My first exposure —real exposure— to the military was through my best friend’s father. He was my very best friend, and his dad was stationed in Vietnam, long before most others were there,

I can’t recall the details of his death. That is, I’m fully aware of the exact circumstances of how, when, and where the Captain died; I can’t remember who first told me, or how many days passed before I saw my friend again. Those details that are so important to a child.

Some days after the funeral, the family returned, and we resumed our relationship. But within a year his mother had decided to move back near her family, and we said our final goodbyes.

As I grew up, I paid attention to the war in Vietnam in ways that others probably didn’t. During the late-60’s escalation, the attention to civilians —the ‘hearts and minds’ campaign my friends Dad had been doing— dropped off the radar screen.

So it’s no surprise I’m cynical about both sides of the argument in the current Iraq conflict. But there’s some realism to be faced:

“… don’t be fooled by those who call these attempts an effort to “stop the war.” Nobody expects the war to stop when we pull our troops from Iraq. The war will continue, will escalate and will turn into a catastrophe of monumental proportions — it’s just that we won’t have troops there to defend our interests or our allies.” [Charles]

Apparently there are some who’ve convinced themselves that peace, love and understanding are waiting to spring forth as soon as troops are gone. It’s mindboggling, but speaking at Duke, former (Carter administration) national Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said.

“We expected that the U.S. leaving Vietnam would result in massive killings and genocide and so forth, and collapse of the dominoes in Southeast Asia. It didn’t happen. How certain are we of the horror scenarios that have been mentioned in what will take place in Iraq?” [hat tip to I'm Not Emeril]

History records —complete with eyewitnesses, photos and documentation— the bloodbath that rolled over South Vietnam, then Cambodia and Laos. The subsequent reigns of terror, “re-education camps” and the Killing Fields. The human waves of ‘boat people’; so desperate they left everything to put out to sea —anywhere— taking their chances to die in the ocean rather than face the horrible certainty that waited in their homeland.

There wasn’t a lot of media coverage. Once Saigon fell, the nice hotels and bars closed; big-name media found other, more urgent stories to cover. But the news got out, and we knew that millions were put to death.

Mr. Brzezinski, the horrors happened. Everyone saw it. Everyone with eyes and hearts wept. We all knew.

Years have past, I have seen more of the world. In uniform, I’ve had to deliver my share of death notices. But I’ve never seen anyone so hurt, who lost so much of their heart, as my friend’s mother. Forty years later I can still see that apartment, hear the record player, smell the hot iron, and see her there; back turned to us kids in the living room, bent over the ironing, sobbing.

The Killing Fields isn’t a tragic movie, it was a real event that happened to real people; the direct, expected and known result of US withdrawal of support.

Writing from high atop Big Walker Mountain, Jerry Fuhrman alerts us that the Roanoke Times has (sort of) apologized for their publishing the database of Virginians accredited to carry concealed handguns. The article was “…probably one of the most magnificent examples of irresponsible journalism I have ever read.” (Penny Adams) and an apology is overdue.

Within two days and without a single approving comment for their article, the author began censoring online comments, saying “Because of the volume of posts, we are only approving selected ones at this point.”

Swamped by thousands of letters, phone calls, and emails, facing legal action —and after two weeks of delay— the paper was forced to backpedal.

They published a few letters-to-the-editor, saying, not once, but three times:

“The volume of response to our decision to publish an online database of concealed carry holders in the state was overwhelming. We cannot possibly publish all the comments, most of which made the same points. So, we are publishing this representative sample of the letters we received.”

The newspaper also gave column space for one rebuttal; an excellent refutation written by Virginia Tech student Bradford B. Wiles of Craig County. Would that more students could write so well.

Finally, by their own editor —in an editorial that sidesteps the paper’s irresponsibility— the Roanoke Times admits they ‘made mistakes’. Made mistakes? They sure did.

MISTAKE - 1. An error or fault resulting from defective judgment, deficient knowledge, or carelessness. 2. A misconception or misunderstanding.

How did the newspaper come to make such a tremendous mistake? The answer to that question is also found in the same day’s edition; by the same author as the original ‘mistake’.

In his comment column, A license plate doesn’t make you special, Christian Trejbal quickly skips from personalized license plates to bumper stickers. From stickers, Trejbal easily leaps to conclusions about the morality of other drivers.

But then Trejbal lets slip a glimpse into his own viewpoints, his own intolerance and deficient impulse control: (more…)

Click for a medium desktop . . . . . . . . . Click for a large desktop

“Shenandoah County is a beautiful place, a gorgeous place to live. Everyday we are treated to more of the Creator’s splendors than many people see in a lifetime.” Everyday. Every single day.

With some rumors sneaking around the community, it’s time to clear up some misunderstandings about the old Edinburg School and the Board of Supervisors.

After several committees and studies, the Board voted to have the school become an arts center, subject to some conditions. Shenandoah County would contribute $1.5 million toward the renovation, and a private partner —the successor to the CACAC— would raise the remaining $3 million; the fundraising due within three years.

As most County residents know, I opposed this and voted against it unsuccessfully. Nonetheless, the Board has obligated itself to this amount. There’s hardly anything worse than government breaking trust with its citizens, and I support the Board’s obligation.

There’s still a number of concerns that should be determined —should have been determined beforehand, but weren’t— and I’ll continue to work on those.

One concern is the status of the Area Agency on Aging’s center that was to stay in the building until they “found better accommodations.” Apparently the arts-group convinced them to ‘find better space’, but Agency financing isn’t resolved.

They had free rent, building maintenance and kitchen facilities in the old school in addition to a contribution from Shenandoah County. It was a good arrangement for all sides, and I’ve yet to hear how the Agency will pay rent, maintenance, and food preparation in a new space. So it’s a little surprising that some people think the Board of Supervisors will pick up these additional expenses.

Here’s some perspective: Within the next three years the Board must finance a courthouse, a jail facility, and almost certainly a grade-school. This translates into a 15% (best case) to 20% (nominal) tax increase.

---

It’s unrealistic to think —as some do— that Shenandoah County citizens will make up any shortfall in private funding for the Edinburg School’s conversion to art center; it’s a bigger flight of fantasy to believe county citizens will also fund new quarters for the Agency on Aging. The money simply isn’t there.

Since the Board’s obligated to part of the renovation, I stand behind that; but if you want this arts center completed, I urge you and the community to donate generously. It won’t come about otherwise.

There’s so many slender threads that our world hangs on; turning points that made our culture. One of these was almost 500 years before the birth of Christ, when the largest army the earth had seen was assembled to annihilate the Greeks —the same Greek society that created the concepts of democracy and rule of law.

As the Persian juggernaut bore down on the Greeks, a tiny group of them blocked a strategic passage the Persians had to go through. We glorify the David and Goliath story and the last stand at the Alamo. The account of Spartan troops at Thermopylae is no different; it is the stuff of legends.

The film is based on Frank Miller’s comic book, based on his memory (at age seven) of a film that probably isn’t realistic; all ultimately hinging on several generations of hearsay, since no one there ever wrote about it.Miller relates:

I’ve always loved this story. It’s the best story I’ve ever got my hands on. I was a little boy of seven when I saw this clunky old movie from 20th Century Fox called The 300 Spartans. I was sitting next to my brother Steve, who’s two years older than me. We were seven and nine so we were too cool to sit with our parents. Our parents were in a row behind us and toward the end of the thing, I went, “Steve, are the good guys going to lose?” He went, “I don’t know. Ask Dad.” So I jump back over and sat down next to my Dad and said, “Dad, are the good guys going to die?” “I’m afraid so, son.”

I went and sat down and watched the end of the movie and the course of my creative life changed because all of a sudden the heroes weren’t the guys who get the medal at the end of Star Wars. They’re people who do the right thing, damn the consequences.

Miller has been honest about the movie’s realism: It’s not, it isn’t intended to be and there’s no pretensions it is. Set in a bleak and dramatic comic-book style to match the tale’s plot line, all filming was done ‘blue screen’ with the background added later.

Despite criticism about its historic inaccuracy, the film blends historically true details with wildly surreal details. The Greek phalanx is shown the way it actually was and actually operated. On the other hand, the Persian’s arrowheads are clearly made from modern laser-cut steel! Take from that what you will.

The comic isn’t recommended for children under 16, and movie isn’t either (for several reasons, but primarily the violence) or for the weak-of heart. It is intended to be a dramatic, bloody, heroic, two-hour adrenaline rush; an emotional rocket. It succeeds in that.  It was bloody, it was heroic.

As a story, 300 is about people who did the right thing, damn the consequences. It’s also a story —accurately portrayed— about the thin thread that survived to become western civilization.

It may not be hypocrisy, but it sure doesn’t look sincere either.

While researching for Trafficland (below) I ran across this gem from Steve Eldridge at The Examiner:

Do you remember the line from that Don Henley song that goes: “Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac; a voice inside my head said ‘Don’t look back, you can never look back’ ?” That line had to deal with maturity and contradiction.

I heard that same voice the other day when I saw a set of “Treasure the Chesapeake” license plates on one of those big Hummer H1 trucks.

 —Socrates (ancient Greek philosopher)

According to a recent Newsweek poll there are some very uncertain people in the world. One of the questions was, “Do you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat, or Independent?”
25% said they were Republican, 36% Democrat, 33% Independent, 2% no party or not interested in politics, 1% some other party, and 3% didn’t know.

More bizarre were the answers to the question, “Are you currently married, living with a partner, or neither?“
59% said they  were married, 6% with a partner, 34% neither, and 1% didn’t know !

_

Hat tip to Leslie Carbone

Recently the Harrisonburg television station promoted their ‘First Alert Traffic Center’ by telling viewers to use the website look through “our cameras” of live views of the interstate. It’s true that you can go to their website and —if you can find it buried in the advertising junk— click the link to get live camera feeds of the interstate.

It’s also true that you —as a Virginia taxpayer— have already paid for this. Those are VDOT’s cameras, and VDOT’s contract with the feed provider Trafficland, Inc.

Trafficland, headquartered in Fairfax, provides internet video of traffic conditions to dozens of states; and also to England, Denmark, and NewZealand if you’re curious. Their new beta site is worth bookmarking, as I have in the left column, if you’re traveling the interstate and need to know traffic conditions.

In early 2004 Trafficland was providing live-camera management to Washington DC’s operations center, and was trying to expand their service to the cameras already in and around Richmond. [VDOT had an extensive array of cameras that fed into their traffic management center.] In March, Trafficland hired VDOT’s former Director of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Kevin Barron, to be their Government Relations director; and they opened a new Richmond office.

VDOT agreed to a trial of the proposed system; Trafficland would manage feed to the government-run operations centers, but also feed onto the internet. Company President Larry Nelson relates:

“We had planned originally to launch Trafficland on Monday, September 10th, but had elected to delay a few days for final setup and adjustments. When the hijacked plane hit the Pentagon on the morning of September 11th, we immediately saw the smoke rising on one of our cameras.”

“We subsequently found we had the only Internet-visible camera which could see the Pentagon from the right side - and the State authorities asked us if we could press the Trafficland site into use straightaway, to help with the traffic buildup.”

“Within minutes we put the system online, and gave the site URL to the local radio station, who used the site - which shows 64 cameras covering all of the roads on the western side of Washington - to help guide drivers away from the crisis zone.”

It’s no surprise Trafficland got the contract. It took them only twenty minutes to put the system online under trying, emergency circumstances. Does anyone still remember the phone backups situation that day?

A Shenandoah County resident recently told about driving home from Virginia Beach during our last snowstorm. She called home by cell phone, while her husband checked the traffic cameras online for the least-iced route, advising her of which roads to take.

Also of note is that Google maps  —a small window is provided to locate the traffic camera you want to view— has added even more functions.  In the top-right corner, there’s a “Traffic” button that will overlay the congestion amount on the major roads.

It’s encouraging to see our government contract with Virginia businesses, and it great to see a Virginia company succeed by being excellent.  And it’s good to see everyone acknowlege that providing public information is worthwhile.

And remember, they’re your traffic cameras !

The District of Columbia Circuit Court just ruled that Washington DC’s longstanding ban on firearms is not constitutional. Passed about 30 years ago, the prohibition proved that gun-laws have absolutely no effect toward reducing crime, and may actually encourage violence by criminals.

After looking at thousands of similar statistics, the only conclusion is that gun control has never reduced crime. Never. But in this case —examining the District’s murder rate and the 1976 gun-ban— a good argument can be made that the law reversed a decline and caused murders to rise to record levels.

The firestorm of protest against the Court’s decision was predictable. Everyone from the Mayor on down decried the court’s decision. That is, everyone except honest District residents who’ve been at the mercy of thugs and street-gangs for the last three decades.

Most media outlets opposed to the ruling confined themselves to doom-n-gloom editorials, but a Roanoke paper responded by publishing the names and addresses of (Virginia’s) concealed handgun licensees. Readers were outraged, and many responded by posting the journalist’s home address.

The paper (citing ‘legal questions’) removed the database, and promptly hired security guards for his home. When a package was delivered to the house, the Roanoke bomb squad was called and found the box contained blank shipping labels and supplies; it was a DHL starter pack that Trejban subsequently denied ordering.

What the names and addresses of Virginia license-holders have to do with the DC Circuit Court’s opinion, or open government (the alleged reason) is unexplained. The good people of Roanoke deserve to be reimbursed for the frivolous use of their police and bomb technicians.

A very real issue is the hypocrisy where publishing an address database of certain citizens is OK, but the address of a journalist is threatening. A serious concern is the paranoia where a requested standard delivery requires public safety personnel and a round-the-clock guard.

One Virginia web-log asked its readers “What scares you more, concealed carry or open carry?” My question to them is ‘Exactly how scared? Mismatched socks scared or wet-their-pants scared?” It’s a sorry state of affairs that some people become unglued at the thought of another person simply possessing an object.

None of the responses critical of the Court’s decision are rational. (more…)

While we in Shenandoah County are proceeding through the budget process, imagine my surprise when I saw this headline. I know almost nothing of our neighboring county’s finances, but it’s hard to imagine such massive cuts to any of county’s education budget.

Then I actually read the article. Hidden back in the second page were the figures that told the real story.

The School Board’s request included a 5.5% teacher raise and would have raised county taxes 28%; from .53/$100 to .68/$100. This year’s consumer price index is 2.1% and the Social Security Administration’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is 3.3% due to rising medical costs.

Frederick County schools:

• Wanted $136.9 million; an $11 million (8.7%) increase.
• Received $130.3 million, a $4.4 million (3.5%) increase.
• Got no cuts, no decreases, no reductions.

[Note: school budgets do not include big-ticket items like new building, land purchase, or buses; those are on separate capital improvements program funding.]

When the Frederick Board of Supervisors gave a little more than inflation, they get blamed for a huge ‘cut’. The School Board Chairman complained that their action “… is going to gut our programs.”

The main objection —since I have no vested interest in Frederick County— is the newspaper’s biased report. There were no cuts, no decreases, no reductions; just a reasonable inflationary rate of increase.  The headline should have been: