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.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
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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