In stark contrast to the reputation of Ted Williams as a bona fide war hero, The Smoking Gun today published U.S. Military documents that portray Joe DiMaggio (above, right) as “a deeply selfish soldier desperate for a wartime discharge”, despite the Yankee Clipper never seeing combat.
Major Emile Stoloff, chief of neuropsychiatry, and Major William G. Barrett detail DiMaggio’s frequent hospitalizations, brought about when the athlete would complain of abdominal pain. Though DiMaggio frequently contended that he suffered from an ulcer, Stoloff noted that “no evidence” was found to support this “alleged history.” Barrett referred to DiMaggio’s “natural tendency to protect himself by adopting those diagnoses and opinions which would lead to release from his present unhappy situation.”
Citing his purported peptic ulcer and “nervous condition,” DiMaggio argued that these maladies warranted his immediate discharge. He was convinced, however, that military brass wanted to continue reaping the public relations benefits of having such a high profile athlete remain in the Army. With the country at war, DiMaggio, a staff sergeant, believed he had been “exploited” by the Army and made “an exhibitionist,” an apparent reference to the fact that DiMaggio played on Army baseball teams. As a result, he was “somewhat bitter about this discrimination,” Barrett reported.
Bob McNamara was not a great man. He was a man with great intelligence that didn’t prevent him from executing a plan that led to the unnecessary slaughter – for reasons that remain hard to fully comprehend — of tens of thousands of Americans and many more Vietnamese. He spent next four decades trying to come to terms with the banality of evil, with the horror of what he and those around him had done, but even his unusually candid apologies never seemed to go far enough. – Will Bunch, Philadelphia Daily News
The 29th place Ottawa Senators (quick, name the other 28 teams!) were defended after Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to New Jersey by owner Eugene Melnyk with what the Sun’s Don Brennan diplomatically calls “an inadvertent choice of words in a war-sensitive time.”
“Anybody that says we should blow up this organization should get their own bomb and go blow themselves up,” Melnyk said, flanked by 30 Grade 4 students, at a press conference to announce new fan initiatives.
“This is not an organization that is completely crippled,” he said. “It needs fine-tuning, it needs some tweaking, it needs a player here, a player there, a few good bounces and that’s it. But we are nowhere near that type of environment.
Melnyk did declare “the excuses are over” and that it was now-or-never time to salvage the season.
“To tell you the truth, it is hard after a game like (Tuesday) night,” Melynk said when asked about remaining upbeat. “On the other hand, you hope it’s just a blip. Going into (the Devils) game there was tremendous optimism. We played a few great games and then we had the all-star break and then we came back, and unfortunately enough was said by Craig, and that’s all I can tell you.”
Asked if he had made any decisions on the future of the team’s management and coaching staff, Melnyk offered some ominous words.
“As far as the hockey organization is concerned, I leave the hockey operations to the hockey people. I’ve always done that,” he said. “And we are going to continue doing whatever it takes to put a winning team on the ice. As far as I’m concerned right now, we are at a crossroads. This is it. We have to win 26-27 games, it’s got to be done.”
Sen. John McCain once famously called MMA “human cockfighting”, but as the sport moves closer to the American mainstream, the U.S. Armed Forces “are using the sport not only as a way to build morale and aid in recruiting, but also as a training aid to enhance the skills of soldiers” writes the New York Times’ Michael Brick.
To rally the troops, military leaders have welcomed professional fighters with names like Ace and the Huntington Beach Bad Boy. The Army has conducted tournaments among soldiers. In an opinion article for Army Times last year, Maj. Kelly Crigger urged commanders to field a team of fighters on television in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the dominant pro league.
“Many of those viewers are eligible recruits,” Major Crigger wrote. “The U.F.C. provides a great venue to get the Army name into the minds of millions of young Americans.”
Across the service, the embrace of mixed martial arts has come with some reservations. The sport’s emphasis on solitary glory runs counter to the Army’s recent efforts to shift recruiting themes from individual development (Be All That You Can Be; Army of One) to group unity (Army Strong; Go Army).
But as the sport found its audience on channels aimed at young men, recruiters and drill sergeants soon took notice.
Military officials have sought practical applications. In 2002, the Army published a new field manual section on mixed martial arts techniques. Its author, Matthew C. Larsen, the director of the Modern Army Combatives Program, considered competition a powerful motivator.
“As long as we’re all about our values and upfront about what the Army stands for, and that’s being warriors, the question is, what kind of warriors?” said Mr. Larsen, who served as a young Marine in Tokyo and earned several black belts. “The game of mixed martial arts is just that, it’s a game. But the game can be training for the real thing.”
Mr. Larsen has promoted his program cautiously, acknowledging that too much focus on competition could train soldiers to win competitions, not battles. But the shifting nature of modern warfare, especially as conducted in the cramped corridors of Iraqi homes, has helped make his case.
“These guys could be in any situation, from a life-and-death battle with a bad guy to trying to subdue a citizen who has Stockholm syndrome, and you don’t even want to hurt that guy,” Mr. Larsen said. “But you’ve got to have all these moves for all those different situations.”
Seems to me we’re long overdue for another remake of “From Here To Eternity”. I suggest the feckless Shia LeBouf would be a fine choice to reprise the role of Montgomery Clift’s Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt, refusing to take part in the military’s MMA competitions. Harrassed by his fellow soliders, Prewitt finds sole support from Private Angelo Maggio (with Jared Leto tackling one of Frank Sinatra’s finest dramatic parts).
That the NCAA would allow the US Army to use tourney highlights as part of their new batch of online advertisements is hardly surprising — both organizations know a thing or two about exploiting certain segments of the young American population (though the NCAA have done so more successfully of late). Nor am I surprised that a successful author / TV pundit like Will Leitch, even at the height of his commercial success, would turn a blind eye to such advertisements appearing on Deadspin. Will’s already on record as saying “politics scare me” and he established himself as the Piers Morgan of sports bloggery sometime ago.
Nah, what I find surprising is that the U.S. Army, in their infinite wisdom, have gone for such a stiff presentation while trying to appeal to a readership that considers themselves slightly sharper than the average sports fan. Host Brian Fasulo combines the serious analytical presence of Tom Ellis with the tones of a less manic Sean Salisbury. Which is to say, you’ve met can openers with more personality.
With the very real possibility we might find ourselves colonizing occupying Iraq for the next 100 years, the American military desperately needs to get their shit together on the recruiting front. Though they’ve proven savvy enough to recognize the audience for the nation’s most popular sports blog might consider a tour of duty to be a career upgrade, that’s not nearly enough. Sponsoring sports blogs, xtreme motocross competitions and underground rock fests are certainly a foot in the door with a confused, gullible patriotic portion of the population, but they’re gonna need a compelling spokesperson other than Fasulo.
I humbly nominate (retired) Private Francis Soyer.
War criminal or just someone with a really edgy Flickr stream? The AP catches up with the former darling of the interweb, Pvt. Lynndie Rana England.
In an interview with the weekly magazine Stern conducted in English and posted on its Web site Tuesday, England seemed both remorseful and unrepentant — and conceded that the published photos surely incensed insurgents in Iraq.
“I guess after the picture came out the insurgency picked up and Iraqis attacked the Americans and the British and they attacked in return and they were just killing each other.”
She said she felt angry about it. “If the media hadn’t exposed the pictures to that extent then thousands of lives would have been saved,” she was quoted as saying.
Asked how she could blame the media for the controversy, she said it was not she who leaked the photos.
“Yeah, I took the photos but I didn’t make it worldwide. Yes, I was in five or six pictures and I took some pictures, and those pictures were shameful and degrading to the Iraqis and to our government,” she said, according to the report.
“And I feel sorry and wrong about what I did. But it would not have escalated to what it did all over the world if it wouldn’t have been for someone leaking it to the media.”
Asked by the magazine if what happened at Abu Ghraib was a scandal or something that happens during wartime, England said it was the latter.
“I’m saying that what we did happens in war. It just isn’t documented,” she was quoted as saying. “If it had been broken by the news without the pictures it wouldn’t have been that big.”
Professional Celebrity Rock Music Band, group not to exceed seven people for tour of FOB’s in Kuwait and Afghanistan for February 4-13 2008. The band should be an active rock band, with a music genre consisting of Southern Rock, Pop Rock, Post-Grunge and Hard Rock. At least one member of the band should be recognizable as a professional celebrity. Protective military equipment, such as kevlar, body armour, eye and ear protection will be provided when the group is travelling on military rotary or fixed wing aircraft.
In the event Weiland & Co. are otherwise occupied, is it too late to submit J.D. & The Straight Shot?
“Bidding War Alert XXIII is cancelled,” writes Jon Solomon, the dedicated supplier of the following story, as covered by the Rap News Network :
From the NFL football field, to the affiliation with TNA Wrestling Entertainment, Pacman Jones announces his next step as he moves into a new arena full of hip-hop lyrics, beats and production to release his untapped musical talents. In spite of the distractions Pacman Jones makes his path to become a recording artist and CEO of National Street League Records. The first rap duo release will consist of producer Spoaty and Mr. Pacman Jones himself together known as the “Posterboyz.”
In an interview today the question was asked what is next on your agenda as a team player and Pacman replied, ” The music business. I am also an entrepreneur; it takes a team player to make plays happen so I am bonding with my staff and recording artist to make this company a success. I went within myself to find a place to release my talents while I filter through my career from all of the things that have taken place around me. I find tranquility in writing lyrics, establishing my company and preparing for my promo tour in mid September. Looking from the outside in, I have been the example for many to see the poster child if you will; and from that sentiment the “Posterboyz” group name was born”.
The promo tour will stop in Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama to host community events and forums at various high schools and universities.” The first single is scheduled to hit the streets August 27th titled “Let it Shine” the song relates to glimmering stones, big money and flashy cars. The “Posterboyz” debut album is scheduled to release in 2008. To back up the “Posterboyz” the National Street League Records family roster will also include an R&B act to bring melodic tunes to N.S.L fans.
A slightly less promotastic item from the AP today includes an NFL spokesperson affirming the league is checking to see if the NSL logo is a violation of the former’s trademark. In the more than likely event Jones finds himself running afoul of the league for such a minor infraction, keep in mind that at least his imprint is neither as lame nor as ugly as Kyle Turley’s.
In other NFL news certain to ruin Roger Goodell’s dinner, Michael Vick is being accused by a South Carolina felon of Al Qaeda ties and the theft of two pit bulls (link courtesy Nick Stone). “Michael Vick has to stop physically hurting my feelings and dashing my hopes,” wrote Jonathan Lee Riches in the complaint, which is nearly word for word what I was saying about No. 7 at the conclusion of last year’s fantasy football campaign.
Though I sincerely doubt the above tale is anything other than booshit, there is something kinda terrific about Michael Vick finding time to haggle with the Iranian government over a missile purchase — that’s in addition to the dog fighting ring and some kind of professional athletics sideline he once had.
Just because the military can’t afford a desktop keyboard that doesn’t have a stuck caps lock key is no reason to presume they’re all a bunch of idiots (link swiped from Radosh).
Feller has strong opinions about the war in Iraq, and he bemoaned what he called a lack of leadership.
“We should have gone in there with 450,000 troops and declared a military dictatorship or martial law, have a curfew, taken over all the oil and given them the going price, same as we did with Japan when the war was over, and then given the country back to them when it was over,” Feller said.
“It would have been over years ago. The last good general we had, in my opinion, was Schwarzkopf,” he said, referring to Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf. “We haven’t had a lot of good leaders anywhere in our nation. I’m really concerned.”
I know, politics are not usually the move here. But while GC’s n00b crew, myself included, are doing some late-night mop-up, Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo is introducing the world to a state legislator from Georgia whose outlook on the way the world works makes Carl “Carnosaur 3” Everett look like Stephen Jay Gould:
Georgia State House Rep. Ben Bridges (R)…is now in a bit of trouble for spilling the beans about evolution being the product of a Pharisee Jew conspiracy to bamboozle normal Americans and destroy Christianity.
“Indisputable evidence — long hidden but now available to everyone — demonstrates conclusively that so-called ‘secular evolution science’ is the Big-Bang 15-billion-year alternate ‘creation scenario’ of the Pharisee Religion,” reads the letter that went out under Bridges’ name. “This scenario is derived concept-for-concept from Rabbinic writings in the mystic ‘holy book’ Kabbala dating back at least two millennia.”
It seems that the actual author or analyst, I guess you might say, was a fellow named Marshall Hall, the husband of Bridges campaign manager, Bonnie Hall. Then they sent it out over Bridges’ signature to state legislators in Texas, California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio. And they didn’t stop by letting the cat out of the bag on evolution. They also blew the whistle on all this hokum about the earth revolving around the Sun.
Barnes’ memo pointed fellow state legislators to the information at fixedearth.com which rails against the “a mystic, anti-Christ ‘holy book’ of the Pharisee Sect of Judaism” and claims that “the earth is not rotating … nor is it going around the sun.”
Before you call this veteran legislator an ignoramus, consider this: according to his bio, Bridges is a college graduate, okay? Barber College. And he’s been a part of some important, Georgia high school hoops-related “legislation.”
Though I usually go months without reading Michael Hiestand’s USA Today column, Wednesday’s is a doozy. Along with tipping us off regarding Stephen A. Smith’s debut on “General Hospital” (”Smith plays a reporter covering a hostage taking in the Feb. 2 episode. He calls the role ‘a dream come true’ and it’s ‘a lesson to all the ladies out there — there are men who love the soaps.’”), Hiestand has the scoop on what will hopefully be the first and last Baghdad Bowl, scheduled to air as part of CBS’ Super Bowl pregame programming.
CBS analyst Randy Cross (above) says he proposed the idea to CBS after visiting a U.S. military base in Afghanistan last year. The idea is for U.S. soldiers in Iraq — male and female — to don Colts and Bears jerseys for a touch football game that, he jokes, “will give you an early indication” of the Super Bowl winner.
Not surprisingly, says Suzanne Smith, who is Cross’ director on regular NFL coverage and will go to Iraq with him Monday, this bowl will be creative. Jeeps will be lined up to serve as bleachers, she says, “And we’re talking about making some kind of goalposts.” She is not sure about player gear — “Maybe they’ll wear their helmets.”
Smith, working with the military, says she’ll be supplied with two cameras — “which I guess is a big deal over there” — and help in scouting locations: “In e-mails, like whenever you do a shoot, they talked about the advantages and disadvantages of two sites. But with this, they talked about which is safer.”
But at least the game balls, which will emulate Super Bowl balls, will be emblazoned with “Baghdad Bowl” lettering. After all, Cross says, “The idea is to bring some degree of normalcy to the troops.”
The US Army is to apologise to the families of officers killed or wounded in action who were sent letters urging them to return to active duty. But this figure included about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action.
More than 3,000 members of the US military have died in Iraq since the war began.
Casualties have also been suffered in Afghanistan since the US invasion.
“Army personnel officials are contacting those officers’ families now to personally apologise for erroneously sending the letters,” the army said in a statement.
This is obviously an awkward situation for the military, and as such, they might want to consider enlisting the services of Godsmack’s Sully Erna (above) when it comes time to contact the families of the deceased.
The Guardian’s Dominic Fifield and Ewan Murray report that Newcastle’s Emre Belozoglu is denying allegations from former Metro Star Tim Howard that he uttered racist abuse at the Everton goalkeeper and his teammates last Saturday.
The Football Association is seeking to interview Howard, who is understood to have complained to Dermot Gallagher, the referee for last Saturday’s match at Goodison Park, who included the comments in his report to Soho Square. Howard and the centre-halves Joleon Lescott and Joseph Yobo reacted furiously to comments made by Emre (above) just before half-time after Gallagher awarded the visitors a penalty.
“I spoke with Emre and he said that he never said anything racist to the player,” said the player’s agent, Ahmet Bulut. “His best friend at Newcastle is Obafemi Martins, who is black. These claims are not true. Emre never had any problems when he played in Turkey or Italy and he has never had any problems with other players in England either. On the field he is an aggressive player, like other players are, but he would never make racist remarks. My English is bad, but his is even worse and he wouldn’t even know these racist words.”
Supporters seated in the Gwladys Street stand indicated that they had heard Emre’s comments and would complain to the FA. No complaints were made to Merseyside Police at the time.
Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro is amongst those calling for a global ban on capital punishment, a stance inspired by Saddam Hussein’s execution last weekend. From Ansa (link taken from The Offside) :
“Saddam Hussein was a despot and totally despicable from a moral point of view, but he was a human being, and as such it is not right for someone to take his life away,” said the Real Madrid defender, who recently won the 2006 European Footballer of the Year Award and the FIFA World Player prize.
“It is time to stop this barbarism,” Cannavaro continued.
“Italy’s anti-death penalty initiative is sacrosanct It is right to do everything possible to stop decisions like this being taken anywhere in the world”.
If the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick can write the same column two years in a row, what’s stopping me? In today’s Post, Phil rails against Chris Russo’s vocal disdain for the Army/Navy game (”Russo’s take on Army-Navy doesn’t even constitute a legitimate contrary opinion. Rather, it again reveals his inability to keep his most foolish thoughts – and shallow appreciation of sports – to himself. And now I’m a fool for wasting space trying to explain it to him,”), a editoral stance identical to one he expressed exactly one year ago. From CSTB, December 4, 2005 :
Give Chris Russo credit for guts. He’s never afraid to lead with his shallow side.
Russo gave Thursday’s rush hour audience a good sense of what his sense of sports is. After Mike Francesa told him that he should make it a point to attend at least one Army-Navy game – just for the feel of it as a fabulous event – Russo grunted, “Eh, that kind of game doesn’t do anything for me.”
Then what kind of game does do something for Russo. No. 3-ranked Ten Percent Grad Rate State vs. No. 10 Two Prior Arrests U.? If you can’t find appeal in the Army-Navy game, you have no genuine sense of what constitutes genuine sport.
They are building a sports fortress on the high ground of the Army campus along the Hudson River, much of it for football. Two new buildings – large, serious-looking structures – have risen next to the old stadium like big blockers in a pass pocket.
Next door, next month, they will break ground on a $15 million indoor practice facility to go with the new weight-training center, the new locker room, the new offices for the coaches and the new auditorium for the athletes – all financed through private donations.
(just another overpaid Craig Finn wannabe)
Why the aggressive upgrade? Head Coach Bobby Ross and many influential people involved with the academy say a good Army football team is important for the self-image and morale of the military in wartime.
One of those people is Tom Dyer, the chairman of the powerful Association of Graduates. Dyer’s group has raised more than $300 million in the last decade, about half of it for sports, he said.
“What we’re all about up there is winning,” Dyer said. “It’s good for West Point, it’s good for the Army and, frankly, it’s good for the nation. When they go into the Army and enter combat, the whole purpose is to win.”
Bob McClure, a member of the board of trustees for the Association of Graduates, said: “We were on the bottom five percentile in facilities and what we paid the coaching staff. We had been basically outstripped. College athletics has really become a business, major-league, big-time. The taxpayer does not pay for a top 50 college program.” Ross’s salary, more than $600,000, is underwritten in part by the alumni group.
I’m hardly an expert on military matters — I mean, when someone compares armed combat to a football game, I tend to think they oughta be neutered — but I strongly suspect that not coming home in a body bag does wonders for morale, too.
I am probably writing these words for the first and last time : I’m with Russo on this one. Fuck the Army-Navy game.
While acknowledging the anti-war movement has received support from the likes of Etan Thomas, Adam Morrison, Steve Nash and Carlos Delgado, Edge Of Sports’ Dave Zirin wonders why today’s sportsmen & women aren’t making a bigger stink.
Anti-war athletes could use this platform if they just stopped operating, in isolation from one another. If the people I cited called a joint press conference to announce a new organization: Athletes United Against War or – what the hell – Jocks for Justice, it would electrify the cultural landscape. Think I’m exaggerating? Consider the case of Toni Smith. In 2003, the Division III Manhattanville women’s hoops captain decided that she was going to turn her back to the flag during the National Anthem to protest not only the war abroad but “the injustices and inequities at home.” Yipping Heads lined up to debate whether Toni had the “right” to express her views. Everyone from ESPN to 20/20 to 60 Minutes wanted a piece of her story.
Remember, this is Division III women’s basketball. Crowds usually rival a well-attended K-Fed concert. If Toni Smith from Manhattanville could, for a brief moment, polarize the Sportsworld imagine what Steve Nash, backed by an organization, could do?
And yet it hasn’t happened and it’s worth asking why. Of the players I have spoken with, two main reasons emerge. The first is pessimism. Like most people in this country, pro athletes don’t believe that they have any power to determine the course of this war. The thought is that the media might give them some coverage, but in the end, nothing would change and they would just earn ESPN radio’s “Just Shut Up Award” for their trouble. One said to me, “The quickest way to win that Just Shut Up award is to have something to say.”
The other roadblock is straight-up fear: fear that taking an unpopular stand would mean a quick ticket out of the SportsWorld along with its attendant privileges. All NBA players know the cautionary tales of Craig Hodges and Mahmoud Abdul Rauf. They took stands against US foreign policy and found themselves drummed out of the league like they were the Bush twins in Buenos Aires. Most athletes came up poor and it is not a life anyone wants to revisit.
(video link taken from WFMU’s Beware Of The Blog and Ken Freedman. For the first and hopefully last time, the Beware Of The Blogs’ comments have dropped below those of Deadspin on the nitwit scale).
No offense to the current Red Sox manager, but unless the town of Marlborough has changed wildly since I last passed through, it would take an entire gang of Stevie Hawkings to effect serious change in math class.
Yesterday, math became a little more fun for Marlborough’s middle school students, courtesy of their surprise substitute teacher, Red Sox manager Terry Francona. He visited the middle school yesterday as part of Raytheon Co.’s MathMovesU program, an effort to get more middle schoolers engaged in math.
“Some people might think that success in baseball is all about maybe one lucky swing, or one perfect pitch, or all about base running,” Francona said. “I’m here to tell you that almost everything in baseball is calculated and planned, and a lot of that is using math.”
As it faces the challenge of finding enough qualified engineers and scientists, Raytheon’s program is trying to prepare more students for math and science careers to prevent future shortages.
Francona’s visit to the school was a surprise for the students, and they erupted in cheers as Francona appeared in the school auditorium.
In his pep talk about math, Francona tossed the students a few math problems featuring Red Sox players. For instance: If Coco Crisp hits a double, then tries to steal third but only makes it halfway the first time, before stealing successfully on his next attempt — how many total feet has he traveled to reach third base? The answer, he told the students, is 360 feet.
Francona said the team uses math to determine when a player should try to steal bases, given Sox statistics and those of the opposing team. The average running time for stealing second base is 3.2 seconds, he said, and then he tries to figure out how quickly the ball can get there to determine if the risk is worthwhile.
“We try to calculate all of those numbers quickly in the dugout to see if the advantage is to us or the other team when we talk about stealing bases,” Francona said. “It’s not just putting up a sign and letting a guy run. There’s a lot of math that comes into play.”
I don’t know how Joe Morgan feels about evolution being taught in the public schools, but he might demand equal time if Tito persists with this sort of lesson plan.
Francona’s sponsor for the day, Waltham, MA based Raytheon, are one of the nation’s biggest defense contractors. This autumn, NBC News accused the U.S. Army of delivering a $70 million deal for a defense system against rocket propelled grenades to Raytheon, despite other contractors proposing schemes that might’ve been more effective.
The Arizona Cardinals have apologized for a sound-system glitch that marred Sunday’s tribute to Pat Tillman and will replay a video honoring him at Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions two hours before the 2:05 p.m. kickoff.
Fans stood during halftime of the Cowboys game on Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium as Tillman’s name was added to the team’s Ring of Honor at the Glendale stadium.
A video montage on the stadium’s giant screens was to paint a touching portrait of the man who exchanged life as a professional athlete for that of an Army Ranger. Former teammates talked about Tillman’s spirit and his legacy after dying in Afghanistan in a friendly-fire attack in April 2004.
The fans did not hear a word until the last segment.
The sound glitch silenced the tributes, and fans were angered at the perceived disrespect shown to a football player many of them had followed for years at Arizona State University and with the Cardinals.
If he thought setting himself on fire and ending his life in Chicago would change anyone’s mind about the war in Iraq, his last gesture on this planet was his saddest and his most futile.
I’ll not argue that Ritscher’s desperate act was that of a deeply troubled person. But while I think his life was entirely too high a price to pay, there’s nothing futile in his reminding other taxpayers they’ve got blood on their hands. I’d like to think that task could’ve been accomplished without his death, but as extreme, dramatic statements go, it was certainly more provocative than anything I’ve read in the Sun-Times.
Ritscher (whom I did not have the pleasure of knowing) was by some accounts, a troubled individual. But if you’re not troubled by what this country is doing in Iraq, I humbly suggest that you’ve got a problem, too.
(going fuckin’ nuts with the beefcake pics this morning, sorry)
In February of 2005, world affairs correspondent Chuck Meehan declared that Ahmed Chalabi ” should be awarded the Doug Moody Lifetime Achievement award for con-men.” And as much as you might find any analogy between NOFX and acts of war distasteful, Chuck wasn’t far off the mark.
At the heart of the American decision to take over and run Iraq, Chalabi now concludes, lay a basic contempt for Iraqis, himself included.
“In Wolfowitz’s mind, you couldn’t trust the Iraqis to run a democracy,” Chalabi says. “ ‘We have to teach them, give them lessons,’ in Wolfowitz’s mind. ‘We have to leave Iraq under our tutelage. The Iraqis are useless. The Iraqis are incompetent.’
“What I didn’t realize,” Chalabi says, “was that the Americans sold us out.”
Turkish coffee is served, then tea. I consider Chalabi’s predicament: the Iraqi patrician, confidant of prime ministers and presidents, the MIT and University Of Chicago-trained mathematics professor, owner of a Mayfair flat, complaining of being regarded, by the masters he once manipulated, as a scruffy, shiftless native.
“I’ve been a friend of America, and I’ve been its enemy,” he says. “America betrays its friends. It sets them up and betrays them. I’d rather be America’s enemy.”
(left to right, Kevin, Pat and Richard Tillman at Pat’s 1998 graduation from ASU)
Apologies to those who read this days ago, but for those who haven’t, it’s a 9.0 on the Etan Thomas richter scale. Excerpts from Kevin Tillman’s editorial at TruthDigg.com :
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.
The ever altruistic Will Leitch aka Bob Hopeless (above) recently took it upon himself to solicit donations for a U.S. Army platoon stationed in Iraq. One of their comrades, Sgt. Adam Knox, was slain during combat this past September. Leitch’s readers have raised over $2300.00 USD for the purpose of assembling a care package of sorts for Knox’s company.
While I’m confident the Man From Mattoon has only the best of intentions, the whole thing is ridiculously tragic. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Knox signed up with the Army Reserves to pay for his education. Sure, Knox’s mates would no doubt appreciate a a big box of stroke mags, but perhaps some sort of scholarship fund would be in order. If such an initiative discouraged even one person from becoming cannon fodder in a bullshit war, that alone would justify Deadspin’s pathetic existence.
Anyhow, not to be outdone in the charity sweepstakes, I’m soliciting donations, too. I’m asking you to make a small contribution to the folks at Iraq Body Count.net. Those who don’t have the benefit of banner ads from EA Sports (or, uh, Carol Strayhorn) have to pay for bandwidth somehow. And with all due respect to Sgt. Knox’s family and friends, innocent civilians are being killed in Iraq every day. Their lives are every bit as precious as those of Ohio State fans, and to completely ignore the circumstances surrounding our involvement in Iraq is a shameful cop out.
Thank god for TiVo, otherwise tonight’s Dodgers/Mets game would result in my missing the premiere of Jackie & Doug Christie’s new realityvision show on BET.
The couple visited Howard Stern’s Sirius program this morning, and The Big Lead listened long enough to hear the following highlight :
Howard asked Doug: “Let’s say you’re in a Nazi concentration camp, and you are told that your wife or mother is going to die. Only you must make the decision. Who dies?” (To be fair, his first answer was to kill himself.)
After pondering the question for quite some time, Doug decided to save his mom.
There you have it, another happy marriage destroyed by The King Of All Media.
The Nation’s Dave Zirin finds the “bombastic…hyper-caffeinated, volume-eleven foghorn,” Stephen A. Smith grating when the ESPN2 host is howling on “Quite Frankly..”. In another setting, however, Zirin considers Smith to be a a voice of sanity (link courtesy True Hoop).
Imagine my shock after seeing Stephen A. on a recent CNN Live Event Special debating the future of the Middle East, oil consumption, the war in Iraq, energy alternatives and other issues. The shock was not that Stephen A. could hold his own. It’s that his voice of perpetual disgust and alarm seemed oddly appropriate and satisfying when discussing US foreign policy.
Radio America’s Ben Ferguson, whom I have never heard of but who seems to be to the right of Attila the Hun, said, “We’re so worried about being politically correct, we don’t want to offend anyone, and say we’re going back to the ’60s or ’50s or whatever it may be, because that’s what people say. If you profile people, you’re being racist. No, I’m racist towards terrorists and if you fit the profile of a terrorist, then I don’t like you.”
Stephen A. was the only panelist to stand up to this racist garbage: “What’s the profile of a terrorist?… Hold on, now. Let’s be clear about something. When you talk about Timothy McVeigh or what have you, in Oklahoma City, he didn’t fit the profile.”
Ferguson responded: “But I think most Americans admit, when you get on a plane–be honest–you know exactly who makes you nervous when you get on a plane…. Do they not all look the same?… The people that did 9/11, people that did the Madrid? Do they not all fit–”
Smith shut him down: “But that’s bigotry.”
As the subject turned to Iraq and Afghanistan, you could see Stephen A. start to muscle-twitch, getting in that comfort zone. Ferguson, whom Stephen A. was starting to treat like Vince Carter treated Frederic Weis when he dunked on his head at the 2000 Olympics, said, “If you got a problem, you can either witch about it, or you can fix it.”
“So, 100,000 lives have been lost. What’s your definition of fixing the problem?” Stephen A responded. And after the conversation took a few more turns, he said, “There’s plenty of people–I’m telling you right now, you know how many soldiers I run into, American soldiers–American soldiers–who we unequivocally support, and they say we have no business over there. Most of those people don’t even want to be over there. They actually say that.”
Pentagon officials and employees say Mr. Rumsfeld’s play closely resembles the way he has run the Defense Department, where he has spent six years trying to break the accepted modes of operating.
“He hits the ball well, but he doesn’t play by the rules,” says Chris Zimmerman, a devoted squash player who works in the Pentagon’s office of program analysis and evaluation and is sometimes in the Pentagon athletic complex when Mr. Rumsfeld is on the court.
Mr. Zimmerman has never actually played his boss. But he says he has noticed that Mr. Rumsfeld, 74, often wins points because, after hitting a shot, he does not get out of the way so his opponent has a chance to return the ball, a practice known in squash as “clearing.”
Nice one, Zimmy. Hopefully they’ll forward your mail to Guantanamo.
Last month, the Nation’s Dave Zirin took issue with Mike Krzyzeswski and Jerry Colangelo’s attempts to dress up USA Basketball players in military fatigues and use injured serviceman as morale props during the FIBA World Championships. The Wizards’ Etan Thomas was critical of the practice, leading the Washington Times’ Tom Knott to opine ;
Etan Thomas (above) supports the troops but not the war in Iraq, which is not unlike supporting the Wizards but not the games in the NBA.
He questioned the practice of having wounded veterans speak to the players, as if culling the insights of the brave and noble was somehow wrong.
Would any company or group seeking the wisdom of a wounded veteran be wrong as well?
Do these wounded veterans not possess a unique character that would be helpful to those in a wide range of endeavors, such as a company looking to improve morale and the bottom line?
His screeds masquerading as poetic musings touch the customary talking points of the far left.
He sees all kinds of social inequities in America. He sees poverty, racism and the broken-down public schools of the inner city. He sees that which he disdains but offers no solutions.
Darkness is inevitably a tough sell, even more so for a person who lives incredibly well.
To ease some of the injustices and inequities, at least in his tiny corner of the world, Thomas could start with himself.
He could start performing at a level worthy of his contract.
While Zirin’s pithy response can be found at True Hoop, I’ll add a note of my own. If being an overpaid, mediocre talent in a given field precludes someone from having a valid political point of view, Knott’s even more fucked than Thomas. Seriously, being called an underachiever by a writer from the Washington Times is sort of like John Kruk making fun of your haircut.
The Yankees still play God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch at every home game, acknowledging 9/11, acknowledging that the world has changed. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire actually complained about the delay caused by the song during the 2004 playoffs. But one thing about the song: Hearing it makes you remember. Makes you stop and think.
(freedom-hating atheist or just a music critic?)
Stop and think what, exactly? That perhaps there is no God…and if there was, He or She wouldn’t let us pay $8 for a warm beer at Yankee Stadium? That the individuals responsible for the 9/11 atttacks also believe they are blessed by God? Or that continuing to maintain that our culture, our way of life, is any more precious than that of others, is a rather surefire way to guarantee further bloodshed?
Bobby Ross’ Army football team have accepted an invitation to December’s Poinsettia Bowl (conditional on their winning 6 games) and Newsday’s Mark Herrmann has a serious case of the G.I. Jerkoffs.
Players at West Point focus on this year, this game, this down, even though they know that once they finish school, they almost surely will serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.
That is part of the drill at West Point, where the training includes combat against insurgents. Those who enroll and stay at the U.S. Military Academy these days know they are headed into a war that doesn’t have easy answers, a public consensus behind it or a clear finish ahead. Still, they sign up.
That is why the Poinsettia Bowl called. The Cadets were invited because they would be a good draw; they would be a good draw because the country likes them.
Make no mistake, many of us have big questions about the war. We are weary and wary of it, saddened by it. But the nation has a certain feeling about the kids who are willing to go.
This isn’t like the 1960s (when Bob Knight was coaching basketball and Bill Parcells was coaching linebackers at the Point), when anything military-related was controversial at best. In 2006, Army has received a bowl bid not because of what it has done but because of who it is.
“Coach Ross (above) and I go around the country and we see it,” said athletic director Kevin Anderson, who has worked at Stanford, California and Oregon State. “We believe we are really America’s Team. I don’t think even Air Force or Navy get the kind of feeling and support we do. The only other team that does is Notre Dame. The kids sell this program. I’ve been at great schools and been around great students, but I’ve never been around kids like we have here.”
It’s touching to see Long Island’s daily providing so much public relations support for Bobby Ross, he of the $600,000 salary and the $15 million practice facilities. And I’m sure in the weeks to come, Herrmann will write several columns about the sacrifices made and hardship endured by the military’s rank and file who didn’t have the benefit of West Point entry. Who knows, space permitting, maybe even a thought or two for the persons they’ve killed, accidently or on purpose?
It is not surprising that Coach K loved the military angle. He’s a graduate of West Point who led the Army squad for five years. And there is nothing new about coaches using the language of war to inspire a winning team. But how does “engaging with the military” translate in these troubled times? It means that Colangelo and Krzyzewski have brought out soldiers maimed and crippled by the war in Iraq to inspire their “troops” in high-tops. This has included Capt. Scott Smiley, who is now blind after a Mosul suicide car bombing sent shrapnel into his brain, and another, Sgt. Christian Steele, who had part of his hand blown off. As Smith wrote, “It was a more than subtle message that playing with ‘USA’ on your jersey means a lot more than trying to win a medal. And it seems to have produced the desired effect of breaking down individual team loyalties and more quickly uniting this American team.”
The team, reportedly, was moved to tears. But there is something unnerving about these motivational tactics.
Etan Thomas, the power forward/center for the Washington Wizards, saw the military presentation on NBA TV and knew in his gut that it was wrong. He said to me, “I don’t have a problem with the troops talking to the players on their own. But for them being brought in to build a better basketball team just feels wrong. If I was there, my reaction would have been completely different. The fact that…Scott Smiley has lost his sight would not have made me feel patriotic pride. It would have made me feel ashamed, angered and saddened that this soldier was blinded at the service of a war we shouldn’t have been in in the first place.”
To use a deeply unpopular war from which, according to a recent Zogby poll, 72 percent of troops want to escape, and using the injured for public relations purposes, feels more like exploitation than motivation, especially when spearheaded by Jerry Colangelo. Colangelo has been pouring his money into efforts to strengthen ties between Republican politics and the religious right. He was a deputy chair of the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign in Arizona, and Colangelo’s deep pockets contributed to what is called the Presidential Prayer Team, a private evangelical group that claims to have signed up more than 1 million people to drop to their knees and pray daily for Bush. During the election summer of 2004, as Max Blumenthal has reported, Colangelo bought ads on 1,200 radio stations urging listeners to pray for the President.
Colangelo has never been shy about using sports to project his politics. On April 5, 2003, he designated the Phoenix Suns’ contest against Minnesota “Arizona Right-to-Life Day”.
The former Diamondbacks CEO also helped launched a group along with other baseball executives and ex-players called Battin’ 1,000, a national campaign that uses baseball memorabilia to raise funds for Campus for Life, the largest antichoice student network in the country. Battin’ 1,000 stands against all abortions, even in the case of incest or rape. Its motto: “Pro-life–without exception, without compromise, without apology.”
Colangelo has a fellow political traveler in Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K is a longtime Republican donor who made waves when he hosted a 2002 fundraiser for North Carolina senatorial candidate Elizabeth Dole at the university-owned Washington Duke Inn. His group, to the consternation of many non-Republican faculty and students, was called “Blue Devils for Dole.”
In addition to their politics, Colangelo and Coach K have something else in common: There is no published evidence that either ever served in combat. They might have gained a different perspective on the meaning of sports and war had they actually suffered the pain, boredom, fear and death of a live battle.
1) al-Zarqawi had the Nokia 8801 months before anyone in New York City’s rock scene.
2) His (dubious) choice of ringtone : Rascall Flats’ cover of “Life Is A Highway”
3) Nearly 500 calls, text messages and instant messages archieved over the past 3 months to and from Fred Travelena.
Reports of sexual assaults in the military increased by nearly 40 percent last year, the Pentagon announced Thursday, saying the increase was at least partly due to a new program that encourages victims to come forward.
According to a report released Thursday, there were 2,374 allegations of sexual assaults reported during 2005, compared to 1,700 in 2004. Of last year’s reports, 435 were initially filed under a new program that allows victims to report the incident and receive health care or counseling services but does not notify law enforcement or commanders.
The military has come under fire for repeated problems with sexual abuse at the service academies, in units stationed abroad in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan or Bahrain, and at military installations. Detainee abuse allegations have also included sexual assaults.
The Air Force Academy in Colorado is still struggling to recover from complaints that dozens of female cadets were assaulted and then punished when they reported it. And a recent survey by the Veterans Affairs Department showed that six in 10 women who served in the National Guard and Reserves say they were sexually harassed or assaulted.
6 in 10 is a shockingly high number for any institution, let alone one that has never employed Isiah Thomas.
Attention All CSTB Readers In The Greater Austin Area Who Are Particularly Desperate, Homicidal And/Or Really Fucking Patriotic :
6-time World Champion Robert Horry of the San Antonio Spurs will be making a special appearance at the U.S. Army Recruiting Center, 2021 Guadalupe St., today from 5pm to 6pm. Come on down and have your picture taken with one of the greatest clutch performers of his generation. Then, you can engage Big Shot Bob in a spirited debate about our mission in Iraq and ask at what point he’ll do more than simply lend his name, but will be willing to strap it on and sign up for a 3 year hitch himself.
The commander of American-run prisons in Iraq says the military will not turn over any detainees or detention centers to Iraqi jailers until American officials are satisfied that the Iraqis are meeting United States standards for the care and custody of detainees.
“Bottom line, we will not pass on facilities or detainees until they meet the standards we define and that we are using today,” the commander, Maj. Gen. John D. Gardner of the Army, said in a telephone interview this week from Iraq.
Who better than Army Spc. Charles Graner (above) to help enforce U.S. standards for the care and custody of detainees? He’s got time on his hands, and the Iraqis could surely use someone with his unique skill-set.
The perpetual roadside bombings throughout the Middle East. The lack of a stable government in Afghanistan or Iraq. The all-time low approval ratings for George Bush and his band of merry bandits.
It was all because of Carlos Delgado.
As angry Anna Benson, wife of Mets pitcher Kris Benson, pointed out this past week, the new Mets slugger had been turning “his back on our flag” for the past two years, refusing to stand during the playing of “God Bless America.”
No wonder the evil doers were winning.
How dare Delgado. And, as Benson also pointed out – after accusing the Mets of trying to trade her hubby because she had negotiated with Playboy about doing a photo shoot – how dare the Mets sign such an ungrateful turncoat.
But now, she and Bush supporters can rejoice. Delgado is done being defiant. He will stand during “God Bless America.”
Terrorists be warned: Your salad days are over.
Don’t believe it? Just look at the headlines from the past month or so. The tide is turning:
Nov. 8: Four American troops killed in Iraq bombing
See, the President is right: in the weeks leading up to Delgado’s change of heart, 54 people were killed in Iraq bombings. Since Delgado sent the message that he will stand united with the rest of us freedom-loving Americans, only 40 have perished.
Give Chris Russo credit for guts. He’s never afraid to lead with his shallow side.
Russo gave Thursday’s rush hour audience a good sense of what his sense of sports is. After Mike Francesa told him that he should make it a point to attend at least one Army-Navy game – just for the feel of it as a fabulous event – Russo grunted, “Eh, that kind of game doesn’t do anything for me.”
Then what kind of game does do something for Russo. No. 3-ranked Ten Percent Grad Rate State vs. No. 10 Two Prior Arrests U.? If you can’t find appeal in the Army-Navy game, you have no genuine sense of what constitutes genuine sport.
They are building a sports fortress on the high ground of the Army campus along the Hudson River, much of it for football. Two new buildings – large, serious-looking structures – have risen next to the old stadium like big blockers in a pass pocket.
Next door, next month, they will break ground on a $15 million indoor practice facility to go with the new weight-training center, the new locker room, the new offices for the coaches and the new auditorium for the athletes – all financed through private donations.
Why the aggressive upgrade? Head Coach Bobby Ross and many influential people involved with the academy say a good Army football team is important for the self-image and morale of the military in wartime.
One of those people is Tom Dyer, the chairman of the powerful Association of Graduates. Dyer’s group has raised more than $300 million in the last decade, about half of it for sports, he said.
“What we’re all about up there is winning,” Dyer said. “It’s good for West Point, it’s good for the Army and, frankly, it’s good for the nation. When they go into the Army and enter combat, the whole purpose is to win.”
Bob McClure, a member of the board of trustees for the Association of Graduates, said: “We were on the bottom five percentile in facilities and what we paid the coaching staff. We had been basically outstripped. College athletics has really become a business, major-league, big-time. The taxpayer does not pay for a top 50 college program.” Ross’s salary, more than $600,000, is underwritten in part by the alumni group.
I’m hardly an expert on military matters — I mean, when someone compares armed combat to a football game, I tend to think they oughta be neutered — but I strongly suspect that not coming home in a body bag does wonders for morale, too.
I am probably writing these words for the first and last time : I’m with Russo on this one. Fuck the Army-Navy game.
As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.
The articles, written by U.S. military “information operations” troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country.
Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said. Records and interviews indicate that the U.S. has paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of such articles, with headlines such as “Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism,” since the effort began this year.
An Army corporal accused of sexually harassing a female colleague excused his behaviour as Carry on Camping banter at a tribunal yesterday.
Corporal Stewart “Spike” Milligan (above) said he had not intended to intimidate Corporal Leah Mates when he spoke her name while pretending to masturbate in a communal tent while on duty in Kosovo. He told the tribunal that he was re-enacting a scene from the film When Harry Met Sally.
“It was just banter. I distinctly remember she was laughing along with the rest of us. I understand now I was making her uncomfortable but she didn’t ask me to stop.”
He added that Cpl Mates had made comments during the incident but said he believed she had only been playing along. He said: “She was joking along with it by saying ‘Oh shut up, oh, oh’. If she had complained straight away, I would have stopped. I took it as a ‘Oh behave’, a Carry On Camping kind of ‘Oh behave’.”
Military prosecutors on Thursday portrayed Pfc. Lynndie England as an eager participant in the 2003 scandal at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, repeatedly referencing her appearance in now-notorious photos and carefully laying out a scene in which a rogue band of guards abused low-profile prisoners for their own amusement.
Pvt. Jeremy Sivits, a prosecution witness who served a year in prison for his role, said England appeared to be enjoying herself during the incident. Several other witnesses backed his characterization.
Prosecutor Capt. Chuck Neil said that England’s cohorts were not interrogating the prisoners, and England herself was a filing clerk who should have been nowhere near them.
In presenting their arguments for England’s guilt, the prosecutors painted a picture that sharply contrasts with the defense’s portrayal of a learning-challenged girl who fell hopelessly in love with a superior. In cross-examining prosecution witnesses, England’s lawyers framed her role as passive.
“We had no idea conditions were going to be this great!” said Lieutenant Deaton, 25, the public affairs officer of the 256th Brigade Combat Team and an ambassador of the exclamation mark. “My first thought was, oh my God! This is good!”
As much as modern warfare has changed in recent decades, so has the lifestyle of the modern warrior – at least the modern American warrior on base.
Camp Liberty, one of the best-appointed compounds in the constellation of American military bases in Iraq, has the vague feel of a college campus, albeit with sand underfoot, Black Hawks overhead and the occasional random mortar attack.
The soldiers live in trailers on a grid of neat gravel pathways, and the chow hall offers a vast selection of food and beverages, ethnic cuisine nights, an ice cream parlor and, occasionally, a live jazz combo. Camp Liberty, like many other bases, also has Internet cafes, an impressively stocked store, gymnasiums with modern equipment, air-conditioning everywhere and extracurricular activities like language and martial arts lessons.
Gadgetry, in particular, proliferates among the 138,000 troops stationed in Iraq: laptop computers, MP3 and DVD players, digital cameras, televisions and video game consoles. On bases in greater Baghdad, many soldiers have cellphones and some have satellite dishes that pull in scores of stations. Personal DVD collections numbering several hundred are not uncommon; the legendary ones top 1,000.
Never in the field of human conflict has so much stuff been acquired by so many soldiers in so little time.
“I don’t know how they managed to acquire so much audio-visual machinery,” said an amused Lt. Col. Geoffrey J. Slack, 48, commander of the First Battalion, 69th Infantry, of the New York National Guard, which is garrisoned on Camp Liberty with the Louisianans. “Some of these kids, they’ll go out and fight all day, and they’ll come back and play these goofy space-age electronic war games all night. The furthest thing from my mind is to play war games. You’ll walk by and hear them hootin’ and hollerin’.”
For Specialist Chris Foster, a guardsman from Baton Rogue, wartime comfort is often no further away than the nearest Xbox game controller, and he is particularly proud of his division-wide invincibility at Halo 2, a shoot-’em-up video game in which the player is “a genetically enhanced super soldier.”
“They call me ‘Halo God,’ ” Specialist Foster said. “Half my deployment I’ve spent playing Halo 2.” He and other soldiers once He and other soldiers once ran cables between several different trailers enabling as many as 12 players to play at one time.
Besides terrorists, germ warfare and nuclear weapons, military officials increasingly worry about a different kind of threat — troops too fat to fight.
Weight issues plague all branches of the military, from elite Marines to the Air Force, often lampooned as the “chair force” because of its many sedentary jobs.
Thousands of troops are struggling to lose weight, and thousands have been booted out of the service in recent years because they couldn’t.
However, one of the biggest worries concerns those not even in uniform yet: Nearly 2 out of 10 men and 4 out of 10 women of recruiting age weigh too much to be eligible, a record number for that age group.
“This is quickly becoming a national security issue for us. The pool of recruits is becoming smaller,” said Col. Gaston Bathalon, an Army nutrition expert.
Unless weight rules are relaxed, “we’re going to have a harder time fielding an Army,” he said.
Today’s soldiers are supersized, averaging 37 pounds heavier than their Civil War counterparts. Military officials say that’s not all bad, because most of it is muscle, not fat, and the result of better nutrition. “Large and in charge” makes soldiers look more formidable to the enemy, they note.
as the weeks have passed, and no one’s really cared about this [i mean hey, pitchfork omitted that specific sponsorship from their news item] in the way that i have, i was beginning to worry that all of this might be a tempest in a teapot. at least one person other than me gives a damn and now i feel less crazy now.
if i can get my most adult sounding voice together, im going to write to the paper and let them know what i think they’re doing is stupid. i feel it would be a better use of energies, is if everyone who thought this was fucked got together and bombarded the voice with emails as well.
Maria,
Out of respect for you and everyone getting blown to bits ‘over there’, I’m gonna try to take this subject seriously for about 3 minutes.
Sponsors and rock’n'roll bands are unlikely bedfellows only if one or both of the above parties have stated they are in opposition to what the other represents. Sprawling, free rock fests cost money to produce and I’m not saying the Voice shouldn’t seek $$$ from merchants, large companies, etc., especially if it means the artists are paid, they’ve got a proper PA, security, well trained lifeguards, etc.
But what happens if one of the sponsors is selling a product that isn’t merely “controversial” (I mean, the whole Xbox vs. PS2 argument is what message boards were created for, I reckon) but is involved in something that directly fucks with the world we wanna live in?
For years, I moaned and groaned whenever Coors would get involved with sponsoring rock shows, have their banners up, etc., and not just because their beer is undrinkable. Since their company had a long history of anti-union activity, throwing a lot of money at political candidates with backwards social agendas, etc., I could’t understand why bands would wanna do anything that might imply, even slightly, that they were associated with Coors.
It was pointed out to me that in recent years, Coors has tried to change their public image and whenever there’s a gay pride rally, for instance, you can count on Coors to have a float, do some advertising, etc. But all this says to me is that they know that queers drink beers, and if spending heavily around gay-cenric events or alternative rock shows changes the vibe, well, that’s intentional.
Anyhow, I’ve been told that my p.o.v. on that one is irrational, naive, etc. And I do accept, btw, that sometimes the artists don’t know who is sponsoring the show until they turn up and there is a big ass banner on the stage.
And maybe that is the case this time, too. However, with almost a month to go before Siren, hopefully all of the bands and their representatives are now aware. I mean, you’ve mentioned it…I saw something on Stereogum (with a comment from you, I presumed)
The only thing I’m wondering is, perhaps the Army bailed on this and/or the Voice cut them out of the event? As you pointed out, Pitchfork didn’t mention it (and we all know those guys are stickers for detail) and on the Siren website, the page devoted to the sponsors has no mention of the Army. Perhaps someone at the Voice already realized this was more trouble than it was worth?
I’m not suggesting that anyone should boycott Siren. I’m not gonna stop going to arena football games just because the Army has set up shop. I’m going to stop because the local team totally sucks!
thank you ladies and gentlemen. But seriously, I’m not surprised the Army thinks arena football fans are likely recruits anymore than I was surprised the Moonies go after the emotionally troubled or the way pimps look for teenage runaways at the bus station (or at least they used to — the movie “Little Ladies Of The Night” with Linda Purl and David Soul was very educational).
Should the audience attending Siren be insulted, offended, etc. that the Armed Forces would like them to enlist? That’s for each person to answer for themselves. Should the bands playing the event feel conflicted about taking the Army dough and/or serving as shills for the Army? Once again, that’s for each of them to decide for themselves. I don’t think we can assume that every rock’n'roll band in 2005 feels some sort of responsibility to stand in opposition to the war — some of ‘em might support it.
There are some larger questions to think about, too. Assuming we need some kind of defense in the USA (and with a space alien invasion more likely than ever, I think we do), where is it supposed to come from without conscription? Is it any less offensive that the Army uses arena football games and skate parks as recruiting venues, and if not, why not?
That the US Army would seek to be associated with an event headlined by Spoon, Dungen, etc., says to me that any belief that what we might loosely call “alternative rock” automatically = a counter-culture, is more antiquated than Julio Franco. Part of the price you pay for infiltrating the mainstream is that you come into contact with people who have thoughts and opinions other than your own. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think. I mean, if the Army is still sponsoring Siren and the gig comes and goes without any comment from the artists or the fans in attendence, that would be a lost opportunity.
You know, the Be All You Can Be Army. Or as Eric Bogosian put it, “The New Action Army”.
Not content with focusing their recruiting efforts on college campuses, shopping malls and arena football games, the G.I. Jerkoffs are clearly targeting the underground rock cognescenti. Which, I think, is a pretty dubious way to spend the military’s budget. I mean, I love the idea that Dungen are getting money that might’ve otherwise been spent on a bomb, but do we really want Joe Gaer to be our last line of defense When The Heavy Shit Goes Down?
(Sgt. Bilko, very perturbed that The Haunted Pussy Band aren’t on the bill)
I’m sorry, but I’m not down with that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell bullshit. I’m writing letters to my congressman, senator and Donald Rumsfeld today, urging them to direct the Army’s marketing dough towards potential recruits that might actually make decent killing machines / cannon fodder. Where’s the sponsorship love for the Def Leppard/Bryan Adams tour?
A recruiter in New York said pressure from the Army to meet his recruiting goals during a time of war has given him stomach problems and searing back pain.
Suffering from bouts of depression, he said he had considered suicide.
Another, in Texas, said he had volunteered many times to go to Iraq rather than face ridicule, rejection and the Army’s wrath.
“The recruiter is stuck in the situation where you’re not going to make mission, it just won’t happen,” the New York recruiter said. “And you’re getting chewed out every day for it. It’s horrible.”
Recruiters have “the only military occupation that deals with the civilian world entirely,” said Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University.
Even before the war, recruiters contacted on average of 120 people before landing an active-duty recruit, Army data showed. That number is growing, recruiters said.
One recruiter in the New York area said that when he steps outside his office for a cigarette, he often is barraged with epithets from passers-by angry about the war.
In January, the brother-in-law of a prospective recruit lashed into him. “He swore at me,” the recruiter said, “and said that he would rather have his brother-in-law in jail for selling crack than in the Army.”
The recruiter said, when out of uniform, he often lies about his profession. “I tell them I work in human resources,” he said.
(shown above, the Army’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is put to the test when one potential jarhead asks about the party scene at Fort Dix)
Graner, whose “I was only following orders” defense is not unique in atrocity cases, is of course, the fall guy in this sordid episode, and it doesn’t seem right that the Secretary of Defense and Commander In Chief have emerged relatively unscathed (though a much larger jury pool already blew a chance to do something about it).
