Homework to catch up: Part I of the series.

Not that this was planned, but the current events just point to the ongoing search to find the one locus from which all things can be blamed for all the ills of the entire universe.

This week’s theorized cause of all evil: Mark Foley.

Here’s a thought, as I have presented before on a similar topic, that of the “corruption” of Tom Delay. Back then, in one of my blog posts, I said it would behoove the opposition party to first “check six” and clear their baffles, before taking what they thought was the best shot, for they might find out some of their number had similar issues in their records. Well, in the case of Tom Delay’s situation, it seemed many in Congress had not filled out travel reports 1) in a timely manner 2) disclosing all the sponsors of their trips. Not only was this a reality in the aftermath of the very public charges, later, we found William Jefferson with $90K in his freezer, wrapped in tinfoil (I guess to preserve it’s freshness).

I will, once more, predict (and I’m certainly no oracle), that, as one TV correspondent says last night, they are getting many emails from other pages. It is only realistic to believe, that the subjects being discussed in those emails coming in will include human beings, most likely almost exclusively male, and, there ceratinly may be some Democrats in the bunch. Whether that is disclosed before or after the elections next month isn’t necessarily the issue, but the fact that it’s a human condition in the sexually related society we live in. The “backsplatter” will get those who are making exceptionally bad (and in some cases, illegal) choices, but it isn’t reasonable to brand everyone of their party as participating in the same behavior.

I also don’t think this will cause the conservative Christians to boycott the entire Republican party slate, any more than any other group will get rid of their incumbent congresspersons. With a 95%+ reelection rate over the long term, we love to hate them, and we say we should vote them out, but what we really mean is “you vote out yours, mine did a great job getting me and my family government handouts…” History tells us where that has gone. The shrillness of the calls for punishment, however, might actually energize people to get out and vote out/against those who scream the loudest, seeing the out of control rage as a sign of being, well, out of control in general.

Somehow, I also believe that in all the races around the country for the various House and Senate seats, if the Democrats try to say their opponent, being of the same party as Mark Foley, by implication, is just like him will be a very long stretch and I presume most people with a degree of common sense will see through the preposterous accusations along these lines.

Frankly, I’d much rather put my head down and recount 25 years of personal computer use, and the joys of changing standards, “vaporware,” try before you buy software wars, and having to convert to the “Dark Side” of choices of operating systems.

Final note of the moment: As a self appointed oversight board member for the committee searching for the GUBT, get back to work, you’re being distracted from finding the real root cause of all evil.

Next final note: Democrats – I think you found a crack in the armor, but it’s not big enough for you to get a pry bar in and open the floodgates.

Update 10/5/2006: Geez…it’s a tough day when I can predict the future….It seems that:

• The “child” was 18 at the time of the IMs in question, ergo: No crime, just a really embarrassing story here. Certainly far less of an issue than Gary Studds actually committing sexual acts with a minor page of his in 1983.
• The entire IM thing is a prank gone off the tracks. It seems the IMs were recorded and passed around for entertainment value, and ended up in the hands of someone who wanted to cause pain and anguish. BIG lesson here….

Back many years ago, a man I worked for taught a lesson about writing things. The message applied here. Too bad more Congressional Respresentatives haven’t been reading my blog…:(

Anyhow, it’s not that I have special powers, it’s just the Democrats/leftists are too blinded to see they aren’t thinking. Not fac checking something you have had available for about a year, then deciding to use it as a lever to regain power is, well, the most gracious word, STUPID!

As I’ve ruminated about a few times in the junior blog, and now here: You lefties dishonor the very people with a background that has a prayer of getting you some traction: ex-Military members. War College grads, with battlefield experience could serve you well, but they are just people too stupid to be able to have a real job, so…they don’t darken your doorways to offer their expertise. Just the facts, Ma’am!

Scanning remarks on Little Green Footballs this morning yielded a link to a blog discussing emotional reactions and how we differ in the “Western world” from those in the Mulsim world.

“Tribal Emotions” is this offering from Elphidelphi. I think Ben (ths contributor) is onto something.

[…] Seneca and Cicero are describing a habit still very much alive today: the control we maintain over our emotions. Indeed, this is an essential aspect of the civilized world. Modern western readers will at first disagree with the idea that their free and open society is marked by the suppression of emotions. Are we not bombarded on a daily basis with appeals to “open up,” to let our emotions out? But those who have lived their entire lives in the Western Oasis often don’t realize that, even at their most exuberant or their most forlorn, they don’t even approach the extremes of unchecked human emotions. […]

I also think, as I read his short essay, that this ties into “opening up” emotionally here in the “West.” There certainly is a place for emotional displays, but, in a civilized society, it certainly is useful to have your moment, and then get back in the game. Unchecked emotions can, as Ben describes (and the media’b’Allah as well) lead to long term problems, which, would pretty much detail why we see peole burning churches and killing nuns because they have their feeling hurt when discuss the violence endemic to their culture.

My take is we are seeing a crack in the wall here in the West with the angry, foul language filled, high volume, shreiking political and cultural discussions. Scan a few of the left wing blogs, if you have a strong stomach and have “heard those words” before and they do not offend you, but the vicious verbal and typed attacks (records for the rest of civilization in archiving engines) are legend “over there.”

The bad news is I suspect the “touchy feely, get in touch with your inner child” crowd is driving the problem. In doing so, they are asking us to do here, what Ben talks about over there: Opening the old wounds and meditating on them. I think, if you’re strong enough to analyse that event well, then it may moderate your daily living. If you’re not, then it’s just one more seeping, ugly issue that you have re-placed on your plate to operate with the rest of your life. Great….

Many years ago, I was told profanity was used because you couldn’t express yourself. I found, while in leadership postitions, the use of profanity in the process actually made things worse, and not better, thereby either causing things to take longer, or getting less than an acceptable job done, if it got done at all. Sometimes it actually takes some personal discipline to hold your tongue and to think of the proper words before you open your mouth, but it always yielded a far superior result.

In both the international and internal political/cultural arenas, this exercise of self restraint would serve all of us well.

I love physics. Years ago, I figured what wasn’t physics was chaos…but then that actually has an order of its own, when you peel back enough layers.

Phyisicts have been looking for the one common formula for years, that will explain everything. Here is a book on the topic, in case you’re interested in finding out more on the issue.

Now, just like the people who slave away in physics, in the molds of Newton and Hawkings, we have a corelary in the political world, and I would suggest, the cultural aspects of society as well. I will call it the Grand Unified Blame Theory (“GUBT” in subsequent references). Just as the physicists want that one single formula, from which all other formulas are derived, so they can understand the weak forces, strong forces, light waves, gravity, etc, etc, etc, in the political world, there are those who seek to find the one individual that, one “uncovered” will explain all the ills of the world, society, and the planet. From Global Warming, to the wearing of burkas, they seek, with seemingly endless energy, the person who is the root cause of all that is evil, all that is bad, and all that has brought strife, pain and misfortune to “the masses.”

The research, biased and unbiased (mostly very biased) goes on, yet there seems to be no end in sight….not only are there legions of scientific personnel involved, but extnesive numbers of those in the “press” have joined in, thinking they can help answer the greatest question of not only our time, but of all time.

At the moment, the magnifying glass is on President George W. Bush. Within the last two weeks, we have found out he is not a facsimile of, but in fact, the Devil himself. If that were the case, then he would be the one, single cause of all the pain and misfortune of all humanity, before now and in the future, but they are grasping at straws. Just as the physicists struggle, so will the sociologists, professional and amateur, to come to grips with the answer to the GUBT, whereupon they may cast in stone the truth, stripping away the descriptor of “theory.”

I have a suggestion to help you determine the one person of great human angst. You need to test your theory by taking out of play that person who your research suggests is the single person worthy of your blame. Isolate them from their duties and all society, and then see what happens. See if the greenhouse gases instantly disappear (ok, well, abate at some quite noticeably accelerated rate), if all killing stops, alternative energy scientific breakthroughs occur and dead dinosaur fuels are obsolete (oh, yeah, that should make the “victims of oppression” in the Middle East want to pass out daisies and turn in their suicide belts), if the poor and downtrodden are suddenly provided with wealth unimagined, that snail darters thrive and spotted owls no longer have to nest in K-Mart lighted signs. It shall also mean the end of earthquakes, Cat 5 hurricanes (or tropical storms that cause the evacuation of Florida), volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, forest fires, and tornadoes. Cancer will no longer appear in any life forms, obesity will disappear, stem cell research, will cure everything from “owies” to Alzheimer’s, with no pain, using a single, small, easy to swallow pill, dispensed from every street cornet free of charge. Taxes will no longer be taken by the Government, and roads will no longer develop potholes. Snow will fall everywhere in your yard, except on the sidewalks and driveways, and will not cover any roads, be they one lane dirt tracks, or 10 lane Interstate.

BUT… only if the isolated person is “the ONE” being that is the proximate cause of all that is bad in the World.

Amazingly. last week, former President Bill Clinton thought someone was naming him as “The ONE,” and reacted accordingly. I think his staff hadn’t gotten the word to him that the final series of experiments hadn’t conclude on George Bush. Maybe he should spend more time smoking cigars and playing poker with President Chavez, Ahmadinejad and Kofi Annan, to make sure he gets the straight story, which should keep his blood pressure down and keep him from having another heart attack.

On the other hand, if only interactions between people get better, then I submit you have merely found a small factor of the forumal, and you must spread your research to encompass the entire universe, known and unknown, for the final answer…..

Anyhow, my poor attempt at humor is to cause you to get a grip. Just as soon as you think you have found “The ONE,” there will be someone else taking their place, so why not just do what that sage philosopher, Rodney King pondered: “Why can’t we all just get along?”

More to say later on the cultural ills of the world, and how to get rid of those who cause them.

Oh, and note to President Clinton: I’m sure Hillary would be happy to know, after she was hurt, that you “tired harder” than anyone else to make sure it didn’t happen. Only the results count. Intentions, good as they may be, pave the road to hell.

Trackbacked to:

The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The Amboy Times,

Fun from the poster generator:

Yeah, it gives me a headache, too, even after all these years…

Bear with me for a few paragraphs, for I need to lay a foundation for my point, before I dive it.

I’ll admit, the public discourse is wearing me out. Quite honestly, it sickens me to listen to talking head after talking head, or products of the American public education system of the last two decades respond to serious questions with what their opinion is. I don’t want an opinion when there’s truth to be had. The public educational system, however, has convinced people they need to respond to their feelings.

Hence, idiotic polls by agencies like CBS with this report as the outcome: “Poll: A Split On Confronting Terrorism”. About a year ago, i spent some valuable time blogging about the difference between truth and an opinion. It’s in the junior blog somewhere, and it applies here, but I don’t have the motivation to dig it up just now.

Of course there will be differences of opinions in how to execute a war fighting strategy and, in lower levels, tactics of same will be addressed.

Peopel with high school educations feel empowered to call into talk shows and tell people who spend a better part of their waking hours studying the issues, and try to tell the host that the President is killing innocent people, he knew there were no WMD and he sent popel there anyway.

Give.me.a.break. I didn’t have my “awakening” until the taxpayers sent me to 9 months of Command and Staff college. Not to say everyone needs an MA to speak on the topic, but it would be nice if they bothered to pull the iPod ear pieces out of their ears during the waking hours and took some time at the public library or local meag bookstore, doing some reading on the topic, before pretending they know what’s going on. I wish they’d do the wise thing and recuse themselves, much as is done in the legal system, if you are in a position to bias the outcome because of what you do/do not know.

My evidence is shown here, from the CBS article:

THE U.S. WILL BE SAFER FROM TERRORISM IF IT…

Confronts terror groups and states in the Mideast: 47%
Stays out of other countries’ affairs in Mideast: 45%

Just what, pray tell, do these valient individuals base their response on?

Which brings me to another point of ranting: Why can’t our leaders do it, if the other leaders are (or the reverse case)? A few days ago, the President mentioned, to a group at a meeting that he wondered if the US was going to have a 3rd awakening. This drew comments from the press, and they feigned fear of a “theocratic” government. Frst off, people need to chill out. Second off: Presidents of Iran and Venezuela stood before the world and prayed, one in the style of his Catholic heritage, the other in the Islamic faith. Not a peep out of the press, in fact, it looks like it was purposely ignored, so the press could always claim “plausible deniability” for the time being.

Now, get this:

IN TREATMENT OF POWs, THE U.S. SHOULD…

Follow international agreements: 63%
Do what it thinks right, regardless of what other nations think: 32%

News flash: We are treating “POWs” (defined therein in the Geneva Coventions as military members of a nation). I wonder if they would choke in horror if they knew that illegal combatants (those who are not wearing said uniforms while engaging in combat) are subject to summary execution? I doubt it would happen, but the old line : “Be careful what you wish for comes to mind.” If DoD directed firing squads, the same 63% would howl, but it would only be a case of answering an importatnt question from their place of ignorance….I’m glad we have a man at the helm with more compassion and sense than to give them what they ask for, for they don’t know what it is.

As far as the part about worrying about what others think, it seems to be, in my experience and opinion, that those who got me to “outperform” my self-imposed standards didn’t get my love in several cases, until years later, when it became clear the value of their hard pressed teachings. Teachers, baseball, basketball and swim team coaches alike have had a place in my life in helping me achieve what was better, right and more successful. We didn’t get to where we are as a nation because we copied the Euorpean ways an means of governance and social interaction for a reason: It had failed our forefathers. And, in my great admiration, they did what today’s protestors of our government should do when persecuted: Pack ther possesions you hold dear and go and build the country you define by your protestations. It should be easy to figure out: Just don’t elect George Bush as your President and study him well, so you make sure whatever it is he does in a situation, you do the exact opposite, to remove any possible connection to the man you hate so much. Oh…in the stream of consciousness mode, this has great possibility for terrific satire potential, combined with analysis of what the most likely outcomes would be of no military, no oil, no greenhouse gas producing items, no aerosol powered deoderants, and only vegtables to eat, produced with the use of no pesticides…but I digress…

So…finally taking the long way around, the biggest bone I have to pick is those who act like they know what it is to be the final authority in matters of great gravity, the point of my title.
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Thought for the day:

“The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.” – Winston Churchill

I don’t know, but I sure wish I did. Today, more “if you say we are violent, we will kill you” mentality from the Religion of Peace:

“Pakistanis protest, cleric says Pope should be crucified”.

Kool. I guess they sort of like some of the story of Jesus Christ.

In the face of the “rage riots” (I’m claiming this term!), I can’t for the life of me, figure why some people still insist it was a bad thing to put our treasure into spreading democracy. We had the stampedes that killed Muslims over the penning, by cartoonists, of likenesses of “The Prophet.” Cars burned by the hundreds during night riots in Paris and other parts of France. Muslims terrorists causing mass confussion during the hajj, where Muslims on their holy pilgrimage then, in the effort to save themselves, killed themselves. Those are but a few moments of insanity that show they are using very flawed tactics if the plan of the greater strategy is to take over the world.

It seems to me, in a democratic (well, actually, a representative republic) society, we just call each other bad names in the publically used news sources, as a way to voice our displeasure. I would think those not in power around the world, would cheer the onset of this style of government, for it certainly would increase their life expectancy. On the other hand, modern psychology points out battered wives return and average of 3-4 times, before they leave for good. Sad, but true fact of accepting the attitude of victimhood. I’m speculating there is much of this in some of the very countries who riot to see us die, claiming the right to attack the US based on what the southern Europeans began 600+ years ago (when the US did not exist, and before Colombus set out sailing West to the unknown), as they saw the choice was to die, or not go quietly into the night and the pages of history (that likely would never have been written if the crusades of the faithful Muslim warriors had succeeded at the beginning.

Also, it seems thre is a new job skill out there in the professional arena, where it’s easy to muster up workers for a multi day “rage riot” series. I wonder if anyone has already trademarkled “Rent-a-Riot?” Several poitns of discussion spawn from this, such as: Is it just the unemployment rate is too high in those countries? or…does it pay well enough for the few days, that you can subsist off the proceeds in the time between going out to risk a rubber bullet in the chops, or large concentration of CS gas? Do you get a bonus for places where the police are more agressive and actuarial tables predict violence will come your way more often?

I guess if I dug around the net, I might find the PD for the Operations staff for “Rent-a-Riot” International. It seems like that would be a fairly stable position in the long term (or until the 12th Imam arrives to the sounds of nuclear weapon detonations).

So what is the long term legacy of the Muslim faith? The Pope saw it, throught the eyes of men of the past, who struggled as we are, with those who would take up the sword (dull knife) to force conversion.

Just thinking….

Yesterday’s USA Today had a big article on Sean Penn, not just about his new movie, “All the King’s Men,” but a forum to let him be quoted about how things need to change.

Yes, I argee, but just a few days ago, when I heard that Sean Penn had called President Bush the devil (I wonder if he wrote Hugo’s UN speech of today?), I scribbled this, because it just made me think he’s something because of his money.

Dear Mr. Penn;

I’d like to offer you a little constructive advice, which may help you achieve your end, and not make you look so totally ignorant. There’s a clue here, so please read the following carefully:

Money doesn’t make you smart, nor a strategist, nor an economist, nor a diplomat or an ambassador, and it certainly doesn’t make you right. All it does is make you wealthy, but, even without moeny, you still have a right to say what you think as you will as an American, because the patriots through the ages have secured and then willed your right to this privledge for as long as you wish to maintain it.

If you want to be any of those things listed above, get some well written books, hire some respected tutors, study, study and study some more, then apply for one of those jobs and make the knowledge practical by doing wht you think is right. Once you’ve done those things, your voice will be more universally accepted, and I suspect your tone will be changed somewhat, as it will have been tempered by the reality of putting your hands on the problems of the world.

Respectfully, I submit, “you have to do what you think is right,” and experience will help you understand right better.

Standby for some morning “fisking.” Here we go:

“Revealed: the tough interrogation techniques the CIA wants to use”

Ed Pilkington in New York and Clare Dyer
Monday September 18, 2006
The Guardian

Details emerged yesterday about the seven interrogation techniques the CIA is seeking to be allowed to apply to terror suspects. Newsweek magazine reported that a New York lawyer, Scott Horton, who has acted as an adviser to the US senate on interrogation methods, had acquired a list of the techniques. The details were corroborated by information obtained by the charity Human Rights Watch.

Good. I’m glad to know the resources of Human Rights Watch are on the issue. It’s probably because there is nothing else in the world worthy of their focus, everyone but the American’s being all peaceful and loving….

The techniques sought by the CIA are: induced hypothermia; forcing suspects to stand for prolonged periods; sleep deprivation;

Does 21 months serving under a man who slept during the day and stayed up all night, yelling at us staff guys count? If so, maybe he really worked for the CIA, not the Navy. 2-3 weeks on an hour a sleep a day wasn’t unheard of.

What about “port and starboard” bridge watches? 2 years aboard an oiler and I wasn’t the Captain, or Executive Officer, so…no chair on the bridge for me! Steel decks and 4-6 hours periods of standing, oh my!

a technique called “the attention grab” where a suspect’s shirt is forcefully seized;

All but grabbing the shirt happened, but I’m sure it was considered. On the other hand, maybe this will get HRW to go after Hollywood because lots and lots of shirt grabbing happens in movies and in TV series.

the “attention slap” or open hand slapping that hurts but does not lead to physical damage; the “belly slap”;

I can’t claim to have had this happen, but, yes, we show it in US TV and movies all the time and we have the in the vernacular “I’m gonna bitch slap you!” used, not only in movies, but on the street and all over in society…we need HRW after the rest of the society, too.

and sound and light manipulation.

Does sleeping under #2 Jet Blast Deflector for 4 ½ months count as sound manipulation? I did, however, figure out after three days, you sleep or you don’t, so may as well sleep and count it as the sound of freedom. Taking off on this point, maybe it’s the intent of the sound manipulation, or how it makes the “detainee” feel that’s ever more important. Rock concerts are very loud, and people pay money to go and have the opportunity to destroy their hearing for the future. Top that off with too loud iPods and other .mp3 players. Think about it: People actually make a living taking money from people who want to have really loud music played to them!

Several of those techniques chime with information gleaned about interrogation methods used against some serious terror suspects. The New York Times recently reported that Abu Zubaydah, the first al-Qaida member captured after the September 11 attacks, was kept in a freezing cell until he went blue, and later assailed with loud Red Hot Chili Peppers music.

I recall nights on a bridge wing in the winter where, after watch when you peeled off the bulky heavy weather gear and your clothes, parts were pale or blue. I had a duty to stand out there, because that was the nature of my commitment, but now, I ask: Did the American people torture me? Yeah, right…what a specious argument.

I have also been known to assail myself with loud music. As a senior, before Friday afternoon formation for parade, my roomie and I, living large in the 4th Division Alcove room, would routinely “inspire” our fellow cadets with 200W cranked music played over the “Quad” of Padgett-Thomas barracks. Favorites were “No More Mr Nice Guy” and as the year was coming to an end “Schools Out for the Summer.” We had others, with selections from Pink Floyd, too…Talk about a motivator before marching out in a wool uniform to stand in the heat and humidity of South Carolina’s Low Country, looking forward to the gnats who would hang around your ears throughout the experience…

The debate on how far the CIA should be allowed to go in aggressively questioning suspects has divided the Republican party after prominent senators led by John McCain of Arizona rebelled against the administration’s plans to change Geneva Convention to meet the CIA’s demands. Mr McCain told ABC television yesterday that “there is a war we are losing in some ways and that’s our standing in the world because of our treatment in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo”.

Well, it’s all about the spin, Senator. It seems the boys at Abu Ghraib are begging for the panties on the head treatment. It seems to (pardon my pun) “beat” the treatment their fellow Iraqis seem to be using….I bet if you took a survey, they’d trade dogs with bad breath barking at them and naked pyramids back in a heartbeat

The British attorney general warned the US that its plans would face international condemnation. Speaking to lawyers in Chicago at the weekend, Lord Goldsmith said he had thought hard about interfering in a “sensitive, domestic political debate”, but had concluded that the Geneva Convention was “an international standard of very considerable importance and its content must be the same for all nations”.

The Geneva Convention document the British use allows the summary execution of those who are not in uniform and actively participating in the combat…minor detail, I know…it just offend the sensibilities of the “civilized world” to actually hold the guilty accountable anymore it seems. If you’re in the “uncivilized” category, then you can stone people to death and hang teenagers from cranes, and it’s ok…you don’t get it, so you get a pass.

Oh, yeah…thanks for one more lawyer thinking a lawless bunch of murders will follow published law. I thought lawyers trafficed in evidence, but that seems to be left behind as a professional method for the rest of us people to have to deal with.

Guantanamo Bay had become “a symbol” which “the long American tradition of justice and liberty deserves to see removed at the earliest moment”.

Many would argue our troops in the field don’t get the food service, free time, nor clean and comfortable living conditions the people who have been gathered from an active battlefield. As noted above, the “normal” treatment of the enemy combatants (that’s what you are when you fight in a war) in GTMO is superior to what we provide to those who have to be shot at by such men. Talk about justice….

Thanks for your attention.

Update 9/22/2006: And I never had to attend Survival Escape Rescue and Evasion (S.E.R.E.) School, either.

Trackbacked to: Stuck on Stupid, Diane’s Stuff, Third World Country.

It was a quiet day Sunday, so I reached for the remote and scanned the guide list of shows playing. “Patton” was on and had been playing for about an hour….I clicked to the channel and settled back on the couch.

The scene that was playing, when I cut in, was Patton giving a speech to a French audience on Corsica, talking about how he would soon be at work, liberating the homeland of Lafayette. Lots of cheers from the crowd. As he completed the speech, his aide told him the press wanted a few minutes with him.

If this “docudrama” has anything to do with reality, then I’m projecting that George S. Patton suffered as our current day commanders do, but with out instantaneous news cycles:

One an editorialist disguised as a reporter asked him about his future assignments: No comment. Some other questions, then Patton said: “Off the record, they are sending me to Malta.” To that, the editorialist disguised as a reporter asked: “will you be slapping any soldiers in Malta?” as Patton was walking away. Patton stopped, but did not turn around. After a moment, he then stepped off through garden and kept walking away. Sound familiar?

A few scenes later, a German staff officer delivers a message to a general. The General expresses dismay (this part was subtitled) that Patton was now moving to the central Mediterrean and starts barking orders to get more troops moved to Greece and Crete, and to let the Italians defend their own country. They had to get ready for the offensive Patton would surely be heading up.

So, once again, if the story presented has a degree of truth, then the media was leaking critical information to the enemy back in the early 40s.

There were other scenes where the press dogged the great military mind and General Bradley had to corral him several times, to prevent the Allies and later the US from being embarassed.

So what has really changed, except the speed of the news cycle?

Just thinking….

Oh, and speaking of the accuracy of the movie, I found this site that discusses the very issue:

Despite the way the movie makes it seem, Patton did not sack men without a moment’s regard to them, he did not curse like a sailor, he did not believe in “victory at all costs” in spite of casualty lists. He had a paternal care for his men unlike any other great military leader – he knew that little things, like a hot meal and dry socks, contributed more to victory than all the ammunition in the world. Why did Patton’s men love him so much? Because he never expected more from them than he was willing to give himself. A Third Army sentry recounted his only meeting with Patton as,“Oh, yes, I knew Patton, though I only saw him once. We were stuck in the snow and he came by in a jeep. His face was awful red, and he must have been about froze, riding in that open jeep. He yelled to us to get out and push, and first thing I knew, there I was with General Patton pushing right alongside of me.”

Quoted from “Patton Uncovered” by B. E. Boland.

After reading this page, the secondary lesson is Hollywood, as now, was distorting the true nature of military leaders in order to grab the audience….so what else is new?

And…for you staff officers, or those subject to a higher headquarters, this quote that indicates the some of the materiall on B. E. Boland’s book:

Yet, incredibly, General Patton himself was removed from the command of Third Army in disgrace. In >“Patton Uncovered” you can delve into the high-level politics surrounding the military maneuvers, and learn of the deceit, treachery, betrayal and back-stabbing that were commonplace at headquarters.

So, once more, as I said above: “so what else is new?”

Three lessons, one movie, and discovery of a book that seeks the truth of it all.