Mission Accomplished.....
I received an email and some great photos today from Major Gabriella Pasek at the 1st Cavalry Division's forward base in Taji, Iraq. As you recall I sent some of Joe Galloway's We Were Soldiers images to Major Pasek who wanted to use them as a backdrop for their Thanksgiving Day celebration. The theme was the 1st Cav's history in combat and the Ia Drang campaign was highlighted for the Vietnam segment of the display.
What they did using one of the photos is truly remarkable. A living history diorama, that as you'll see in the photos, is almost museum quality. Major Pasek has also promised to name a local military landmark for me, as is my usual qratuity for photographic assistance. She warns me though that there are very few permanent structures at their base so I may have to settle for the "Captain Wallace H. Craig Porta-Potty". Good enough.
Take a look at the photos: 1st Cav Thanksgiving
Sunday, November 28, 2004
AWOL.......
I'm beginning to wonder if there wasn't some terminal turkey consumption on Thanksgiving three days ago. Many of my usual reading suspects seemed to have not made it through the feast. Crosstown blogger Eric at The Fireant Gazette has not reported in. Nor has Todd at The Steiner Aid up in Michigan. The usually punctual and prolific sage The Discerning Texan is MIA also. And that downunder wit and bon vivante Professor Bunyip has gone missing since the last days of October.
We miss you....if you need assistance please fire up one [1] green star cluster.
Update 10 P.M.: The Discerning Texan has come back to life, probably just out celebrating another shallow victory by the U.of Texas. And a miracle has occured in Australia....Professor Bunyip has reemerged, apparently after been being held captive by the Women's Studies Dept. at Sydney Orr University for over one month.
I'm beginning to wonder if there wasn't some terminal turkey consumption on Thanksgiving three days ago. Many of my usual reading suspects seemed to have not made it through the feast. Crosstown blogger Eric at The Fireant Gazette has not reported in. Nor has Todd at The Steiner Aid up in Michigan. The usually punctual and prolific sage The Discerning Texan is MIA also. And that downunder wit and bon vivante Professor Bunyip has gone missing since the last days of October.
We miss you....if you need assistance please fire up one [1] green star cluster.
Update 10 P.M.: The Discerning Texan has come back to life, probably just out celebrating another shallow victory by the U.of Texas. And a miracle has occured in Australia....Professor Bunyip has reemerged, apparently after been being held captive by the Women's Studies Dept. at Sydney Orr University for over one month.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Coober Pedy Update.....
How long has it been since you've heard the latest news from Coober Pedy? Well pardner, that's to long.
Coober Pedy, Australia is my official sister city so I keep up with their goings on, but perhaps you haven't. Big things are brewing in CP. Gary has just posted the current edition of The Coober Pedy News where you can peruse the latest. But the big issue facing the citizens there is the referendum to ban "pokies" from the city. Pokies are the government registered poker gambling machines. Gary has outlined how the local folks have always had a game of chance going somewhere but it was usually a friendly poker game at some local gathering spot such as the Italian Club. But now, it seems, the federal government has taken over the action with the pokies. In other words most of the gambling money is now leaving town. The Coober Pedians would rather their gambling money recirculate within the community so a movement has formed to ban the pokies. Stay tuned!
In other news of the week worth reading school board elections were held, not without some voter irregularity and distraction by cell phones [happens even in the Outback], and the dog population of the city is being reined in. In a private converstion, Gary tells me that besides his opal mining operation he has also started a freight handling business. I questioned him about how freight comes to Coober Pedy and he tells me that it is all by truck....about 8 semi loads a week. Seems the new Australian Trans-Continental Railroad bypasses Coober by about 20 miles and a decent siding was not located there.
For those of us that can't wait the week or two between Gary's online edition of the Coober Pedy News, I have set up The Coober Pedy Blog for Gary and he tells me that he'll give it a go shortly. Can't wait!
How long has it been since you've heard the latest news from Coober Pedy? Well pardner, that's to long.
Coober Pedy, Australia is my official sister city so I keep up with their goings on, but perhaps you haven't. Big things are brewing in CP. Gary has just posted the current edition of The Coober Pedy News where you can peruse the latest. But the big issue facing the citizens there is the referendum to ban "pokies" from the city. Pokies are the government registered poker gambling machines. Gary has outlined how the local folks have always had a game of chance going somewhere but it was usually a friendly poker game at some local gathering spot such as the Italian Club. But now, it seems, the federal government has taken over the action with the pokies. In other words most of the gambling money is now leaving town. The Coober Pedians would rather their gambling money recirculate within the community so a movement has formed to ban the pokies. Stay tuned!
In other news of the week worth reading school board elections were held, not without some voter irregularity and distraction by cell phones [happens even in the Outback], and the dog population of the city is being reined in. In a private converstion, Gary tells me that besides his opal mining operation he has also started a freight handling business. I questioned him about how freight comes to Coober Pedy and he tells me that it is all by truck....about 8 semi loads a week. Seems the new Australian Trans-Continental Railroad bypasses Coober by about 20 miles and a decent siding was not located there.
For those of us that can't wait the week or two between Gary's online edition of the Coober Pedy News, I have set up The Coober Pedy Blog for Gary and he tells me that he'll give it a go shortly. Can't wait!
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Another year gone by....
You take it from there. But I'm told that I look younger than I am and I feel that way, though maybe I'm just deluding myself. I suppose that I would not be totally responsible for that delusion, however, because I live in somewhat of a time warp.
We live about 5 blocks from the house I grew up in and some of the same folks I knew in the 1960's still live in the neighborhood and I see them constantly. I drive by my elementary school and my junior and senior high schools almost daily and run into old High School classmates quite regularly. I had a nice chat with my sixth grade music teacher last year.....she said she remembered me as quite talented. She lied, but how kind and how nice to see someone that knew me as a young lad. Though Midland has in many ways certainly grown and changed in the five decades my family has called it home, in more ways it is still the same. And now though physically I'm xx years old, it's not hard to imagine myself cruising the streets as a teenager. I sometimes get that feeling quite literally when a Beach Boys tune airs in the car.
But tonight I was officially xx years old. It was a great way to spend one's xxth birthday, with only close family nearby. Julie and Jack, my older brother his wife and their two young girls [girls 5 and 8 years old, and he's older than me....but that's another story] and my folks. A combination birthday celebration for me, one of my niece's whose birthday is Friday and Thanksgiving since my brothers family departs for home tomorrow. A fine turkey dinner and entertaining conversation chiefly provided by three young kids. And then there was my surprise present....a complete Sporting Kilt Set provided by my trend setting bride. As reported previously, the Craig family has a strong Scottish heritage which she wishes to accentuate. And lest you think that she sees me as a new metrosexual go to the previous link and notice who is wearing this latest fashion statement.
And here's a hint that comes with the experience that being xx years old brings. Under no circumstances do you ever want to get a birthday cake with large amounts of blue icing involved. Don't ever do this. Kids and adults alike dove into the delicious cake that had large amounts of dark blue ornamental frosting. Then we all nearly choked with laughter when we looked at each other with blue stained lips and tongues. Semi permanently stained I might add. This frosting had all the best properties of India Ink.....I still have some on my hands as I type. Jack's tongue above doesn't do the totality of the blue frosting episode justice.
 | Today was my birthday, my xxth. I'm not ashamed of my age, but it rather scares me to know that all of a sudden I'm xx. As one gets older, it takes more time for the actual number of the years of your existance to sink in. I will tell you that I graduated from High School in 1967....and I was one of the youngest in my graduating class. |
We live about 5 blocks from the house I grew up in and some of the same folks I knew in the 1960's still live in the neighborhood and I see them constantly. I drive by my elementary school and my junior and senior high schools almost daily and run into old High School classmates quite regularly. I had a nice chat with my sixth grade music teacher last year.....she said she remembered me as quite talented. She lied, but how kind and how nice to see someone that knew me as a young lad. Though Midland has in many ways certainly grown and changed in the five decades my family has called it home, in more ways it is still the same. And now though physically I'm xx years old, it's not hard to imagine myself cruising the streets as a teenager. I sometimes get that feeling quite literally when a Beach Boys tune airs in the car.
But tonight I was officially xx years old. It was a great way to spend one's xxth birthday, with only close family nearby. Julie and Jack, my older brother his wife and their two young girls [girls 5 and 8 years old, and he's older than me....but that's another story] and my folks. A combination birthday celebration for me, one of my niece's whose birthday is Friday and Thanksgiving since my brothers family departs for home tomorrow. A fine turkey dinner and entertaining conversation chiefly provided by three young kids. And then there was my surprise present....a complete Sporting Kilt Set provided by my trend setting bride. As reported previously, the Craig family has a strong Scottish heritage which she wishes to accentuate. And lest you think that she sees me as a new metrosexual go to the previous link and notice who is wearing this latest fashion statement.
And here's a hint that comes with the experience that being xx years old brings. Under no circumstances do you ever want to get a birthday cake with large amounts of blue icing involved. Don't ever do this. Kids and adults alike dove into the delicious cake that had large amounts of dark blue ornamental frosting. Then we all nearly choked with laughter when we looked at each other with blue stained lips and tongues. Semi permanently stained I might add. This frosting had all the best properties of India Ink.....I still have some on my hands as I type. Jack's tongue above doesn't do the totality of the blue frosting episode justice.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Remember election night? Remember several of the major television networks refusing to give President Bush a win in Ohio? Remember the Democratic pundits smuggly telling the major television networks that when the final tally of all the votes came in John Kerry would win in Ohio? Remember the "provisional votes" that these folks were hanging their hats on?
Well it seems these provisional votes are about all counted. And remember this...the President did even better in these votes than he did from the polling places.
Bush, George W. Republican 76,631 55.92%
Kerry, John F. Democratic 59,710 43.57%
Well it seems these provisional votes are about all counted. And remember this...the President did even better in these votes than he did from the polling places.
Bush, George W. Republican 76,631 55.92%
Kerry, John F. Democratic 59,710 43.57%
Saturday, November 20, 2004
NBA Brawl...
I've never been much interested in professional basketball so I haven't been glued to my nearest media outlet concerning the Detroit Brawl. I did, however, catch a story on the subject via FoxNews on their wrap-up show this evening. The commentator was shocked by the brawl. The coaches were shocked. The NBA commissioner was shocked. Were You?
I wasn't. What do you expect from players whose alternate career choice is "criminal" and when half the fans make pro sports their reason for living. I also won't be shocked when the NBA spins a story about an indepth investigation, "changes to be made" and then the players involved receive a short suspension and a fine amounting to about 1% of their annual income. What would really shock me is if the NBA would make a short inspection of the situation and tell the players involved that their services are no longer required and that they should plan on using their sub par high school skills in another career field.
I've never been much interested in professional basketball so I haven't been glued to my nearest media outlet concerning the Detroit Brawl. I did, however, catch a story on the subject via FoxNews on their wrap-up show this evening. The commentator was shocked by the brawl. The coaches were shocked. The NBA commissioner was shocked. Were You?
I wasn't. What do you expect from players whose alternate career choice is "criminal" and when half the fans make pro sports their reason for living. I also won't be shocked when the NBA spins a story about an indepth investigation, "changes to be made" and then the players involved receive a short suspension and a fine amounting to about 1% of their annual income. What would really shock me is if the NBA would make a short inspection of the situation and tell the players involved that their services are no longer required and that they should plan on using their sub par high school skills in another career field.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Global Warming: Fact or Fiction....
That was the topic of a fascinating lecture I attended last night. The speaker was Dr. David Dallmeyer, geologist and climatologist, from the University of Georgia. David started off his hour and a half talk with the statement, "There is global warming, fact. We are polluting the atmosphere, fact." This had the mostly conservative oil business crowd nervous about the remainder of the talk, until Dr. Dallmeyer continued, "these are facts, but we still have no real idea whether or how much the two are related".
David has studied the global warming trend with the eye of a geologist's big picture ...long term. He had some fascinating data that put earth's climatological history in perspective. The amount of data put together over the last decade is staggering and largely glossed over by the more rabid of environmental movement whose view is that man alone is causing negative climate change.
As most people realize the earth's climate has seen drastic changes before man appeared on the scene. These wanderings of the climate are caused by such things as continental drift, the wobbling of the earth, sunspots and the earth's varying orbital path around the sun. They have profound implications for our climate. What David brought home to me however was that, except probably for continental drift, the other major variables are well documented and fairly predictable.
The data that has been gleaned from deep well ice cores in Greenland and the Antarctic, which are based on carbon dioxide, methane and heat values, are remarkably similar in showing that for at least the last half million years a cycle of cooling and warming has occured regularly on about a 140,000 year time period. Based on this data we are approaching the warmest period of that cycle. So, indeed, there is global warming, but given the record David suggests that perhaps we should be more concerned about global cooling.
I was somewhat disappointed that David did not delve into data on how man's recent [geologically speaking] activities will affect the natural cycle. However I don't fault him for this, he's a scientist and this speculation would be out of the scope of his expertise. He did comment though that carbon dioxide levels are currently higher than at any period he had studied and this concerned him. I enjoyed hearing from an impartial scientist and being updated on the facts some of which are summarized here.
That was the topic of a fascinating lecture I attended last night. The speaker was Dr. David Dallmeyer, geologist and climatologist, from the University of Georgia. David started off his hour and a half talk with the statement, "There is global warming, fact. We are polluting the atmosphere, fact." This had the mostly conservative oil business crowd nervous about the remainder of the talk, until Dr. Dallmeyer continued, "these are facts, but we still have no real idea whether or how much the two are related".
David has studied the global warming trend with the eye of a geologist's big picture ...long term. He had some fascinating data that put earth's climatological history in perspective. The amount of data put together over the last decade is staggering and largely glossed over by the more rabid of environmental movement whose view is that man alone is causing negative climate change.
As most people realize the earth's climate has seen drastic changes before man appeared on the scene. These wanderings of the climate are caused by such things as continental drift, the wobbling of the earth, sunspots and the earth's varying orbital path around the sun. They have profound implications for our climate. What David brought home to me however was that, except probably for continental drift, the other major variables are well documented and fairly predictable.
The data that has been gleaned from deep well ice cores in Greenland and the Antarctic, which are based on carbon dioxide, methane and heat values, are remarkably similar in showing that for at least the last half million years a cycle of cooling and warming has occured regularly on about a 140,000 year time period. Based on this data we are approaching the warmest period of that cycle. So, indeed, there is global warming, but given the record David suggests that perhaps we should be more concerned about global cooling.
I was somewhat disappointed that David did not delve into data on how man's recent [geologically speaking] activities will affect the natural cycle. However I don't fault him for this, he's a scientist and this speculation would be out of the scope of his expertise. He did comment though that carbon dioxide levels are currently higher than at any period he had studied and this concerned him. I enjoyed hearing from an impartial scientist and being updated on the facts some of which are summarized here.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
What the.....?
Your eyes are not out of adjustment [as far as I know]. I made a few changes to Streams. Been meaning to for a long time primarily to make it more readable and to organize the links. I have some more to do and like most artistes I reserve the right to change much more. I'll have to let the new scheme sink in. Or perhaps I'll scrap the whole thing and concentrate on non-digital reality.
And over at Powerline you'll find pictures of some of my best friends at the Ia Drang Survivors Reunion held last weekend in D.C. Joe Galloway, Bruce Crandall, Chip and Vicki Parker. Wish we could have been there, but business and home life kept us away this year.
Your eyes are not out of adjustment [as far as I know]. I made a few changes to Streams. Been meaning to for a long time primarily to make it more readable and to organize the links. I have some more to do and like most artistes I reserve the right to change much more. I'll have to let the new scheme sink in. Or perhaps I'll scrap the whole thing and concentrate on non-digital reality.
And over at Powerline you'll find pictures of some of my best friends at the Ia Drang Survivors Reunion held last weekend in D.C. Joe Galloway, Bruce Crandall, Chip and Vicki Parker. Wish we could have been there, but business and home life kept us away this year.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
My Fitting Tribute....
As I mention here from time to time, and not to long ago in fact, I do a lot of digital imaging work using Joe Galloway's Vietnam photographs. Many months ago I supplied images per the request of SFC Morton a senior drill sergeant at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was in the process of decorating his barracks with historical photos of the infantry in action and wanted to portray the events in the Ia Drang for his section on the Vietnam War. Having almost forgotten this, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to receive an email from SFC Morton containing his thanks and pictures of the project which turned out very nicely. But to my delight he also took the time to honor me, and my service, by dedicating a portion of the barracks to me personally. Read his note below to see if you agree that his gesture was a fitting tribute!
It brings a tear to my eyes.....
As I mention here from time to time, and not to long ago in fact, I do a lot of digital imaging work using Joe Galloway's Vietnam photographs. Many months ago I supplied images per the request of SFC Morton a senior drill sergeant at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was in the process of decorating his barracks with historical photos of the infantry in action and wanted to portray the events in the Ia Drang for his section on the Vietnam War. Having almost forgotten this, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to receive an email from SFC Morton containing his thanks and pictures of the project which turned out very nicely. But to my delight he also took the time to honor me, and my service, by dedicating a portion of the barracks to me personally. Read his note below to see if you agree that his gesture was a fitting tribute!
"Sir, SFC Michael Morton here, Senior Drill SGT. Aco 30th AG, Ft. Benning, Ga. I just wanted to again thank you for all of your help in reguards to my barracks project "LZ XRAY". The barracks is now finished and I thought I would show you some of the results. I wish I could do more but I am limited on the amount of things they (command) will let me do. We dedicated the barracks yesterday on the anniversary of the battle. All of the soldiers who stay there and took part in the construction are overjoyed in the results. Everyone around the area loves the barracks and the soldiers can't stop talking about it. I believe the end result was met, teach the soldiers about our Army's history, and instill pride in our veterns efforts in Vietnam. I again thank you very much for all of your help, If your ever in Ft. Benning, please stop by and check out the barracks, I know the soldiers who stay there would love to meet you. After all, the CPT. Wallace Craig Latrine needs an offical dedication (I took your picture and made a tribute at the entrance way of the latrine like suggested) All of the soldiers ask who you are? The dedication reads: This Latrine is dedicated to CPT. Wallace Craig, US Army, 25th Infantry Division, Vietnam. For his service and dedication while gallantly fighting in the worst Latrine in history!
Thanks again, SFC Michael Morton"
It brings a tear to my eyes.....
Monday, November 15, 2004
Gonzo Weather....
My family has lived in these here parts since 19 and 60 and we don't think that we've ever seen it rain like it has in the last four days. It's been non-stop. Sure we've had spells over the years where rain falls over a long period, but it stops occasionally and then restarts. This has been one long constant rainfall since late Friday night. Drizzle and mist Saturday turning Sunday to periodic half inch toad floaters morning, noon and night. I'm closing in on 5 inches in our tasteful asiatic fish rain gauge. Two years ago we were in the midst of probably the worst drought on record.
In Midland during the last 10 years we have had the hottest summer temperature ever recorded at 119° [August 1994] and the coolest high on record for a mid summer day, 65° [July 2004]. Weather patterns are cyclical and influenced by a staggering number of variables, but I do have my thoughts about what part man's influence on the atmosphere might be. I don't like the term "global warming", I think it has taken on to much political meaning and I think that much of the science behind it's Ultra Eco backers has been lacking. But...it does seem to me that the premise behind the theories may have some merit.
So, this Wednesday I'm going to hear Dr. David Dallmeyer from the University of Georgia department of ecology who'll be in town to address the subject. His topic will be Global Warming: Fact or Fiction. Should be interesting, if I can get there through the flooded desert.
By the way, if you haven't visited my highly acclaimed international weather website WeatherTalk© do so now and tell us how the weather is where you be's stayin'.
My family has lived in these here parts since 19 and 60 and we don't think that we've ever seen it rain like it has in the last four days. It's been non-stop. Sure we've had spells over the years where rain falls over a long period, but it stops occasionally and then restarts. This has been one long constant rainfall since late Friday night. Drizzle and mist Saturday turning Sunday to periodic half inch toad floaters morning, noon and night. I'm closing in on 5 inches in our tasteful asiatic fish rain gauge. Two years ago we were in the midst of probably the worst drought on record.
In Midland during the last 10 years we have had the hottest summer temperature ever recorded at 119° [August 1994] and the coolest high on record for a mid summer day, 65° [July 2004]. Weather patterns are cyclical and influenced by a staggering number of variables, but I do have my thoughts about what part man's influence on the atmosphere might be. I don't like the term "global warming", I think it has taken on to much political meaning and I think that much of the science behind it's Ultra Eco backers has been lacking. But...it does seem to me that the premise behind the theories may have some merit.
So, this Wednesday I'm going to hear Dr. David Dallmeyer from the University of Georgia department of ecology who'll be in town to address the subject. His topic will be Global Warming: Fact or Fiction. Should be interesting, if I can get there through the flooded desert.
By the way, if you haven't visited my highly acclaimed international weather website WeatherTalk© do so now and tell us how the weather is where you be's stayin'.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Friday, November 05, 2004
No Fake Turkey Here....
I've talked before about some of the interesting people I've met and worked with through my association with author Joe Galloway and because I keep his Vietnam digital image files for distribution to different veterans, media and scholarly organizations. Thought you'd like to see a request I'm working on now.....perhaps one of the most important uses of Joe's photos that I've handled.
We are, of course, honored to be able to help the 1st Cav in Iraq.
I've talked before about some of the interesting people I've met and worked with through my association with author Joe Galloway and because I keep his Vietnam digital image files for distribution to different veterans, media and scholarly organizations. Thought you'd like to see a request I'm working on now.....perhaps one of the most important uses of Joe's photos that I've handled.
"My name is MAJ Gabriella Pasek. I am assigned as the Executive Officer of the 27th Main Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division currently deployed to Taji, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.
I am writing to you today to request your assistance. My unit has very recently been tasked to put together a living history display for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We have started putting together several vignettes and historical scenes starting with the 1st Thanksgiving and then moving into "The Evolution of the Cavalry through History." For this latter piece, we will be depicting a Civil War scene (horse cav), Vietnam scene (air cav), and modern conflict with a static display of one of our M1114s and gun crew in full battle rattle.
As part of our living history, we are creating backdrops to set the mood for our stages. I found Mr. Galloway's photograph "Resupply at LZ X-ray" on your website and it would be the perfect backdrop for our Air Cav display - it is particularly suitable for us, as mine is the primary logistics support unit for the division.
Because the photograph has been copyrighted, we are requesting your gallery's and Mr. Galloway's permission to have this photograph enlarged by the Kellog Brown & Root Sign Shop onto an 8' X 12' metal display sign to be hung on a frame behind our soldiers (in period uniform) and stage scene, complete with sandbagged fighting position and ammunition crates......
If needed, I would be more than happy to send you a photograph of our display once it is set up to show you that we have done justice and honor to the soldiers that served before us in "The Cav."
This holiday display will be seen by the over 6000 soldiers serving here on Camp Cooke in Taji, Iraq as well as several dignitaries and senior officers that have committed to attending our Thanksgiving meal - and will be an immense morale boost for everyone in addition to reminding everyone of the Division's illustrious beginnings.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter. Request a response as early as possible to facilitate our backdrop construction prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Respectfully,
MAJ Gabriella Pasek"
We are, of course, honored to be able to help the 1st Cav in Iraq.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Victory.....!
It was a great victory, for GW Bush and our country. Democrats would disagree, but they should be used to being wrong. I am not, however, going to gloat. The President is not gloating, he and I are just glad that the elections are over. And before I move on I do have to thank John Kerry and/or those at the Democratic Party who had the sound thinking to not protest the results in several close states. Perhaps, just perhaps, this is the turning point in becoming a more civilized nation as pertains to our politics. I can only hope, and ask that the Republican Party try to answer in kind. This election is over.
I saw the USA Today map above referenced at Bunker Mulligan's Place and it really gave me pause. I'm interested in maps anyway and this one really caught my attention. It's a county-by-county breakdown of the voting, showing counties where the lead was more than 5% for Bush [Red] and Kerry [Blue] and illustrates graphically the divide, great and small, that we have geopolitically in this country. Looking at the MSM TV maps where the states are either Red or Blue in totality doesn't give the same effect, no sense of how much power the relatively small urban areas wield.
I've pondered awhile about the people, thinking and culture in the Blue areas. Some are obvious. On the West Coast you have the actors, "wing nuts", ex-hippies and new age practitioners i.e. California and the people who have moved to Oregon because California is to crowded. In the Seattle Bay area, it rains constantly and so people are depressed, perfect fodder for the Democrats. Anarchists are from here also.
On the North East Coast reside our betters, the cultural elite, Ivy League scholars, the old families, old money. i.e. those who think that we who live west of Pennsylvania are the great mass of unwashed peasants and farm hands. It's the other assorted Blue's that make me wonder what is going on in these scattered and diverse areas that would cause them to vote for John Kerry.
Except for the upper MidWest, which is an anomoly, I have to conclude that the driving force behind most of the "Blue" counties is economics. Wealth or mainly the lack of it. Wealth on the far East and West Coasts.....lack of it in between. Take a look starting in the east. You'll notice areas in Virginia, North and South Carolina ....the tidelands and Appalachia. Some of the worst poverty in the country and I'm sorry to say a population still waiting for government to bail them out of their misery. A little further Northwest you'll find blue areas in West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Coal mining country, a depressed area for decades. In conjunction with Appalachia you'll see blue stretching into Northern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The dead remnants of the Old South that have never really caught up. Further west, running north and south, you can outline the lower Mississippi River and the poverty that follows that waterway. I honestly don't know what is the matter there....it's just poor. Finally, one last look in the Eastern U.S. around the Great Lakes and you'll notice the outline that was once, and probably still is, known as the "Rust Belt". No wonder they'd be bitter about jobs going overseas.
As stated above, the upper Mid West is hard to understand. A bundle of blue that is not, I think, related to poor economic standing. I know many people from this area, and most are hard working patriotic Americans. Why they continue to vote with a liberal bent I think is more related to their heritage. Germanic and Scandanavian stock who somehow, I'll wager, have a touch of socialism programed in. My Grandmother's father came from Germany, she went to the University of Wisconsin. The one time she worked in her life, she was a social aide worker. She was a liberal.
In my home state of Texas there are five blue zones. No questions about those. Three along the Rio Grande River are El Paso, Presidio and the lower Rio Grande Valley. Hispanic and dirt poor. A fourth is around the Beaumont/Port Arthur area. Sorry that I'm not versed enough to know exactly why with a fairly vibrant Texas economy that these folks are not doing well, but they never seem to. To close to Louisiana I suppose. The fifth small blue outpost towards the center of the state is Austin, which has always been a magnet for.....well see California above.
The Blue tracts in the vast majority of the great West are large but spread thinly. One has to ponder a little more deeply to concieve of the answer for their existance. Pardner that's Indian country. Many of the large Democratic areas are Indian reservations particularly in Northern New Mexico and Arizona. I have great admiration and sympathy for American Indians, their poverty is by and large a product of Government ineptidude and failure. To bad they vote Democratic, perhaps they don't connect the two.
Lastly, the remaining areas in the West are not born of poverty but of the Democrats new found friend, wealth. Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Aspen and Whitefish Lake Montana.....blue all. But of course these too are inhabited by ordinary common folk. Common millionaires.
Hope you enjoyed the tour, please leave any observations that you might have. And rest easy tonight, the country is in good hands for four more years.
It was a great victory, for GW Bush and our country. Democrats would disagree, but they should be used to being wrong. I am not, however, going to gloat. The President is not gloating, he and I are just glad that the elections are over. And before I move on I do have to thank John Kerry and/or those at the Democratic Party who had the sound thinking to not protest the results in several close states. Perhaps, just perhaps, this is the turning point in becoming a more civilized nation as pertains to our politics. I can only hope, and ask that the Republican Party try to answer in kind. This election is over.
I saw the USA Today map above referenced at Bunker Mulligan's Place and it really gave me pause. I'm interested in maps anyway and this one really caught my attention. It's a county-by-county breakdown of the voting, showing counties where the lead was more than 5% for Bush [Red] and Kerry [Blue] and illustrates graphically the divide, great and small, that we have geopolitically in this country. Looking at the MSM TV maps where the states are either Red or Blue in totality doesn't give the same effect, no sense of how much power the relatively small urban areas wield.
I've pondered awhile about the people, thinking and culture in the Blue areas. Some are obvious. On the West Coast you have the actors, "wing nuts", ex-hippies and new age practitioners i.e. California and the people who have moved to Oregon because California is to crowded. In the Seattle Bay area, it rains constantly and so people are depressed, perfect fodder for the Democrats. Anarchists are from here also.
On the North East Coast reside our betters, the cultural elite, Ivy League scholars, the old families, old money. i.e. those who think that we who live west of Pennsylvania are the great mass of unwashed peasants and farm hands. It's the other assorted Blue's that make me wonder what is going on in these scattered and diverse areas that would cause them to vote for John Kerry.
Except for the upper MidWest, which is an anomoly, I have to conclude that the driving force behind most of the "Blue" counties is economics. Wealth or mainly the lack of it. Wealth on the far East and West Coasts.....lack of it in between. Take a look starting in the east. You'll notice areas in Virginia, North and South Carolina ....the tidelands and Appalachia. Some of the worst poverty in the country and I'm sorry to say a population still waiting for government to bail them out of their misery. A little further Northwest you'll find blue areas in West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Coal mining country, a depressed area for decades. In conjunction with Appalachia you'll see blue stretching into Northern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The dead remnants of the Old South that have never really caught up. Further west, running north and south, you can outline the lower Mississippi River and the poverty that follows that waterway. I honestly don't know what is the matter there....it's just poor. Finally, one last look in the Eastern U.S. around the Great Lakes and you'll notice the outline that was once, and probably still is, known as the "Rust Belt". No wonder they'd be bitter about jobs going overseas.
As stated above, the upper Mid West is hard to understand. A bundle of blue that is not, I think, related to poor economic standing. I know many people from this area, and most are hard working patriotic Americans. Why they continue to vote with a liberal bent I think is more related to their heritage. Germanic and Scandanavian stock who somehow, I'll wager, have a touch of socialism programed in. My Grandmother's father came from Germany, she went to the University of Wisconsin. The one time she worked in her life, she was a social aide worker. She was a liberal.
In my home state of Texas there are five blue zones. No questions about those. Three along the Rio Grande River are El Paso, Presidio and the lower Rio Grande Valley. Hispanic and dirt poor. A fourth is around the Beaumont/Port Arthur area. Sorry that I'm not versed enough to know exactly why with a fairly vibrant Texas economy that these folks are not doing well, but they never seem to. To close to Louisiana I suppose. The fifth small blue outpost towards the center of the state is Austin, which has always been a magnet for.....well see California above.
The Blue tracts in the vast majority of the great West are large but spread thinly. One has to ponder a little more deeply to concieve of the answer for their existance. Pardner that's Indian country. Many of the large Democratic areas are Indian reservations particularly in Northern New Mexico and Arizona. I have great admiration and sympathy for American Indians, their poverty is by and large a product of Government ineptidude and failure. To bad they vote Democratic, perhaps they don't connect the two.
Lastly, the remaining areas in the West are not born of poverty but of the Democrats new found friend, wealth. Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Aspen and Whitefish Lake Montana.....blue all. But of course these too are inhabited by ordinary common folk. Common millionaires.
Hope you enjoyed the tour, please leave any observations that you might have. And rest easy tonight, the country is in good hands for four more years.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Twick or Tweat.....!
Truco O Convite! We're right in the middle of Halloween as I write. Don't know about your neighborhood, but we get very few "local" kids. We mainly have kids from more disadvantaged neighborhoods whose parents truck them over [literally] for their trick or treat goodies. Some of our neighbors leave their lights off and don't participate....and I have to say that occasionally I think that it's a tad to much when 6 or 8 kids get out of the back of a pickup and show up at the door.
But Julie always buys lot's of goodies for these folks who have less than we do. And I'll have to brag, that these kids who show up at our door in Midland Texas are supremely well behaved, are generally cute as a bug and always say "thank you". If they don't, their Mom or Dad who is standing behind them reminds them, sometimes in broken English, to do so.
The only problem we had was a cute little companêro who showed up sporting a Kerry/Edwards button. I told him that he was an evil little boy and would get no candy. And I also took his picture and said that I was sending it to Santa Claus so he would also get no Christmas presents.
OK, he got candy too, but hope he remembered what we were wearing [above]. By the way the picture will stay at the masthead until Tuesday. It's a busy week for us and don't know if I'll have time to post any passing thoughts, so just want visitors to be reminded of the right thinking way to vote.
Truco O Convite! We're right in the middle of Halloween as I write. Don't know about your neighborhood, but we get very few "local" kids. We mainly have kids from more disadvantaged neighborhoods whose parents truck them over [literally] for their trick or treat goodies. Some of our neighbors leave their lights off and don't participate....and I have to say that occasionally I think that it's a tad to much when 6 or 8 kids get out of the back of a pickup and show up at the door.
But Julie always buys lot's of goodies for these folks who have less than we do. And I'll have to brag, that these kids who show up at our door in Midland Texas are supremely well behaved, are generally cute as a bug and always say "thank you". If they don't, their Mom or Dad who is standing behind them reminds them, sometimes in broken English, to do so.
The only problem we had was a cute little companêro who showed up sporting a Kerry/Edwards button. I told him that he was an evil little boy and would get no candy. And I also took his picture and said that I was sending it to Santa Claus so he would also get no Christmas presents.
OK, he got candy too, but hope he remembered what we were wearing [above]. By the way the picture will stay at the masthead until Tuesday. It's a busy week for us and don't know if I'll have time to post any passing thoughts, so just want visitors to be reminded of the right thinking way to vote.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Ramblin' Thoughts....
I've been a little flumoxed this week.....so decided to just pass on a few thoughts. Flumoxed, I've always liked that word. It should be used more. I'm flumoxed for several reasons.
My partners and I have been working on a big project in the gas business for over two years and next Thursday we give our presentation to the board of directors of a major NYSE utility company who, if all goes well, will partner with us in the effort. The fate of the free world depends on this meeting. We'll, OK, the fate of creating a permanently endowed income for my family rests on this meeting. A really good income. So I've been creating a PowerPoint™ show of epic proportions for the event. Love PowerPoint™ and I've pulled out all the stops on this one. I've loaded it on my server so that executives in New Jersey who can't physically be at our meeting in Odessa will be able to follow along via the Internet during the teleconference we are running in conjunction with the meeting. Oh, and in addition to the meeting on Thursday, the managing director/energy of a rather large German bank will be coming on Tuesday to see about financing the project. We've been working on Word© creating a paper presentation for him. So....I'm rather computered out for the moment.
My second area of flumoxation, and one that has stuck in my craw all week, was our semi-usual political conversation with my Mother at lunch on Sunday. To summarize: she's a liberal.......she's gotten worse. In a nutshell I think that she still identifies the Democratic Party with FDR, something that I have not blamed her for. She lived thru the depression and he was her President for all those years. Her thought is that the DEM's help poor people. Nice thought from a rich lady. But, truthfully, her support of Kerry has gone beyond that. Like many of the sort, she really has no positive things to say about his plans or even about him personally. She just dislikes Bush. In fact on Sunday, she made her "liberalness" complete. While Julie and I were pointing out the many, shall we say, "discrepencies" in Kerry's career, my Mother got flumoxed herself and just blurted out...."I don't care I just don't like Bush, he's stupid". My Mother is not a stupid person herself, I suppose just brainwashed. Go to the links at right and click on "Dissceting Leftism" by John Ray. You'll probably find my dear Mother's picture there. Textbook case.
So much for areas of flumoxation. Here's a thought. Osama Bin Laden. This week I was almost ready to write an article stating that I had revised my thoughts and now believed that there was a fair chance that OBL was, in fact, dead or captured. We hadn't heard anything crediblly ascribed to him in a very long time. Being a media egotist of some high degree I thought his absence from the airwaves was a good sign.
But today Osama would have made me look foolish.....he's back. Ossie just couldn't let the U.S. elections go by without giving us his thoughts. Something, however, did seem different about his rhetoric. The bits and pieces of his screed that I caught didn't seem like the Osama of old. He talked about his corps being "freedom fighters" instead of Jihadists. He seemed to indicate that if the West would leave the Arab World alone the terror problem would be eased. That's a major shift from previous rants about the decadent West and killing all the infidels. It makes me wonder what's going on with Osama. Perhaps living under a rock for two years has made him rethink his religous fervor. Maybe he's getting anger management counseling in Pakistan. Who knows.....I'm just glad that he reminded us he's there. It helps in the President's campaign.
I've been a little flumoxed this week.....so decided to just pass on a few thoughts. Flumoxed, I've always liked that word. It should be used more. I'm flumoxed for several reasons.
My partners and I have been working on a big project in the gas business for over two years and next Thursday we give our presentation to the board of directors of a major NYSE utility company who, if all goes well, will partner with us in the effort. The fate of the free world depends on this meeting. We'll, OK, the fate of creating a permanently endowed income for my family rests on this meeting. A really good income. So I've been creating a PowerPoint™ show of epic proportions for the event. Love PowerPoint™ and I've pulled out all the stops on this one. I've loaded it on my server so that executives in New Jersey who can't physically be at our meeting in Odessa will be able to follow along via the Internet during the teleconference we are running in conjunction with the meeting. Oh, and in addition to the meeting on Thursday, the managing director/energy of a rather large German bank will be coming on Tuesday to see about financing the project. We've been working on Word© creating a paper presentation for him. So....I'm rather computered out for the moment.
My second area of flumoxation, and one that has stuck in my craw all week, was our semi-usual political conversation with my Mother at lunch on Sunday. To summarize: she's a liberal.......she's gotten worse. In a nutshell I think that she still identifies the Democratic Party with FDR, something that I have not blamed her for. She lived thru the depression and he was her President for all those years. Her thought is that the DEM's help poor people. Nice thought from a rich lady. But, truthfully, her support of Kerry has gone beyond that. Like many of the sort, she really has no positive things to say about his plans or even about him personally. She just dislikes Bush. In fact on Sunday, she made her "liberalness" complete. While Julie and I were pointing out the many, shall we say, "discrepencies" in Kerry's career, my Mother got flumoxed herself and just blurted out...."I don't care I just don't like Bush, he's stupid". My Mother is not a stupid person herself, I suppose just brainwashed. Go to the links at right and click on "Dissceting Leftism" by John Ray. You'll probably find my dear Mother's picture there. Textbook case.
So much for areas of flumoxation. Here's a thought. Osama Bin Laden. This week I was almost ready to write an article stating that I had revised my thoughts and now believed that there was a fair chance that OBL was, in fact, dead or captured. We hadn't heard anything crediblly ascribed to him in a very long time. Being a media egotist of some high degree I thought his absence from the airwaves was a good sign.
But today Osama would have made me look foolish.....he's back. Ossie just couldn't let the U.S. elections go by without giving us his thoughts. Something, however, did seem different about his rhetoric. The bits and pieces of his screed that I caught didn't seem like the Osama of old. He talked about his corps being "freedom fighters" instead of Jihadists. He seemed to indicate that if the West would leave the Arab World alone the terror problem would be eased. That's a major shift from previous rants about the decadent West and killing all the infidels. It makes me wonder what's going on with Osama. Perhaps living under a rock for two years has made him rethink his religous fervor. Maybe he's getting anger management counseling in Pakistan. Who knows.....I'm just glad that he reminded us he's there. It helps in the President's campaign.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Eclipsing all.....!
What a stroke of fate. For the last several days the usually clear skies of West Texas have been obscured by clouds. Knowing that there would be a full lunar eclipse tonight, I didn't have much hope that we would see any of it.
But at about 9:45 the clouds gave way to a fully clear sky revealing the moon already passing through the earth's shadow. A grand sight...and one that I'm sure gave many ancient, native people quite a worry.
A total eclipse one might ask, well how come I can still see the moon in a faint red hue? The answer is thus. During an eclipse, when the Moon is in the Earth's shadow, there is a little bit of sunlight that passes through our atmosphere and is deflected by the Earth's gravity. White light from the sun is composed of all the colors of the rainbow, but our atmosphere treats different colors differently. Blue-colored light is scattered in all directions by airborne molecules. This is the same phenomenon that causes the sky to be blue. Red-colored light, on the other hand, is scattered very little. However, it is refracted inward toward the Moon. Red light that hits the Moon is reflected back toward Earth, so that we see the Moon glowing red during totality. If the Earth did not have an atmosphere, the Moon would be nearly black during a total lunar eclipse.
So now you know the rest of the story and I hope it was a cloudless night at your home.
What a stroke of fate. For the last several days the usually clear skies of West Texas have been obscured by clouds. Knowing that there would be a full lunar eclipse tonight, I didn't have much hope that we would see any of it.
But at about 9:45 the clouds gave way to a fully clear sky revealing the moon already passing through the earth's shadow. A grand sight...and one that I'm sure gave many ancient, native people quite a worry.
A total eclipse one might ask, well how come I can still see the moon in a faint red hue? The answer is thus. During an eclipse, when the Moon is in the Earth's shadow, there is a little bit of sunlight that passes through our atmosphere and is deflected by the Earth's gravity. White light from the sun is composed of all the colors of the rainbow, but our atmosphere treats different colors differently. Blue-colored light is scattered in all directions by airborne molecules. This is the same phenomenon that causes the sky to be blue. Red-colored light, on the other hand, is scattered very little. However, it is refracted inward toward the Moon. Red light that hits the Moon is reflected back toward Earth, so that we see the Moon glowing red during totality. If the Earth did not have an atmosphere, the Moon would be nearly black during a total lunar eclipse.
So now you know the rest of the story and I hope it was a cloudless night at your home.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Monday, October 25, 2004
Condiment of Choice....
Now you have a choice in your ketchup. Heinz 57 Vagaries or American made......
W Ketchup is America’s Ketchup™
Now you have a choice in your ketchup. Heinz 57 Vagaries or American made......
W Ketchup is America’s Ketchup™
Friday, October 22, 2004
Letter from Kabul......
I stay in touch with many people from my days of service in the Army. One of those is my old company commander in the 25th Infantry Division, Bill Schofield. In one of the strangest coincidences of my life I first ran into Bill in civilian life in mid town Manhattan four years after I resigned from the army. I was waiting for an elevator in a very large office building. When the elevator door opened, there was Bill, the only person getting off, while I was the only one getting on. I think it shocked us both. Since that time Bill has been with the U.S. State Deptartment and has advanced to Senior Attache, now stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan for a two year tour. While in Santa Fe, I got an email from him. I thought you might like to read excerpts.
-----------------------====Letter from Kabul=====--------------------------
"I have been in Afghanistan just over two months now and wanted to say hello and pass along some observations you might find interesting.
I arrived August 29 on a flight from Baku. Once we passed over the Caspian Sea, the landscape turned brown and we flew over one ridgeline after another until we reached Kabul. Mountains surround the city. There is almost no greenery. Dust covers everything. On a clear day, the mountains are spectacular, even a little snow on top of some. When it is dusty, however, you cannot see all of them and the sun is dim.
The embassy is a construction site inside of a firebase. We work in the old embassy building. Next to it, we are building a new, six-story embassy and an apartment building. They are scheduled to open summer 2005. A wall topped by concertina surrounds everything and there are guard towers on the corners. A Marine rifle company secures the embassy. We also have some civilian “shooters” and Ghurkas. Most people now live in CAFÉ (compound across from embassy) across the street. It is several rows of white “houches” - renovated shipping containers, a dining facility, and a few offices surrounded by a wall with wire on top. It looks like an upscale POW camp or prison.
Living is much better than I had anticipated. Some people have even started to wear ties to work. The work-week is Thursday through Sunday. The “hooches” are comfortable; there is TV, a gym, and a track. There is time to read or study Dari. The food is good, but aimed at a 19-year old Marine. In the dining room next to the Marine barracks you can get all the meat and fries you want. The troops lean their weapons against the wall and watch sports or action movies on a big screen TV during meals.
Kabul is a congested, bustling city. It suffered a lot of damage in the fighting after 1989. The streets are torn up and buildings damaged. About 2m refugees and displaced persons came here in the past two years, so the infrastructure is over-taxed. The city is full of little shops with good-looking fruit and vegetables. There are quite a few brick office buildings and blocks of six-story Soviet-style apartments. Some large, luxurious homes are springing up, allegedly owned by drug dealers. Most smaller houses and shops are made from mud bricks. They cover the sides of the hills, as well as downtown. Traffic is heavy, a combination of little yellow and black taxis, Toyota Landcruisers that the foreigners drive, big, brightly painted trucks and buses, military vehicles, horses, little donkeys, and the occasional camel. Since Ramadan started, it has gotten worse as people often go home around noon
Security is an overriding concern. ISAF, the NATO-led force, patrols in and around Kabul. The day I arrived, a car bomb exploded at an office in downtown Kabul and killed a dozen people, including three Americans. Since then, we have not been able to go to stores or restaurants. We can go to work-related meetings and there are bazaars on Friday at military compounds. In Kabul, you can drive without protection. If you go outside the city, military or civilian “shooters” must accompany you and you wear a flak jacket in some places. Occasionally, the Taliban or their associates fire rockets at the city. These old, inaccurate Soviet weapons have not hit near the embassy or, fortunately, populated areas of the city. You can hear the explosions, then sirens sound and you go to the bunker until the all clear. The bunker is a building protected with sandbags and other barriers.
I get out almost every day and have had the chance to travel outside of Kabul. A few weeks ago, a couple of us went to Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan toward the border with Pakistan. We flew in a small Beechcraft over the mountains and then down a green valley to the airstrip. We stayed with a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), a military unit composed of a civil affairs team, a security force, and representatives of State, USAID, and sometimes the Agriculture Department. A PRT is designed to strengthen security in the countryside and do some civic action work. This PRT had a company from the Iowa National Guard, some elements from Utah, and a Marine company. Within the city – Jbad to the troops – a couple of soldiers went with us. When we drove an hour east of the city, we traveled in five Humvees with 20 Marines.
The drive along the main east-west road was fascinating. It was a combination of new truck stops and scenes right out of the Bible: brown desert broken up by green areas; small donkeys carrying wood or pulling carts; mud huts surrounded by walls; a group of Kuchi nomads and their camels in the distance. On the way back after our meetings, we ran into a stand off over land between two families. They had faced off about one hundred yards apart, blocking the road. One man was wounded and evacuated in a new, silver taxi. We dismounted and waited until this ended. Everyone along the road was friendly and resigned to the delay.
A few weeks later, we went to Parwan, north of Kabul, for a DDR (disarm/demobilize/reintegrate) meeting with the governor and local militia commanders, the polite word for warlord. This group was part of the Northern Alliance that had fought the Soviets and then the Taliban. They had recently agreed to turn in their weapons and return to civilian life. After the meeting, the commander invited about 50 of us to lunch at his headquarters in an old Soviet base. He had a few hundred mujahideen (fighters) in formation for a ceremony. Someone sang a few verses from the Koran, the commander gave a speech, and then we had lunch of rice, lamb, chicken, and nan (bread). There were forks for the foreigners, but most ate with their fingers and nan.
The elections October 9 had been our focus for a couple of months. I went to Peshawar in the Frontier Province in Pakistan to observe voting in the refugee camps. I do not want to seem too much of a Pollyanna, but it was very impressive. There was a good turn out and everything was organized. A lot of young men, old men right out of central casting, and quite a few women voted. There were separate polling stations for men and women. Some women did not want people to know they had voted and asked the poll workers to put the ink they used to mark the fingers of voters only on the inside of their thumbs. It took courage for women in some places to vote. There were problems with the election, as the media reported, but overall I think it was a major success. We all expected some efforts by the Taliban to disrupt the voting, but they did nothing. Still a long way to go in stabilizing Afghanistan, but this was a good step.
A few of the addressees on this message served 30+ years ago in the 35th. Infantry, 25th. Infantry Division. TF CACTI, 2/35 Infantry, now operates in Paktika Province south of Kabul. MG Olson, CG, 25th Div, commands TF 76, the US force that chases the Taliban. I sat in on his briefing a week or so ago on security for the elections. The soldiers still refer to the “Tropic Lightening” patch as the “Electric Strawberry.” It was odd to see that patch on desert camouflage rather than the old green jungle uniform. These soldiers and Marines are a bunch of good young men and women doing a sometimes dangerous job a long way from home.
I hope this message finds you well. I look forward to seeing you when I get home.
Bill"
I stay in touch with many people from my days of service in the Army. One of those is my old company commander in the 25th Infantry Division, Bill Schofield. In one of the strangest coincidences of my life I first ran into Bill in civilian life in mid town Manhattan four years after I resigned from the army. I was waiting for an elevator in a very large office building. When the elevator door opened, there was Bill, the only person getting off, while I was the only one getting on. I think it shocked us both. Since that time Bill has been with the U.S. State Deptartment and has advanced to Senior Attache, now stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan for a two year tour. While in Santa Fe, I got an email from him. I thought you might like to read excerpts.
-----------------------====Letter from Kabul=====--------------------------
"I have been in Afghanistan just over two months now and wanted to say hello and pass along some observations you might find interesting.
I arrived August 29 on a flight from Baku. Once we passed over the Caspian Sea, the landscape turned brown and we flew over one ridgeline after another until we reached Kabul. Mountains surround the city. There is almost no greenery. Dust covers everything. On a clear day, the mountains are spectacular, even a little snow on top of some. When it is dusty, however, you cannot see all of them and the sun is dim.
The embassy is a construction site inside of a firebase. We work in the old embassy building. Next to it, we are building a new, six-story embassy and an apartment building. They are scheduled to open summer 2005. A wall topped by concertina surrounds everything and there are guard towers on the corners. A Marine rifle company secures the embassy. We also have some civilian “shooters” and Ghurkas. Most people now live in CAFÉ (compound across from embassy) across the street. It is several rows of white “houches” - renovated shipping containers, a dining facility, and a few offices surrounded by a wall with wire on top. It looks like an upscale POW camp or prison.
Living is much better than I had anticipated. Some people have even started to wear ties to work. The work-week is Thursday through Sunday. The “hooches” are comfortable; there is TV, a gym, and a track. There is time to read or study Dari. The food is good, but aimed at a 19-year old Marine. In the dining room next to the Marine barracks you can get all the meat and fries you want. The troops lean their weapons against the wall and watch sports or action movies on a big screen TV during meals.
Kabul is a congested, bustling city. It suffered a lot of damage in the fighting after 1989. The streets are torn up and buildings damaged. About 2m refugees and displaced persons came here in the past two years, so the infrastructure is over-taxed. The city is full of little shops with good-looking fruit and vegetables. There are quite a few brick office buildings and blocks of six-story Soviet-style apartments. Some large, luxurious homes are springing up, allegedly owned by drug dealers. Most smaller houses and shops are made from mud bricks. They cover the sides of the hills, as well as downtown. Traffic is heavy, a combination of little yellow and black taxis, Toyota Landcruisers that the foreigners drive, big, brightly painted trucks and buses, military vehicles, horses, little donkeys, and the occasional camel. Since Ramadan started, it has gotten worse as people often go home around noon
Security is an overriding concern. ISAF, the NATO-led force, patrols in and around Kabul. The day I arrived, a car bomb exploded at an office in downtown Kabul and killed a dozen people, including three Americans. Since then, we have not been able to go to stores or restaurants. We can go to work-related meetings and there are bazaars on Friday at military compounds. In Kabul, you can drive without protection. If you go outside the city, military or civilian “shooters” must accompany you and you wear a flak jacket in some places. Occasionally, the Taliban or their associates fire rockets at the city. These old, inaccurate Soviet weapons have not hit near the embassy or, fortunately, populated areas of the city. You can hear the explosions, then sirens sound and you go to the bunker until the all clear. The bunker is a building protected with sandbags and other barriers.
I get out almost every day and have had the chance to travel outside of Kabul. A few weeks ago, a couple of us went to Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan toward the border with Pakistan. We flew in a small Beechcraft over the mountains and then down a green valley to the airstrip. We stayed with a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), a military unit composed of a civil affairs team, a security force, and representatives of State, USAID, and sometimes the Agriculture Department. A PRT is designed to strengthen security in the countryside and do some civic action work. This PRT had a company from the Iowa National Guard, some elements from Utah, and a Marine company. Within the city – Jbad to the troops – a couple of soldiers went with us. When we drove an hour east of the city, we traveled in five Humvees with 20 Marines.
The drive along the main east-west road was fascinating. It was a combination of new truck stops and scenes right out of the Bible: brown desert broken up by green areas; small donkeys carrying wood or pulling carts; mud huts surrounded by walls; a group of Kuchi nomads and their camels in the distance. On the way back after our meetings, we ran into a stand off over land between two families. They had faced off about one hundred yards apart, blocking the road. One man was wounded and evacuated in a new, silver taxi. We dismounted and waited until this ended. Everyone along the road was friendly and resigned to the delay.
A few weeks later, we went to Parwan, north of Kabul, for a DDR (disarm/demobilize/reintegrate) meeting with the governor and local militia commanders, the polite word for warlord. This group was part of the Northern Alliance that had fought the Soviets and then the Taliban. They had recently agreed to turn in their weapons and return to civilian life. After the meeting, the commander invited about 50 of us to lunch at his headquarters in an old Soviet base. He had a few hundred mujahideen (fighters) in formation for a ceremony. Someone sang a few verses from the Koran, the commander gave a speech, and then we had lunch of rice, lamb, chicken, and nan (bread). There were forks for the foreigners, but most ate with their fingers and nan.
The elections October 9 had been our focus for a couple of months. I went to Peshawar in the Frontier Province in Pakistan to observe voting in the refugee camps. I do not want to seem too much of a Pollyanna, but it was very impressive. There was a good turn out and everything was organized. A lot of young men, old men right out of central casting, and quite a few women voted. There were separate polling stations for men and women. Some women did not want people to know they had voted and asked the poll workers to put the ink they used to mark the fingers of voters only on the inside of their thumbs. It took courage for women in some places to vote. There were problems with the election, as the media reported, but overall I think it was a major success. We all expected some efforts by the Taliban to disrupt the voting, but they did nothing. Still a long way to go in stabilizing Afghanistan, but this was a good step.
A few of the addressees on this message served 30+ years ago in the 35th. Infantry, 25th. Infantry Division. TF CACTI, 2/35 Infantry, now operates in Paktika Province south of Kabul. MG Olson, CG, 25th Div, commands TF 76, the US force that chases the Taliban. I sat in on his briefing a week or so ago on security for the elections. The soldiers still refer to the “Tropic Lightening” patch as the “Electric Strawberry.” It was odd to see that patch on desert camouflage rather than the old green jungle uniform. These soldiers and Marines are a bunch of good young men and women doing a sometimes dangerous job a long way from home.
I hope this message finds you well. I look forward to seeing you when I get home.
Bill"
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Go Cardinals......!
 | Rooting for the Cardinals, I was not a popular fan in my home. But what was I to do with an autographed picture of Stan Musial hanging over my desk? My parents are from St. Louis, my grandparents are from St. Louis. The first time I ever went to a ballgame was at the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis, when I was 5 years old. Need I say more? |
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