“An alarming 75 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 would not qualify for military service today because they are physically unfit, failed to finish high school or have criminal records. So says a new report from an organization of education and military leaders calling for immediate action on the early-education front.”
“Military recruiters in Kansas City report turning away prospective recruits “in every office, every hour, every day” for reasons including girths too large and credit ratings too low.”
“Even after signing up, 7 to 15 percent of enlistees return home for not meeting all that basic training demands.”
Scariest quote is from retired Rear Adm. James Barnett: “Our national security in the year 2030 is absolutely dependent on what’s going on in kindergarten today.”
“The Handmaid’s Tale is set in the Republic of Gilead, a country formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America by a racist, chauvinist, nativist, theocratic-organized military coup motivated by an ideologically-driven response to the pervasive ecological degradation of the land, widespread infertility, and attendant social dislocations. Beginning with a staged terrorist attack killing the President and ousting Congress, the coup leaders launched a revolution which overthrew the United States government and abolished the US Constitution. The new theocratic military dictatorship, styled “The Republic of Gilead”, moved quickly to consolidate its power and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical, compulsorily-Christian regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious orthodoxy among its newly-created social classes.”
Plot summary of The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood (Wikipedia). Sound familiar? Published in 1985.
Thanks to Melody and Nathan for treating us to the powerful documentary Burma VJ, part of Columbia, MO’s True/False Film Festival.
“A tense suspense thriller in the guise of a new-form political documentary, begins in 1988, when Burma’s military junta brutally shot and killed 3,000 demonstrators, imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and outlawed independent journalism. In the years since, the Democratic Voice of Burma, a “television station in exile,” has begun sneaking images of the repression out of the country. Using cheap handicams, cell phones, short-wave radio and satellite feeds, the DVB transmits startling footage across the globe, fueling international outrage against the totalitarian government. When the nation’s Buddhist monks decide to take to the streets in September 2007, joined by tens of thousands of students, the DVB was there, allowing the world to watch both this event and its brutal aftermath. A testament to the courage of journalists and a cautionary tale for dictators, Burma VJ is truly inspiring.”
Nathan figured I’d enjoy this film because he reads this blog and knows I’m interested in journalism/media/video. And he was right. This story grabbed me from the beginning.
If I could ask one of the generals who control Burma just one question, it would be: Which is the greater threat to your dictatorship, guns or video cameras?
At the end of the film, the director, Anders Ostergaard, talked about the film and the audience was invited to donate money that would be used to buy more and smaller cameras for the DVB (smaller cameras are less likely to be discovered).
I take for granted that I can take a photograph, shoot some video or make an audio recording in any public place. And then publish it here for the world to see. I’ll try to remember there are others risking their lives and freedom to do so. One of my favorite lines from the film: “Those who are not afraid to die,come to the front.”
I assume Burma VD will be available on DVD, if it’s not already. I encourage you to watch it.
When I receive a ping that someone is following me on Twitter, I check to see if I know the person. If it’s clearly link bait, or someone following a few thousand of their closest friends, I block them. Yesterday I noticed there are 99 lost souls following my feed, and wondered who would be number 100.
“sexy caring military” is just what I’ve been searching for. But I’m concerned that I might have trouble pronouncing her name which, I assume, was randomly generated. Alas, I have blocked Acanthocoleusoy, saying no to “real love.”
“No single thing had doomed (the) planet. Rather it had been a confluence of disasters. Some dramatic and sudden, others a slow, silent decay.
The worldwide flue epidemic had come and gone with fewer deaths than predicted. Humanity emerged from that long winter and smiled nervously at one another. A sigh of relief, a bullet dodged.
That April the big one hit.
So long feared, it finally happened. The earth awoke, humped up its spine along the San Andreas. The destruction from L.A. to San Francisco defied comprehension. The earthquake sent rumbles across the Pacific, tsunamis pounding Asia. F.E.M.A immediately declared its inadequacy and turned over operations to the military. The death toll numbered in the millions, and nothing –not food nor fuel– made it through West Coast seaports. The shortages were rapidly felt across the Midwest. Supermarkets emptied, and no trucks arrived to resupply them.
Wall Street panicked.
Nine days later a Saudi terrorist detonated a nuclear bomb in a large tote bag on the steps of the Capitol building. Both houses of Congress were in session. The president and vice president and most of the cabinet were obliterated.
The secretary of the interior was found and sworn in. This didn’t sit well with a four-star general who had other ideas. Civil war.
Economic spasms reached the European and Asian markets.
Israel dropped nukes on Cairo, Tehran and targets in Syria.
Pakistan and India went at it.
China and Russia went at it.
The world went at it.
It was pretty much all downhill from there.”
"This is very sensitive and very top secret, but there are secret operational capabilities that have been developed by the military to locate, target, and kill leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq, insurgent leaders, renegade militia leaders. That is one of the true breakthroughs," Woodward told Pelley.
"Do you mean to say that this special capability is such an advance in military technique and technology that it reminds you of the advent of the tank and the airplane?" Pelley asked.
"Yeah," Woodward said. "If you were an al Qaeda leader or part of the insurgency in Iraq, or one of these renegade militias, and you knew about what they were able to do, you’d get your ass outta town."
WTF. If this were anybody but Bob Woodward, I’d say yeah, right. If I had to guess I’d say it is some kind of quantum mechanical weapon. All you need is a photo of the target and the weapon punches through space/time and … zap! You read it first (unless you’re Bob Woodward)
I can’t recall posting on the purchase of Anheuser-Busch by Belgian beverage giant, InBev. I’m a Bud fan but have been drinking Beck’s (made by InBev) for a year or two. New owners always tell you nothing is gonna change but it’s not true and nobody believes them anyway.
But The Game is truely global now and we have to get used to it. Just as the rest of the world has had to deal with our military and economic superiority. Both of which are facing serious challenges. As Bob Dylan said, “How does it feeeel?”
I mark this moment with this musical tribute. One of my favorites.
"In the history of filmmaking, there is only one movie that Marines like, and that’s the first 20 minutes of Full Metal Jacket," Sgt. Eric Kocher says, slicing into a medium-rare steak in a midtown New York restaurant. "After that, it all goes to shit."
A veteran of the Iraq invasion in 2003, Kocher is a muscular 28-year-old with an intense stare and the word psycho tattooed inside his lower lip. For the past year, he has served as the senior military adviser on Generation Kill, a seven-episode miniseries about the early days of the Iraq war that premieres on HBO July 13th at 9 p.m. Based on the book of the same name (which began as an award-winning series of articles by journalist Evan Wright in Rolling Stone), Kill follows the Marines of 1st Recon, who were at the vanguard of the American invasion in 2003, blitzing ahead of the U.S. forces in Humvees. A team leader on the real mission, Kocher was there to make sure the filmmakers stayed true to the story. "If Eric hadn’t been there, it would have been Generation Lame," says Wright. "He forced an authentic point of view."
You know I loved The Wire. Probably best series ever. And Band of Brothers gets my vote for best mini-series of all time. We won’t be taking evening calls for those seven nights.
"The oh-my-God moment came when I realized that Israel can destroy all of its local enemies by inventing solar technology that makes oil uneconomical. Such an invention would do more harm than any military attack. And it’s all legal and moral. The politicians and business people in Israel have all the right incentives times a thousand. Their very survival is at risk. Israel is one patent away from crushing every oil producing country in the world."
In his post, he links to the article that provided his ah-ha moment.
"Hey, can you do something for me real quick? Could you enlist in the
Army? I’m only asking because I was just wondering about it, because it
would be great, I think. If you joined the Army. And it would
definitely help me out." This recruitment pitch is so compelling, I think I’d enlist. If I were 40 years younger and wanted to lose a foot for George Bush. But it sounds like the U. S. Army is finding "a few good men."
“An alarming 75 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 would not qualify for military service today because they are physically unfit, failed to finish high school or have criminal records. So says a new report from an organization of education and military leaders calling for immediate action on the early-education front.”
