The Cool Blue Blog

The Real Story

Anyone who has served in the military knows what the Individual Ready Reserve is. When I separated from the Air Force, I had served 4 years active duty against a six year committment. From the time I was separated until my six year obligation was up, I was placed on (what was then called) Inactive Reserve. It wasn't until six years had passed from my enlistment date that I got my DD-214 which terminated my obligation to the military. If you don't have your DD-214 your are not separated from your obligation to serve.

As BlackFive points out, it has to be that no one in the media has actually served.

And while you're visiting, don't miss this great story about PFC Jessica Lynn Nicholson

Meanwhile, over a Sissy Willis' blog, there's the short list of people who don't particularly care for a free Iraq. I would probably add France. Does that make it a long list?

And finally, Instapundit Glenn Reynolds busts the neo-cons by showing how they planned for an Iraq invasion before Sept. 11, 2001. I can only imagine that a digital Brown Shirt clued him in.

Fahrenheit 9/11's wad is shot

Michael Moores' mocumentary Fahrenheit 9/11 beat up by White Chicks

This Wk	Last Wk	Title	Dist.	Weekend Gross	Cumulative Gross	Rlse Wks
1	-	Fahrenheit 9/11	LIONS	$23,920,637	$24,078,959	1
2	-	White Chicks	SONY	$19,676,748	$27,180,139	1

Censoring the Internet

Teresa over at Technicalities has some thoughts on why moves to censor content on the internet are misguided:

Yes, you can block "content" with filters, but inevitably those filters are going to block valid content along with missing other content that should be blocked. Ask Dick Armey about this little problem. He's been a vocal supporter of internet filters - only to find his own web site is blocked by many of them because his name is Dick!...

Lawmakers are in the position of being able to make laws about something the do not begin to comprehend. In other words they don't understand how the technology works and it is so easy to say - just pass a law and don't let them do this. They want to make laws to keep people safe (or so they claim) and therein lies the problem. Unlike telephones or televisions, the US has not got control over the internet and unless they want to try and block out other countries - they never will. So, until individual computers can be made in such a way that you the user can have more control over what is and is not displayed while browsing, there will continue to be the possibility that porn will come to your computer.

And she is right on.

The Internet was designed to be a distributed network with no "central" authority. As such, from the point of view of the Internet, censorship looks like a system failure and it simply routes around it.

As Teresa points out, there is no substitute for direct parental supervision. This is true with TV, books, movies and is certainly true of the Internet.

And frankly, the most harless stuff on the Internet is porn. Chat rooms and IRC can potentially be more threatening.

And there simply are no filters for that.

The Internet is an amazing tool that in a short period of time has become an essential in the daily lives of a vast number of people. This will not abate. Kids are growing up never knowing a world without the 'net. It's as natural to them as television and cars became to my generation. And kids are learning machines. They will be, are, much more adept at using the internet tnan most of their parents are.

Censorship is not a good response because it simply will not work. All it will do is give parents a false sense of security; a sense they can not afford. It's better that have no such illusions.

It's better they just do the hard work of parenting.

To behead or not to behead, the debate rages

The AP reports that whether or not a good Islamic fascist can morally behead a Muslim is a topic of some debate:

Debate raged on Islamic Web sites about the propriety of killing fellow Muslims who work for coalition forces in Iraq, after militants released three Turkish hostages they had threatened to behead.

AP reports that most of the fascists are of the "behead 'em all, let Allah sort it out" ilk.

Most people who post messages on several Islamic Web sites known for their extremist bent believe those are justified.

Some are more forgiving

Some people appealed on the kidnappers to spare the Turks because they were "fellow Muslims." Others urged militants to decapitate them.

Then again...

"Turkish Muslims should be the first to demand that those hypocrites be beheaded, as they are allied with the devil," meaning the Americans, one person wrote on a Web site that has published al-Zarqawi statements and claims of responsibility for other killings. "They should serve as an example to every apostate."

Another contributor who identified himself as "enemy of the foreign infidels" said he supported the decapitation of hostages - but not Muslim ones.

"Slaughtering is something you started with the infidel Crusaders and their allies, and we hope you won't deviate from that path," he wrote. But "they're Muslims, so don't kill them ... as long as they didn't cause direct harm."

..."There is a lot of confusion concerning this beheading issue, and more so in the case of beheadings of Muslims," said Dia'a Rashwan, a Cairo expert on Islamic militants.

There's a lot of confusion all right.

But let me clear things up for you: beheading innocents and POWs is against the Geneva Conventions.

Not convincing enough for ya?

How about it's just plain wrong.

1st Cav delivers Universities

Renovations on Universities Complete

By Spc. Bryan Kinkade
1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

KARADA DISTRICT, Baghdad, Iraq – Completed renovations on Baghdad University and al-Nahrain University were celebrated during ribbon-cutting ceremonies June 24 by the 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment. The $600,000 projects were completed by Iraqi contractors hired by the battalion’s Company A, attached to 3rd Brigade’s Arkansas National Guard unit, 1st Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment. “It feels good,” 2nd Lt. Robert Kotecki, the company’s civil affairs and information operations officer, said. “It’s a sense of accomplishment.”Lt. Col. Kendall Penn, 1-153 INF commander, and Baghdad University President Dr. Hatim, cut the ribbon in front of the campus to recognize the completion of the renovati

The Baghdad University renovations focused on the front entrance of the campus. They included a parking lot for 80 buses, plumbing and gardening improvements, and new walkways and lighting. Before the lot was constructed, buses would park on the side of the road, the head engineer for the Karada District, said. Traffic jams would occur frequently, so the university’s president made a plan to fix it. The fountains at the campus entrance were also fixed, after not working for 14 years. The newly refurbished entrance to Baghdad University flies an Iraqi flag while the fountains, which haven't worked for 14 years, sprays magenta water 25 feet into the air.

Baghdad University is considered the most prestigious university in Iraq, with more than 70,000 students attending the satellite campuses. After the first ceremony, the unit took off to the al-Nahrain University. The university received a new political science building, complete with air conditioning, fluorescent lighting, bathrooms, and an amphitheater for lectures. “The building was started before the war, but it was pretty much a skeleton structure,” Kotecki said. “The floor was littered with anti-aircraft rounds when we first got here.”

The al-Nahrain University, formerly the Saddam University, was an elite school for Ba’ath Party children, Kotecki said. At each university, Lt. Col. Kendall Penn, the 1-153 INF commander, cut the ribbon for the ceremonies. After the al-Nahrain University ribbon cutting, the Soldiers were treated to a feast of Arabic food and sodas.

On the horizon, Company A, 1-9 Cav. has many projects starting. Some of them include an allergy and vaccination clinic, the al-Zeweia Health Clinic and a building a gas station near Baghdad University, which will be the only one in the area.

Daily Dish

Powell get first hand look at crisis in Sudan

Saddam's in Iraqi hands

Democracy doesn't have to mean Brittany Spears

Pakistan swears in new government

Grow your own lawn chair

Forget oil: world chocolate shortage predicted

Chuck E. Cheese assaulted

Why you are left handed

Doing the "impossible"

NewsMax.com reports:

9/11 Commission: U.S. Terror War has Stymied al Qaida

The Sept. 11 Commission has found that the Bush administration's war on terror has severely impaired al Qaida's ability to organize another spectacular attack against the U.S. homeland by capturing or killing the deadly terror group's key leaders, drying up their financial resources and severely limiting their ability to "strategize, plan attacks, and dispatch operatives worldwide."

The bombshell finding, buried at the end of the Commission's Staff Statement No. 15, should have been hailed in the press as evidence that we've at least turned the corner in the war on terror - and may indeed have the enemy on the run. Instead, reporters have ignored this particular Commission finding since its release on June 16.

Tradition of teaching stories

Why We Are Here

"Walking one evening along a deserted road, Mulla Nasrudin saw a troop of horsemen coming towards him.

His imagination started to work; he saw himself captured and sold as a slave, or impressed into the army.

Nasrudin bolted, climbed a wall into a graveyard, and lay down in an open tomb.

Puzzled at his strange behavior, the men — honest travelers — followed him.

They found him stretched out, tense and quivering.

'What are you doing in that grave? We saw you run away. Can we help you?'

'Just because you can ask a question does not mean there is a straightforward answer to it,' said the Mulla, who now realized what had happened. 'It all depends upon your viewpoint. If you must know, however: I am here because of you, and you are here because of me'" (11, p. 16).

"Why We Are Here" is a teaching story adapted from the classical literature of Sufism. Teaching stories, in a form appropriate to the modern reader, are the means now being made available to prepare Western intellects for learning what they need to know. The stories, such as "Why We Are Here," are built of patterns, depth upon depth, offering resonance at the reader's level, whatever that may be. Teaching stories have more than one function. They provide the means for people to become aware of their patterns of behavior and thinking so as to accomplish a refinement of their perception and the development of an attitude conducive to learning. Some stories are also designed to communicate with what is conceived to be the Innermost part of the human being.

Teaching stories

Milton Erickson's "teaching tales" are extraordinary examples of the art of persuasion. These tales are not only "telling stories" but are major elements of his therapy. They were used whenever necessary as they were an integral part of the therapeutic structure.

From time immemorial metaphor has been used as a mechanism of teaching and instilling ideas and beliefs, of changing and enriching our appreciation of ourselves in the domain of life. It should not be surprising that the proper use of metaphor should be in the toolbox of every practicing psychotherapist. Each of the "teaching tales" has a wide variety of techniques; the insights are limited only by experience and imagination. As these tales are assimilated the fabric may be woven into the psyche of patients as needed. The linguistic structures are vast and deserve many volumes. Indeed there are many volumes in both therapeutic and non-therapeutic works describing metaphors.

Therapists use linguistic patterns as a basic building block. Perhaps the first detailed modeling of Milton Erickson's techniques are those of Bandler and Grinder 1 . Given that a therapist understands these basic building blocks, weaving them together into metaphors is described by David Gordon 2 . Studying these processes helps in discovering the various components of the "teaching tales" but this is certainly a far cry from being able to effectively use them in ordinary everyday therapy. There is a great deal of practical knowledge necessary for the successful application of metaphor; practice, practice and more practice will certainly prove a positive benefit. As the various components of linguistics and metaphor structure sink into the bones of the therapist, the metaphors will definitely improve. Someone is confronted with some problem that is resolved in some way. If the conflict and resolution are similar enough to one of your conflicts, the story immediately becomes significant to you. The identification with people and things familiar arouses curiosity and provides an interest in the resolution. The formulation of such metaphors is a useful skill.

High Value Targets

Afghanistan: 2 Taliban Leaders Caught

Special forces from the American-led coalition captured two high-level Taliban commanders in weekend operations in the south, a military statement said. The two, Abdul Hafiz Majid, the former police chief of Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban movement, and Mohammad Daoud, a commander from the province, were captured in raids on two compounds. "We have evidence indicating that they were supplying arms to insurgents, conducting rocket attacks on the military, attacking nongovernmental aid organizations helping Afghanistan build a national infrastructure, funding ambushes and trafficking opium," the statement said. Carlotta Gall (NYT)