Patterico's Pontifications

10/30/2006

What John Kerry Really Thinks Of Our Troops In Iraq

Filed under: 2004 Election,Buffoons,Current Events,General,Politics,War — Justin Levine @ 10:40 pm



[posted by Justin Levine]

Senator John Kerry made this eyebrow-raising statement while giving a speech to a group of students at Pasadena City College. [Listen to the actual MP3 audio and decide how to interpret it for yourself.]

[Hat-tip: The John Ziegler Show on KFI.

Disclosure – I am a KFI employee on a different show.]

[posted by Justin Levine]

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: The ever-cautious Allah has more here.

I’ll play Devil’s Advocate: Kerry is talking about Bush and not the troops.

At least that’s what his spokesman will say tomorrow.

UPDATE x2 BY PATTERICO: But then, how will Kerry’s spokesman keep a straight face while making that explanation, in light of the fact that Bush got better grades than Kerry?

UPDATE x3 BY PATTERICO: Tony Snow has called on Kerry to apologize to the troops, as well as the families of those killed in Iraq.

This is going to hurt him.

Charlie Brown’s Jihad On The West – A Blogger’s Jihad On Copyright Law

Filed under: General,Humor,Law — Justin Levine @ 10:15 pm



[posted by Justin Levine]

This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while. [Hat-tip: Instapundit]

Just like other hilarious and stunningly creative works, there is also virtually no doubt that it illegally violates a host of copyright and trademark laws (as currently interpreted by our court system).

So the question is: Do you wish to continue to see such works? Or do you want to reform intellectual property laws? (If you think that there is somehow a third alternative that I am not considering, please let me know).

[posted by Justin Levine]

A Surefire Blueprint For Defeating An Economic Boycott

Filed under: Economics,General — Justin Levine @ 6:41 pm



[posted by Justin Levine]

The solution? Give away your product for free and fund it through penis enlargement and breast augmentation ads.

— Posted by Justin Levine

Project Valour IT

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:44 am



Two interesting items regarding the military and blogs caught my eye this morning.

First, Cassandra at Villainous Company is seeking donations for the Marine team in “Project Valour IT,” which she describes as “grateful Americans, providing laptops with voice-activated software for severely wounded troops.” Here is the beginning of the story behind the project:

Project Valour-IT began when Captain Charles “Chuck” Ziegenfuss was wounded by an IED while serving as commander of a tank company in Iraq in June 2005.

During his deployment he kept a blog. Captivating writing, insightful stories of his experiences, and his self-deprecating humor won him many loyal readers. After he was wounded, his wife continued his blog, keeping his readers informed of his condition.

As he began to recover, CPT Ziegenfuss wanted to return to writing his blog, but serious hand injuries hampered his typing.

How he solved that problem, and how that led to this project, is all at Cassandra’s post here. Go there and donate.

Also, the Washington Post yesterday had an article about military oversight over blogs by soldiers:

From the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan to here at home, soldiers blogging about military life are under the watchful eye of some of their own.

A Virginia-based operation, the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell, monitors official and unofficial blogs and other Web sites for anything that may compromise security. The team scans for official documents, personal contact information and pictures of weapons or entrances to camps.

This appears to be a necessary operation, and certainly soldiers’ speech rights are severely circumscribed for valid and necessary reasons. However, in any such operation, there is a natural tendency to shut down legitimate commentary on the grounds that it could make the organization look bad. I hope that the Army does not go overboard with this oversight, and I hope it will allow truthful commentary by soldiers who respect operational security and give an accurate picture of life on the front lines.

Projects like the one Cassandra is supporting should help with that.


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