livejournal is where i live

this blog is for posting comments (it used to be for an online journalism class i took in college). so, follow me to livejournal, where my personal blog lives.

Check out this directory of blogs about the war -- it's the most comprehensive I've found yet.

My recent trip to Louisville was not totally sad -- I got to see a lot of family members that I haven't seen in awhile. Mainly, my uncle Steve who just returned from Iraq. I wanted to post all of his emails, but I don't think I'll have time.

Here is an excerpt that I found very insightful:

"There are a lot of Iraqis who want to get on with their lives, and a small number who are unhappy, and determined to make everyone else unhappy with them. Truthfully, the violence that you hear about is brought about by a small number of people who have competing agendas, but who all don't have what they want, so they're resorting to violence. If you want to hear more on the subject, buy me a beer when I get home, and I will wax eloquent on the subject."

(I did get to buy him a beer over the weekend, and I wish I had been tape-recording the conversation. Getting a firsthand account of the war is so harrowing and interesting...)

back, but for how long

Hi all,

Sorry that it has been awhile since my last post, but I had to go home to Louisville, Kentucky because my grandfather does not have much longer to live. No comments needeed on this one -- I've told him goodbye, and I think I've come to peace with the situation.

Anyway, while I was back in my old Kentucky home, I started writing my final paper for my online journalism class. It is based on this blog, and so far looks really good. I'll post the final draft here soon...

oooh, that's gotta sting

While reading Wonkette today, I found that the ACLU is suing Donald Rumsfeld over the treatment of POWs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From a Washington Times article:

" 'The Abu Ghraib incident was not an isolated event," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU. "Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for the abuses.' "

Also, the article points out that much of the information was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. (Didn't think that one would come back and bite you in the ass, did you?)

please, talk into my lapel, mr. bush

I haven't blogged about the whole "President admitting to smoking marijuana" thing, but I think it's high time I did. (Pun intended, thankyouverymuch.)

I am not the head cheerleader for the Bush administration in any way. But I am a little wary about the timing of the disclosure by Mr. Wead. Why not bring this to the forefront during the re-election campaign (I'm sure some would have paid a LOT of money for those recordings in order to smear Bush).

Wonkette wrote a witty entry titled "Doug Wead: A Tease and a Tool" that summed it all up. Wead won't release anything else, but does that mean he has other incriminating tapes about Mr. Bush? Maybe a few key sound effects ("sniffffff snifffffff") and also other warnings to children not to do what he did? I'd like to buy this on CD if possible -- I need some good listening for my spring break trip to New Orleans. (I'm bringing Clinton's recording of "My Life," but the sweet sweet voice of Slick Willy will only fill a fraction of the hours in the car.)

To sum it all up: I don't believe that smoking marijuana is the only thing that Mr. Bush has ever done. Hopefully we [a hard-knuckled gang of bloggers] can beat the other tapes out of Mr. Wead...

blog directories

Another blogger asked where I get my links for this blog, and I wanted to let you all know how to find your own blogs. There are many databases of political blogs, but the most comprehensive list of "indie" (non-mainstream) political blogs is here at etalkinghead.com.

Yahoo also has a list of political blogs (pretty famous ones) here.

It's pretty simple, though -- do a search on google or yahoo (or your preferred search engine) for "political blog" or "religious blog" or "gaming blog." There's a blog for everything out there!

The NEW New York?

I read a very interesting post from Baghdad Burning today. She started out telling a story about her local grocer who sets up a roadside stand each day, selling to all of the people on the street. He is quite an intelligent man, always up for political talk as well as local gossip. I found this part to be especially poignant:

"I shook my head and sighed. 'So do you still think the Americans want to turn Iraq into another America? You said last year that if we gave them a chance, Baghdad would look like New York.' I said in reference to a conversation we had last year. E. gave me a wary look and tried to draw my attention to some onions, 'Oh hey- look at the onions- do we have onions?' "

I am so addicted to reading this blog because it gives me a portal to a world that I can hardly imagine. Yes, my uncle is serving there at Camp Victory (soon to return home!), but that is only one side of the story. He gets an Americanized view of it all, from the food in the mess hall to the attitudes on the street. There's no way he could get an objective view -- the Iraqis for the most part resent the hell out of Americans, and of course they act differently around them.

But this blogger, she lives there -- day in, day out, she sees what is going on. The way she writes is very straightforward and easy to follow, while at the same time makes such an impact.

"I feel like I have my finger on the throbbing pulse of the Iraqi political situation every time I visit Abu Ammar. You can often tell just how things are going in the country from the produce available at his stand. For example, when he doesn’t have any good tomatoes we know that the roads to Basra are either closed or really bad and the tomatoes aren’t getting through to Baghdad. When citrus fruit isn’t available during the winter months, we know that the roads to Diyala are probably risky and oranges and lemons couldn’t be delivered."

I think I might explore this more in-depth for my final presentation for my online journalism class. In today's set of presentations, I discovered that another blogger in the class chose to present on political bloggers as well, and covered a lot of the topics which I outlined in my powerpoint presentation. Ah well, I guess doing it all over will be good for me -- real world experience, if you will.

Hunter S. Thompson is dead.

"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."

He is dead, the man who singlehandedly made me want to be a journalist. He shot himself today at the age of 67.

Hunter S. Thompson was not just another politicial journalist -- he was a man who pushed the envelope so far that we can't really remember what the envelope was before him. He was crass and almost always under the influence of alcohol or drugs, he loved guns, he wrote for many of the great publications of our time, published fiction and non-fiction, rode with the Hells Angels, and made me realize just how much of an impact one person can make on the journalism world.

I remember reading "The Rum Diary" while my sister was still dating John Lambert. The book blew my mind, I remember reading it three times before returning it to the library and buying my own copy -- I must have been 15 years old. His writing stirred up something inside of me, sort of lit a flame that has grown over the years. The fires were fanned by his other works that I then read: "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail," "Screwjack," and others displayed on my bookshelf.

Those who know me best know that I respect him as a journalist, a fiction writer, and an overall amazing and creative human being. I love the fact that he is from Louisville, my hometown, and that he was presented the key to the city while he was falling down drunk. I read his biography and smiled, feeling like I knew a little more about the man who change my life so much. Hell, I always said my first son would be named Hunter to honor the man who made me want to be a journalist.

So no mourning, just celebration -- he'd want people to dance on his grave and swill irish whiskey while remembering the good times. This one's for you, Hunter.