would be a daunting task.
Then came CBS and 60-Minutes. They aired a 12 minute piece ( Link ) on Kurdistan of Iraq on February 18. Bob Simmon (captured by the Iraqis in the first Gulf War) went about with a bemused look on his face. He interviewed the Prime Minister of Northern Iraq and then interviewed a Kurd living in Northern Iraq who grew up in America. Simmon seemed oblivious to the Third-World optimism the two Kurds dished up to him. They are proud of their region and treat it as an independent nation. They want us to believe in them and their region. They often however, find wealth in optimism alone.
But, having been there myself I realize the Kurds are gigantic optimists. And, bad news stalls investment money. Simmon and crew headed out, slapped their hands together, and called Kurdistan of Northern Iraq a victory. That is rather unlike the historically pesky 60-Minutes style. And unlike National Geographic and me, 60-Minutes apparently did not wander into the gray area between Kurdistan and Iraq proper. Or, if they did they did not mention it. The dynamic border changes daily. The Middle World between the two Iraq's is Orwellian at best. An American can be disappeared there.
There, in the frontier between North, South, Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, militias do wander amongst the Kurds and Iraqis. The very East of Kurdish Iraq is fraught with Islamists. The border with Iran is porous. There is a loose agreement between all the parties - the Western Kurds, the Turks, the Eastern Kurds, the Iranians, and the Kurdish Islamists. In Halabja (sight of the 1988 gassing of thousand of Kurds) a mile or so from Iran, I never felt safe and was detained for a half hour at a check point with militia soldiers from I no not which group. A doctor in my vehicle talked them into letting me continue my journey.
I should be glad 60-Minutes sent a crew to that important part of the world at all I suppose. They seemed to be satisfied with comments from the elitist class and called it a day. No mention that if one travels there one must be very, very careful. The Kurds and 60-minutes leave the viewer believing perhaps that it is as safe as Norway. This notion is patently unrealistic. There is little electricity, no reliable banking for the average guy, no maps, transportation is handled by the mafia, bad guys just disappear if caught, and communication between all the Kurdish factions are precarious at best.
But, I am much more glad National Geographic saw fit to wander amongst the people in the dangerous fringes. Something I did too. There in the fringes of Kurdistan, among the average people, lies the key to if our glass is half full or half empty in Iraq. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,311 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
The Kurds fly their own flag, they have their own government, they boast a loyal 175,000 man army. Baghdad, Washington, and Turkey call it a militia. While in Iraq last year I have seen their Kurdish Pesmerga Armyand it is not a militia in Hawaiian shirts and sandals with AK-47 rifles. Rather, it is a lean, mean fighting machine. They walk amongst the people. They are in the food shops, the markets, the barber shops, and they sit in the cafés - locked and loaded with cigarettes in mouth and AK-47s on shoulders chatting with the folk. They have the Kurdish flag on their often well-tailored uniforms. They have ubiquitous checkpoints. They are ubiquitous. They tolerate us only to a point. Having been in a combat trained unit in the U.S. Army myself I know fighting them would be a daunting task.
Then came CBS and 60-Minutes. They aired a 12 minute piece ( Link ) on Kurdistan of Iraq on February 18. Bob Simmon (captured by the Iraqis in the first Gulf War) went about with a bemused look on his face. He interviewed the Prime Minister of Northern Iraq and then interviewed a Kurd living in Northern Iraq who grew up in America. Simmon seemed oblivious to the Third-World optimism the two Kurds dished up to him. They are proud of their region and treat it as an independent nation. They want us to believe in them and their region. They often however, find wealth in optimism alone.
But, having been there myself I realize the Kurds are gigantic optimists. And, bad news stalls investment money. Simmon and crew headed out, slapped their hands together, and called Kurdistan of Northern Iraq a victory. That is rather unlike the historically pesky 60-Minutes style. And unlike National Geographic and me, 60-Minutes apparently did not wander into the gray area between Kurdistan and Iraq proper. Or, if they did they did not mention it. The dynamic border changes daily. The Middle World between the two Iraq's is Orwellian at best. An American can be disappeared there.
There, in the frontier between North, South, Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, militias do wander amongst the Kurds and Iraqis. The very East of Kurdish Iraq is fraught with Islamists. The border with Iran is porous. There is a loose agreement between all the parties - the Western Kurds, the Turks, the Eastern Kurds, the Iranians, and the Kurdish Islamists. In Halabja (sight of the 1988 gassing of thousand of Kurds) a mile or so from Iran, I never felt safe and was detained for a half hour at a check point with militia soldiers from I no not which group. A doctor in my vehicle talked them into letting me continue my journey.
I should be glad 60-Minutes sent a crew to that important part of the world at all I suppose. They seemed to be satisfied with comments from the elitist class and called it a day. No mention that if one travels there one must be very, very careful. The Kurds and 60-minutes leave the viewer believing perhaps that it is as safe as Norway. This notion is patently unrealistic. There is little electricity, no reliable banking for the average guy, no maps, transportation is handled by the mafia, bad guys just disappear if caught, and communication between all the Kurdish factions are precarious at best.
But, I am much more glad National Geographic saw fit to wander amongst the people in the dangerous fringes. Something I did too. There in the fringes of Kurdistan, among the average people, lies the key to if our glass is half full or half empty in Iraq. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,311 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Virginia Tech
Events happen in this instant message, cell phone ubiquitous, 24-hour news society, that demand our immediate interaction. So I feel compelled to comment. I remember when Charles Whitman fired on students from the University of Texas Tower in Austin in August 1966. He killed 15 and wounded 31. Vietnam was just getting good and reved up in our national back ground. Richard Speck had systematically killed eight student nurses from South Chicago just weeks earlier in July, 1966. President Kennedy had been assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald just 32 months prior, also in Texas. The world had gone insane.
Maybe the world was always insane but by then the outside world insanity was becoming closer because radio was already being ubiquitous and television was close behind. Something began to become closer to home by the mid-Sixties. It was like a lurking evil. I am sure an evil has always been out there. It just manifests itself different to its environment. Slavery and the carnage of the Civil War one hundred year prior were brutally graphic to the participants. The world was insane then too.
Since Oswald, Speck, and Whitman it is easy to lose track of the many domestic killers since. There have been names along the way, John Wayne Cassy killed 33, Jeffery Dahmer killed 17, Timothy McVeigh killed 168. There have been killings in businesses, work places, McDonald's, cafés, and Post Offices. So many, the term "Postal" has permanently entered our language to describe someone going nuts and killing people. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 and wounded 24. The 19, 9-Eleven terrorists killed 2,973 people. Bombers in Iraq kill dozens every day over and over. The number of people killed in Virginia would not equal the number killed in Iraq every day. We are up to present time. The world has still gone insane.
Yesterday a man at Polytechic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) killed 32 and wounded possibly 28. The world is still insane. The media will beat us to death with this latest act of insanity for weeks - replete with theme music. Their big media satellite vans are already arriving on scene. A Pentagon size map of the campus is on the TV screen. The only person on earth possibly breathing a sigh of relief today is Don Imus. He is gone from the relentless headlines and talk show diatribes most likely now for good.
Aside from the obvious reassurance that the world is still insane, there is a couple of observations that people will not like. There observations speak to a condition that seems to defy society and can not seem to be stopped. My observations of it speaks to me living so long to see it over and over again.
Observation One: If one lone person wants to wreak havoc on a society, all the king's horses and all the king's men can not always stop it. Refer to current Iraq where soldiers are on every corner (I have seen them) and the Oklahoma City tragedy.
Observation Two: There were already a number of law enforcement on the Virginia Tech campus due to the early killings on campus. By the time the second wave of killing started I noticed the video from the cell phone camera by-standers revealed the arriving law enforcement were dressed like a combat wardrobe section from a military supply catalog. All those cops, all those shinny cars, all those mass casualty trailers, all those ambulances, all those machine guns, snippers in helmets and bullet resistant vests, dogs with their combat clad handlers - and 32 people died, another 30 were wounded. The shooter - well he killed himself they say.
Having worked in protective service for 10 years with 9-Eleven right in the middle of that time frame, I know the government has dished out millions of dollars to law enforcement for fancy equipment. They all arrived on scene, hundreds of militarized police from a dozen agencies. Millions of dollars of new shinny Homeland Security equipment spruin the campus. This is something I was schooled by a wise protective service instructor to notice as a "vanity army."
Yet, the killer did his evil deed, and did it in the midst of an army fit for a king, and when it was all said and done he killed himself. To make matters worse, the symbiotic campus within the city lends itself to a mindset of habitual safety. Students go about their business often even oblivious to the traffic they cross.
You can bet your last AK-47 bullet that the bad guys around the world have not missed this nuance. Oh yes, I saw for myself that in Iraq and the Middle East that they have more news channels than we do. They "ain't got no" running water or electricity, but the dish televisions run on generators and everyone has three cell phones. The world's insanity remains intact.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,311 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Maybe the world was always insane but by then the outside world insanity was becoming closer because radio was already being ubiquitous and television was close behind. Something began to become closer to home by the mid-Sixties. It was like a lurking evil. I am sure an evil has always been out there. It just manifests itself different to its environment. Slavery and the carnage of the Civil War one hundred year prior were brutally graphic to the participants. The world was insane then too.
Since Oswald, Speck, and Whitman it is easy to lose track of the many domestic killers since. There have been names along the way, John Wayne Cassy killed 33, Jeffery Dahmer killed 17, Timothy McVeigh killed 168. There have been killings in businesses, work places, McDonald's, cafés, and Post Offices. So many, the term "Postal" has permanently entered our language to describe someone going nuts and killing people. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 and wounded 24. The 19, 9-Eleven terrorists killed 2,973 people. Bombers in Iraq kill dozens every day over and over. The number of people killed in Virginia would not equal the number killed in Iraq every day. We are up to present time. The world has still gone insane.
Yesterday a man at Polytechic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) killed 32 and wounded possibly 28. The world is still insane. The media will beat us to death with this latest act of insanity for weeks - replete with theme music. Their big media satellite vans are already arriving on scene. A Pentagon size map of the campus is on the TV screen. The only person on earth possibly breathing a sigh of relief today is Don Imus. He is gone from the relentless headlines and talk show diatribes most likely now for good.
Aside from the obvious reassurance that the world is still insane, there is a couple of observations that people will not like. There observations speak to a condition that seems to defy society and can not seem to be stopped. My observations of it speaks to me living so long to see it over and over again.
Observation One: If one lone person wants to wreak havoc on a society, all the king's horses and all the king's men can not always stop it. Refer to current Iraq where soldiers are on every corner (I have seen them) and the Oklahoma City tragedy.
Observation Two: There were already a number of law enforcement on the Virginia Tech campus due to the early killings on campus. By the time the second wave of killing started I noticed the video from the cell phone camera by-standers revealed the arriving law enforcement were dressed like a combat wardrobe section from a military supply catalog. All those cops, all those shinny cars, all those mass casualty trailers, all those ambulances, all those machine guns, snippers in helmets and bullet resistant vests, dogs with their combat clad handlers - and 32 people died, another 30 were wounded. The shooter - well he killed himself they say.
Having worked in protective service for 10 years with 9-Eleven right in the middle of that time frame, I know the government has dished out millions of dollars to law enforcement for fancy equipment. They all arrived on scene, hundreds of militarized police from a dozen agencies. Millions of dollars of new shinny Homeland Security equipment spruin the campus. This is something I was schooled by a wise protective service instructor to notice as a "vanity army."
Yet, the killer did his evil deed, and did it in the midst of an army fit for a king, and when it was all said and done he killed himself. To make matters worse, the symbiotic campus within the city lends itself to a mindset of habitual safety. Students go about their business often even oblivious to the traffic they cross.
You can bet your last AK-47 bullet that the bad guys around the world have not missed this nuance. Oh yes, I saw for myself that in Iraq and the Middle East that they have more news channels than we do. They "ain't got no" running water or electricity, but the dish televisions run on generators and everyone has three cell phones. The world's insanity remains intact.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,311 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Wisconsin Journalists in Iraq - lack thereof
One of my recurring themes of late is the frustrating phenomena of American society going about its business while the Iraq War languishes on. This same culture happened during Vietnam. One can live the whole war out never being touched by it (either by choice, or by ignorance).
Nowhere is an example of this trend manifested better than the collective Wisconsin media's lack of in-country Iraq reporting. As far as I can tell only ten or so Wisconsin reporters have been there in the last four years. I am open to correction if anyone can find the real number. That's what blogs are all about. My honor will not be destroyed if I am corrected to the numbers.
In contrast to the dismal showing in Iraq, the collective Wisconsin media sent, oh let's say, probably one-hundred or so journalists to the Capital One Bowl this past January 1st in Orlando, Florida. Take a stab at the expense allowances for so many journalists from Wisconsin television, radio, university press and staff, and newspapers. It was surely around at a minimal, one thousand dollars for a couple days down there per person. Many entities had people down there at the Bowl for the week. So then can we say 1,000 to 3,500 dollars per person per visit? Average it out to about 2,200 per person times 100 media people and staff. So is 220,000 dollars a reasonable guess? A quarter of a million dollars? For one football game?
Yet we whine and complain about the war, "they say," "well I hear," "the Associated Press says," "well I suppose," "you know its hard to tell", "they are stuck in the 'Green Zone." Seventy-one dead Wisconsin soldiers in now our fifth year of war. Ten journalists in the same time period in-country, the last of which was there some time ago. Am I missing something here? Am I just an old "defy-the-norms" anarchist? Society knows best? We could have a situational comedy television show, I could play the recurring character, 'Bob the perennial skeptic' always spoiling everyone's cake and Latte moment.
The above diatribe contains speculative but what I think are reasonable assumptions. I do however know for a fact, that one journalist can go to the Kurdish Region of Turkey and Norther Iraq (this is a war zone by the way, much to everyone's befuddlement) for six weeks for 3,000 dollars. Said journalist still has all his fingers and toes.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,302 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Nowhere is an example of this trend manifested better than the collective Wisconsin media's lack of in-country Iraq reporting. As far as I can tell only ten or so Wisconsin reporters have been there in the last four years. I am open to correction if anyone can find the real number. That's what blogs are all about. My honor will not be destroyed if I am corrected to the numbers.
In contrast to the dismal showing in Iraq, the collective Wisconsin media sent, oh let's say, probably one-hundred or so journalists to the Capital One Bowl this past January 1st in Orlando, Florida. Take a stab at the expense allowances for so many journalists from Wisconsin television, radio, university press and staff, and newspapers. It was surely around at a minimal, one thousand dollars for a couple days down there per person. Many entities had people down there at the Bowl for the week. So then can we say 1,000 to 3,500 dollars per person per visit? Average it out to about 2,200 per person times 100 media people and staff. So is 220,000 dollars a reasonable guess? A quarter of a million dollars? For one football game?
Yet we whine and complain about the war, "they say," "well I hear," "the Associated Press says," "well I suppose," "you know its hard to tell", "they are stuck in the 'Green Zone." Seventy-one dead Wisconsin soldiers in now our fifth year of war. Ten journalists in the same time period in-country, the last of which was there some time ago. Am I missing something here? Am I just an old "defy-the-norms" anarchist? Society knows best? We could have a situational comedy television show, I could play the recurring character, 'Bob the perennial skeptic' always spoiling everyone's cake and Latte moment.
The above diatribe contains speculative but what I think are reasonable assumptions. I do however know for a fact, that one journalist can go to the Kurdish Region of Turkey and Norther Iraq (this is a war zone by the way, much to everyone's befuddlement) for six weeks for 3,000 dollars. Said journalist still has all his fingers and toes.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Mathew Schram, a major in the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed on May 26, 2003 about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad in Haditha, Iraq. His resupply mission convoy came under attack from gunmen who opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The Brookfield native was 36. He was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989 and participating in the first Gulf War 12 years prior.
3,302 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Friday, April 13, 2007
“Got-to-move-out-of-state-to-find-work” culture
I attended the Rock County Board of Supervisors meeting last night. It is what I do. I am a non-smoking, non-drinking 50 something with a craving for politics and some journalistic snooping. It also speaks to the fact I have no life. The Supervisor over my district a while ago left the post because she moved out of the district. The guy who took her place then left also because he too moved out the district. Neither of them was what I would describe as grey.
Last night in midst of the County Business at hand, Supervisor Adam Peer resigned because he is taking a job in Alexandria, Virginia. He is 29 years old. You can take a look at the mug shots of the 29 Rock County Supervisors on the Rock County Web sit. Few of them if any look under 50.
Now is an aging elected leadership of a multi-million dollar budgeted county a bad thing? Heck, I do not know. But, I do know that Supervisor Peer is part of a long trend inWisconsin
Not long ago theUniversity of Wisconsin Mission Wisconsin
The point to today's diatribe is that you have to have a job for the graduate to stay for. I don't know if Mr. Peer is a product of the University of Wisconsinsystem. In the few times I have attended County Board meetings Supervisor Peer impressed me as a thoughtful, sincere, and well spoken dude. The kind of guy a company in some other state would love to have. I fear Mr. Peer is one of a long line of people who have fledWisconsin for their career-minded lives.
I would take the job too. Not that anyone will offer a 50 something guy a job anymore. I might try to live in both locations since I am tired of spending a life-time moving for jobs myself. This is the area I grew up in and I would like to make it my last stop. But, if the opportunity presented itself even in my 50s I would have to look at the options long and hard in this "got-to-move-out-of-state-to-find-work"Wisconsin culture.
Last night in midst of the County Business at hand, Supervisor Adam Peer resigned because he is taking a job in Alexandria, Virginia. He is 29 years old. You can take a look at the mug shots of the 29 Rock County Supervisors on the Rock County Web sit. Few of them if any look under 50.
Now is an aging elected leadership of a multi-million dollar budgeted county a bad thing? Heck, I do not know. But, I do know that Supervisor Peer is part of a long trend in
Not long ago the
The point to today's diatribe is that you have to have a job for the graduate to stay for. I don't know if Mr. Peer is a product of the University of Wisconsinsystem. In the few times I have attended County Board meetings Supervisor Peer impressed me as a thoughtful, sincere, and well spoken dude. The kind of guy a company in some other state would love to have. I fear Mr. Peer is one of a long line of people who have fled
I would take the job too. Not that anyone will offer a 50 something guy a job anymore. I might try to live in both locations since I am tired of spending a life-time moving for jobs myself. This is the area I grew up in and I would like to make it my last stop. But, if the opportunity presented itself even in my 50s I would have to look at the options long and hard in this "got-to-move-out-of-state-to-find-work"
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Kirk Straseskie of Beaver Dam, and a sergeant with the B Company Marines. He died while participating in the rescue of the crew of a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that crashed in a canal near Hilla , Iraq , on May 19, 2003. Kirk was 23 years old.
3,298 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
We Languish on in Iraq
The word has been handed down that United States military Iraq tours of duty will be lengthened from 12 months to 15 months. I was never shot at in my three years in the U.S. Army stationed up around the Czechoslovakian border. I do however know what it is like to spend two Thanksgivings; two Christmases; and, three Forth of Julys in a foreign country that I never trusted really had my best interest at the top of their list.
Having been in the Army in 1975 when Saigon and South Vietnam collapsed, I got a balcony seat in watching a war effort by the United States totally and finally implode. The failure manifested itself in a united, communist Vietnam, (just the opposite of what we wanted) and the exodus of thousands and thousands of Vietnamese and Hmong to the four corners of the World. Most notable to us, is Little Saigon in Los Angles, California. Lets not even dwell on Cambodia in today's blog.
The point being here that prior to the implosion of our "project" in Vietnam, the Army played with tours of duty, deferment eligibilities, and enlistment eligibility requirements. Now, like then, they are juggling logistics with soldiers lives. And, each election year since the Vietnam War ended we argue about who did what and if we won the war or not. I have been to Vietnam three times since the war and Iraq once during this war. Let me assure everyone Vietnam is still communist and Iraq is still splintered.
What is today's blog about? One isolated policy change with the Army, or....perhaps it is something about noticing things that seem all too familiar that as I remember - from a balcony seat - did not turn out so well.
Each day no matter what big-media idiot has foisted themselves into the news with some alleged compelling deed, or what dead rich entertainer we are instructed by the big-media to feel compassion for, Cool Dadio Media will note the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq. As well, once a week, Cool Dadio Media will take a second of time and a line or two and mention one of Wisconsin's soldiers who has given the ultimate price to society.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Kirk Straseskie of Beaver Dam, and a sergeant with the B Company Marines. He died while participating in the rescue of the crew of a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that crashed in a canal near Hilla, Iraq, on May 19, 2003. Kirk was 23 years old.
Having been in the Army in 1975 when Saigon and South Vietnam collapsed, I got a balcony seat in watching a war effort by the United States totally and finally implode. The failure manifested itself in a united, communist Vietnam, (just the opposite of what we wanted) and the exodus of thousands and thousands of Vietnamese and Hmong to the four corners of the World. Most notable to us, is Little Saigon in Los Angles, California. Lets not even dwell on Cambodia in today's blog.
The point being here that prior to the implosion of our "project" in Vietnam, the Army played with tours of duty, deferment eligibilities, and enlistment eligibility requirements. Now, like then, they are juggling logistics with soldiers lives. And, each election year since the Vietnam War ended we argue about who did what and if we won the war or not. I have been to Vietnam three times since the war and Iraq once during this war. Let me assure everyone Vietnam is still communist and Iraq is still splintered.
What is today's blog about? One isolated policy change with the Army, or....perhaps it is something about noticing things that seem all too familiar that as I remember - from a balcony seat - did not turn out so well.
Each day no matter what big-media idiot has foisted themselves into the news with some alleged compelling deed, or what dead rich entertainer we are instructed by the big-media to feel compassion for, Cool Dadio Media will note the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq. As well, once a week, Cool Dadio Media will take a second of time and a line or two and mention one of Wisconsin's soldiers who has given the ultimate price to society.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Kirk Straseskie of Beaver Dam, and a sergeant with the B Company Marines. He died while participating in the rescue of the crew of a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that crashed in a canal near Hilla, Iraq, on May 19, 2003. Kirk was 23 years old.
3,294 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Parting thoughts - Sorry to see Kurt Vonnegut passed away. Here's to Player Piano and Dr. Proteus.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
What's "Really" Important News?
What's "Really" Important? The big-media are working their fingers to the bone, arguing about another dead rich entertainer. They are also beating to death what one of their brother big-media hacks has said about some subject or other. Don't worry about who said what, next week another one of the talking heads will also stick their foot in their own mouth and have their colleagues beat their words to death. They have all in affect, become the news by self anointing, rather than the finders and couriers of the news.
So what is Cool Dadio Media think is important? (1) We know that at least 3,292 American soldiers have died in Iraq since their mission started there in Spring 2003. (2) We are now starting year five of our war there in Iraq. (3) We here in Wisconsin have had at least 70 of our military service people killed in Iraq since the Spring of 2003. (4) And, since Cool Dadio Media is a small outfit, its media battles should be fought carefully, so Wisconsin's soldiers are the focus.
Each day no matter what big-media idiot has foisted themselves into the news with some alleged compelling deed, or what dead rich entertainer we are instructed by the big-media to feel compassion for, Cool Dadio Media will note the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq. As well, once a week, Cool Dadio Media will take a second of time and a line or two and mention one of Wisconsin's soldiers who has given the ultimate price to society.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Kirk Straseskie of Beaver Dam, and a sergeant with the B Company Marines. He died while participating in the rescue of the crew of a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that crashed in a canal near Hilla, Iraq, on May 19, 2003. Kirk was 23 years old.
3,292 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
So what is Cool Dadio Media think is important? (1) We know that at least 3,292 American soldiers have died in Iraq since their mission started there in Spring 2003. (2) We are now starting year five of our war there in Iraq. (3) We here in Wisconsin have had at least 70 of our military service people killed in Iraq since the Spring of 2003. (4) And, since Cool Dadio Media is a small outfit, its media battles should be fought carefully, so Wisconsin's soldiers are the focus.
Each day no matter what big-media idiot has foisted themselves into the news with some alleged compelling deed, or what dead rich entertainer we are instructed by the big-media to feel compassion for, Cool Dadio Media will note the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq. As well, once a week, Cool Dadio Media will take a second of time and a line or two and mention one of Wisconsin's soldiers who has given the ultimate price to society.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Kirk Straseskie of Beaver Dam, and a sergeant with the B Company Marines. He died while participating in the rescue of the crew of a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that crashed in a canal near Hilla, Iraq, on May 19, 2003. Kirk was 23 years old.
3,292 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Welcome to Daily Dadio blog
Welcome to Daily Dadio. This is intended to be a daily bog set apart from my overseas writing. I have set this daily option up so as not to confuse the daily grind of issues in Wisconsin and the United States with my special projects writing in, and about Vietnam, Laos, Iraq, Turkey, and Kurdistan. Those topics can be found in my travel journal at (site address pending).
I hope I am still able to connect two complete sentences together. This era is a virtual treasure trove of paradoxical issues and events. It would be a shame to leave observations and poetic irony shelved in the dusty brain. Release the hounds.
I hope I am still able to connect two complete sentences together. This era is a virtual treasure trove of paradoxical issues and events. It would be a shame to leave observations and poetic irony shelved in the dusty brain. Release the hounds.
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