Knee Deep in the Hooah!

The King of fright decided to pull a partial Kerry on us with the following statement (source link)

“The fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don’t, then you’ve got the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that,”

I call it a partial Kerry because he did not stumble all over himself trying to apologize like Kerry. No, he has no intentions of backing down on what he said, even though his ASSumptions about military personnel are erroneously far from the facts. I know facts are not always important when you are writing fiction, but they matter a lot in the non-fiction world.

Take for example this little tid-bit from the Heritage Foundation’s research on the quality of recruits since the start of the war. See how it looks side to side with King’s statement about troops and literacy:

… in the most recent edition of Population Representation in the Military Services, the Department of Defense reported that the mean reading level of 2004 recruits is a full grade level higher than that of the comparable youth population. Fewer than 2 percent of wartime recruits have no high school creden­tials. Table 2 shows the breakdown for the educational attainment of the war­time recruit cohorts. The national high school graduation rate taken from the Census 2004 ACS is 79.8 percent. [Read more →]

Tags: Hollywood, Morale, anti-military, deployment, literacy, looney leftists, military, politics, veterans, war on terror by Claire
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I was very sad to read just a few minutes ago that Charleton Heston has passed away at the age of 84. What a tremendous loss for us all. I was telling Mr. Hooah! that I am saddened when I see men like Heston or Reagan pass away because I don’t see anyone big enough to fill their shoes.

Where have all the cowboys gone?

Please keep his family in your prayers.

Link to Fox News report

Tags: Hollywood, history, memorial, prayers by Claire
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Thank you to “Aubrey” for THIS link to the video I reference in this post, and for the note telling me about it. It was a very timely note for sure.

This is not the first rant, nor will it be the last, about our media’s infatuation with dead or whacked out movie stars. I would love to rant about all of the reasons why they seem to love to feed off of the dead in this ghoulish game of gossip, death and sexy stories of drug overdoses, suicide, or other various and sundry ways lives have tragically ended. Surely we must have some incredibly important reason to do this, right? Surely the media is justified in saying that they are only giving the public what they want (I agree with Williams in the clip — who is really the cart and who is really the horse here?)The only reason that I can possibly come up with for this morbid and disgusting fascination is nothing more than sick and convenient entertainment.We use tragedy, death, disease and immorality to get our kicks and giggles for the day. Movies aren’t enough. Reality TV shows, (which have nothing to do with reality — and isn’t reality what we are trying to escape when we watch TV?), gossip magazine shows, sitcoms, dramas — don’t forget the dramas!! — are available to us 24/7, and yet our media acts like the death of a movie star is the equivalent to losing someone whose contributions to society mean more than the other hundreds of people who die on a given day. Why is this?

I understand the need for entertainment, and I don’t begrudge it at all. I think that there are many benefits to enjoying a little down time from the daily grind and the stresses of life. It’s wonderful when people can watch a movie or a little television to unwind. I don’t know why I am still shocked or surprised at the disgusting feats the media will pull in order to get ratings. It really is a societal standard any more. Our media doesn’t always report the news — it often reports what amounts to nothing more than gossip.

This morning when I was exercising there was another NEWS FLASH! Surely it must be something extremely important to the entire Country, right? No. Instead it was the media ghouls drooling over the fact that Brittney Spears was found in some extremely sad and disturbing mental state at her home and needed care. Uhm, OK. I am a social worker who has put in time in the mental health arena — I am not being cold or uncaring here, but guess what? This sort of thing happens every single day. Every day there are people all over this Country who battle mental health issues. There are mothers who do not need to be around their children because of said struggles. There are families who are living some very devastating realities.Here’s my professional opinion (not that it matters a lick, but I feel I should offer it regardless), leave the girl alone, let her get the help she so obviously and desperately needs. Give her some privacy. I could care less about her music. I have never bought a single album of hers and I don’t think she has much talent at all, however, she is a human being and for the love of all things green and good, treat her as such. The world will continue to spin and humanity will continue forward without another shred of gossip about this young woman’s extremely tragic life. It’s not funny. It’s not entertaining, and no it does not make me feel better to hear about her mental health struggles (you know so I can shake my head in pity).

I know it’s asking a lot of our media, but I really wish they would use their brains and wit to inform and entertain instead of acting like a flock of buzzards circling the first obviously dead or distressed body they can find. Any buzzard can find a dead or almost dead corpse — it requires nothing more than having your nose tuned into the right smell!

The day that Ledger was found dead the headlines were plastered with it on every screen at the gym, and all of the major media outlets online! We had second by second updates. The news channels told us we couldn’t live another moment if we didn’t know exactly what happened up the actor’s very last breath. If you watched the coverage of all of the weeping and the devastation in our Country and had no sound and no captioning you would have guessed that we had lost a national treasure. You would have swore that we were Argentinians grieving the loss of Eva Peron! What will we ever do when a movie star dies? What will we do without his or her presence in this world to entertain us? We’ll do the next best thing and feed off of the dead body as long as we possibly can. Never mind that somewhere a family is grieving the loss of someone they truly love. No matter that they have to bury someone while trying to dodge and outsmart the paparazzi.

I wonder where the media was when we lost a real national treasure, or why they do not cover the fact that this person could not even be buried with a headstone identifying his remains? Where’s our tireless media when a war hero like General Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. passes away? Where is the non-stop coverage about him and how he requested to be buried in an unmarked grave and with no funeral so that protesters would not desecrate his burial site and upset his family? We have a war hero, who with his actions, bravery and valor ENDED the second world war and his passing from this life and into the next is barely a blip on the media radar screen.

If he had been a movie star with a drug addiction, mental health issues and could boast a child or six with various women then I imagine our media would have been chomping at the bit to tell his story. No scandal, no criminal record and nothing sexy at all — he got an “honorable mention” by the media because he lived his life as a responsible and honorable citizen who worked hard to serve his Country and his family. Oh well, sorry General Tibbets, but we couldn’t find a way to squeeze more than 10 seconds of reporting time for the story of your life. I guess we were all still pretty devastated from losing Anna Nichole or still devastated that her baby’s daddy wasn’t who we thought it should be. It was something like that anyway. I have said my peace — for now anyway.

Tags: Hollywood, memorial, military, veterans, war on terror by Claire
7 Comments »

Surprise, surprise, Rosie and Ricki are slamming our Military. They are claiming that our fine men and women in uniform must be stupid and/or poor. I hate to break it to them, but the military just couldn’t find any “ineducated” “pundints.” Seems they are all employed by Hollywood already.

Tags: Hollywood, veterans by Claire
3 Comments »

I know, I know, friends don’t let friends post blog entries in a post-anesthesia and taking-hydrocodone-for-pain haze, but I couldn’t resist after seeing a headline where Cheryl Crow is pushing for Americans to use less toilet paper in order to stop global warming! I am about knee deep in disgust when I hear Hollywood types preach to ordinary citizens on how they can “cut back” on items so that they can save the planet.

What about the Hollywoodites (or Al Gore himself) who jet around the country in small private planes, and live in mansions the size of small countries? The resources they use up in one day will surpass my entire toilet paper usage in a lifetime.

I already live something called a “modest lifestyle.” I live in a modest home, and I turn off the lights when not in use. I keep my thermostat set at a moderate level because I don’t want to have to give my first born to the electric company for payment. These are just a few examples.

I am pretty sure that using all the toilet paper I need is not going to kill our planet, but According to Crow:

“I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming,” she wrote April 19 on the Biodiesel Bus blog, according to a report by the Washington Post. “Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating.”

Of course she is going to think that her ideas are worth investigating. I simply don’t get what else needs to be thought out. You come up with a lame brained idea and you execute it and look like a fool in front of the entire country. Ask Sean Penn. He is an expert at it.

“Now, I don’t want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required,” she wrote.

If these environmentalist liberals have their way we will all be unarmed people with limited toilet paper. It reminds me of all of the Cold War movies I have ever seen. They can have my toilet paper when they pry it from my cold, dead, hands.

Tags: Hollywood by Claire
4 Comments »

Let me preface this with a true confession. I do not watch television. I do not have cable, I have no broadcast TV in my home at all, and I don’t ever want it again. I have never watched a single episode of American Idol, Desperate Housewives, or ER. I don’t even know if these shows are still on… they get mentioned to me in conversations since they are such a huge part of our culture. OK, now that you know my dirty little secret I have to tell you about what happened Tuesday afternoon.

I had an appointment at my doctor’s office. It is a very nice, swank office with a really huge television in the waiting room. Normally I am very annoyed at the noise the TV puts off, but I can block it out well enough. I came prepared with my laptop and a very large grant to work on.

When I walked into the Dr’s office for my appointment everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats! By the look on their faces I was certain that something major had just happened in the Middle East; was it a nuclear attack, or perhaps soldiers taken hostage? Surely it was something that demanded attention and was vitally important by the way everyone in the waiting room was posturing themselves. So, I quickly checked in with the receptionist, and I noticed from a distance that it looked like a press conference was about to begin. A press conference!! This has got to be big news, right? Oh the anticipation to know what was going on in this mad world of ours was killing me! With a son who is deployed I feel a little anxious when I suspect that something has happened.

I take my seat. I gaze at the television and begin to focus on a face. I have never seen this face before and I didn’t recognize the name… suddenly the guy opens his mouth and it is confirmed that not only is he the “baby daddy” of the deceased Anna Nichole Smith’s daughter, but he is as dumb as a bag of hammers. He actually gave an “acceptance speech” that was Oscar worthy filled with tears and “thank yous” to all those who had helped him “get this far!” WHAT?? Are you serious? Is this what we are all on the edge of our seats over? I sighed a sigh of disgust and relief. I mean I was relieved that Iran had not just done something scary (again), but I was disgusted that the media and those watching were still enthralled by the story of this dead woman.

The mere fact that I know who she is, and what happened should speak volumes as to her infamous position in our culture. I repeat… I watch NO television in my home whatsoever. Even with that her face has been plastered every where, and I hear people talk about it non stop. I was walking through the grocery store the other day and was stuck on the same isle continually with some woman talking really loudly into her cell phone. All she could do was wonder what “really” killed Anna. Then the big question got discussed “Who is the daddy of the baby?” It’s hard to tell when you have about a dozen or so men lining the block, and you lived a life so void of moral character that not one person in the entire Country even bats an eye at the fact that men have to stand in line and give DNA samples to prove who the daddy of your baby is.

Have we become a culture so addicted to entertainment, pleasure, and the avoidance of any reality and pain that we have the picture of some tartlet emblazoned on our brains, who never contributed anything to our society outside of providing us with a source of absolute and utter depravity in which to gawk. She was the proverbial train wreck, and the general “we” were the rubber-neckers who couldn’t resist.

Ok, I am not going to give this story any more time here on my blog other than to say that we have got to be living life upside down in this country. Seriously. April 9th was the anniversary of the disappearance of Keith “Matt” Maupin. He is the only unaccounted for soldier in the Iraq. His parents wait day in and day out, aching with every breath, and waiting for word on the whereabouts of their beloved son. Matt Maupin is a US Soldier. Matt Maupin has never been found (and I know it is not for a lack of trying). Please, if you are going to sit on the edge of your seats do it for our soldiers. Do it for those who are fighting for your freedoms.

Well it’s time for me to crawl off of my soapbox and get back to the never ending pile of laundry!

Tags: Hollywood, family life by Claire
1 Comment »

When I was practicing social work I remember standing knee deep in the acronyms (and a few other things, but that’s a different blog for a different day!). I thought I was the Queen of all acronyms, abbreviations, and initials. I was the one they always called on to help name new programs since I could find someway to fit it into an acronym, or at the very least a catchy initial representation. I thought this would be the easiest part for me concerning the various things I am reading regarding the military. I know it is a must to speak the language. If you don’t catch on to the formal language and the informal vernacular you will never know when you are the butt end of a joke. I hate that!

So, I am looking at all of these acronyms, and I am lost. I am so lost. If I typed: I need to go to the PX to buy some MREs and I will wear my ACUs. When I am done I will start working on the Alpha, Bravo, Charlie’s with Emma (Emma is a girl not an acronym). Does any of that make sense? It does if you are remotely familiar with military language.

I am making light now, but just wait. This summer I will be knee deep in the acronyms, and waist deep in solo parenting!

Tags: Hollywood, family life, military by Claire
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