Joust The Facts: Another Misleading Headline

The USA Today headline on the article by Bill Nichols says 8000 desert during Iraq War.

Reading that, you could almost think there was some kind of unprecedented rout going on, yes? If you didn't know better?

Or, for that matter, if you didn't read the article itself, which carefully puts the numbers into perspective.

Giacomo over at the Joust the Facts blog read the article and worked up some alternate headlines:

Military Desertions Down Since 9/11

Rate of Military Desertion Much Lower Than In Vietnam Era

Desertion Among Active Iraq Military Very Rare

Military Desertion Rarely Due To War Opposition

Read the Joust the Facts post.

The USA Today article also notes that the vast majority of desertions occur inside the United States and that most deserters return within months. There is also, according to this article, only one known case of desertion in Iraq.

Chicken Spaghetti presents the Carnival of Children's Literature, No. 2: A Coney Island Adventure

On a brighter note, the second Carnival of Children's Literature is up.

Update: Welcome to those of you coming over from the carnival. My recent posts on children's literature include Book notes: McDuff series and Meet author John Erickson.

The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Pro-Life Posters Spark Debate

Sigh.

Does it amaze you (and discourage you at least a little, now and then) what is considered controversial by some people these days? Or what is considered disgusting?

The subhead on this Harvard Crimson article by staff writer Joyce Y. Zhang is "Students rip down controversial pro-life posters in protest":

Posters depicting in utero fetuses raised eyebrows and a small uproar last week. One of the posters, the second in a series created by Harvard Right to Life (HRL), featured the picture of a fetus named Elena with the words, “I’m 25 days old...and my heart already BEATS!!”

“The posters from this semester are getting torn down left and right,” said HRL President Meghan E. Grizzle ’07. “Apparently people find the picture of a fetus gruesome and I don’t understand why, because we’re not showing pictures of an aborted fetus or a dead baby,” Grizzle said. She added that HRL had to constantly replace the posters that were removed from displays across campus.

[...]

But not all students who opposed the posters agreed with those who tore them down.

“I personally find the image disgusting and don’t want to walk past it everyday,” said Nichele M. McClendon ’06, who said she did not tear down any posters. “It doesn’t have to do with abortion as an issue or free speech; it’s about being decent and not being disgusting.”

[...]

Grizzle said that posters from previous semesters had been torn down in far fewer numbers. Last semester HRL’s posters featured different facts and quotes, including posters saying that abortion is the number one cause of African American deaths surpassing AIDS and heart disease....

Do go read the whole thing. (I've cherry picked to suit my mood, I'm afraid. And I am in a mood right now, I must admit.)

I'm having trouble getting on the Internet today. I've had a problem with losing connection once I have managed to get on. And even when I'm on, I'm having no luck connecting to any page connected with Harvard Right to Life, much less one with a copy of the poster in question so we can all see for ourselves how disgusting it is (or isn't).

Anybody? I'd like to see this poster. If you find a good link, please share.

hat tip: The Alliance Alert (parental discretion advised)

Update: My thanks to the tipster (see comments) who pointed out a news story that links to some of the posters and provides more background on the situation. See Pro-Life Posters Defaced, Torn Down at Harvard, by Nathan Burchfiel, CNSNews.com Correspondent, (Cybercast News Service, March 07, 2006).

Hollywood Goes to War

I watched the "Hollywood Goes to War" episode of War Stories on Fox News Channel last night. I found it very interesting.

I hadn't really thought about this before, but many of the folks in Hollywood just prior to and during World War II were ex-patriots, people who had been run out of Europe by the Nazis as well as people just looking to work in the movies. Many of them had family still in harm's way over there. They had (and knew they had) a huge personal stake in the outcome of the war, in other words. I don't think this in any way diminishes what Hollywood did to promote the war effort back then (altruism can be nice, but it's often overrated, don't you think?), but I think it does make some of the differences between then and now more understandable.

Oliver North interviewed Alfred Hitchcock's daughter for this show, and she talked about her father calling his mother in Britain on a regular basis. One day, the daughter said, her father went to make the call but came back very pale. His call could not be put through, and the reason he was given was 'that country is at war now'. She remembers how deeply that affected him.

The show mentioned some of the movies he made during this period, including Foreign Correspondent and Lifeboat, in which he was unabashedly trying to wake people up.

I'm a bit pressed for time, so I'll just toss up links for some books mentioned prominently in the show, and clear off for now. The authors were interviewed, and all of them were informative in person.


Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot


Duty, Honor, Applause: America's Entertainers in World War II


Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services

and World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre (textbook)

A focus on author Helen MacInnes

Bookworm has been reading the 1984 book Ride a Pale Horse by Helen MacInnes, and she shares what MacInnes put in it about the difference between misinformation and disinformation.

She notes that MacInnes could just as easily been writing about today, instead of the Cold War.

She also links to other posts she's done on Helen MacInnes and her writing.

New $10 bill set for circulation, new $100 bill delayed

You should be seeing the redesigned, more colorful U.S. ten dollar bill any day now. But the release of the new $100 bill is being postponed while the government tries to come up with better security features. The Associated Press is reporting "The hope is to introduce the $100 in 2007. There are no plans to colorize the $1 bill or the $5 bill."

The Beehive: The Lines, Invisible

For fun, perhaps you'd like to try making up stories in tandem?

Mitchell Lewis: A Soldier's Lent

Army chaplain Mitchell Lewis has a blog. From a recent post:

Soldiers who have seen combat have no problem remembering their mortality. They've seen it with their eyes, touched it with their hands and inhaled it into their nostrils. For those in a combat zone, every day is Ash Wednesday; the dirt on their faces is real and not a ceremonial embellishment...

hat tip: Murdoc Online

"I Want My Country Back" by Rick Roberts

Thank you, GM Roper for bringing it to my attention, and to Rick Roberts at 760 KFMB AM - San Diego, CA for saying this and giving reprint permission.

"I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!”- By Rick Roberts - 760 KFMB AM

I don’t mean to go off on a rant here, but here’s the bottom line, I want my country back.

I want my kids to be able to walk to the store or walk to school without being abducted by some 3-time convicted child molester. And the politically correct powers that be in this country just can’t seem to get over themselves with “CAN’T WE JUST HELP THIS PERSON!” No! You can’t. But they’re let loose to prey on more children.

I want my kids back. I want my country back.

I don’t agree with everything this President does. I’ve never agreed with anything 100% that any President has done or said.

You know, I was very young during the Vietnam War. So I probably missed that thing by a hair. I don’t know whether I would have agreed with that or not at the time. I was too stupid to have an opinion at that point and time even though I thought I did.

I want my country back.

I want some semblance of respect for authority, whether I agree with it all or not.

I want the Boy Scouts to be “boy” scouts, not boy and “we think she’s a girl” scouts. I want Girl Scouts to be “girl” scouts not Girl Scouts and “Bruce.”

I want my country back.

I want to be able to wake up in the morning knowing that I can walk outside without some gang-banger on parole taking my life.

Or being able to go down and purchase a car without having to worry about you know 90% of the parts being made overseas in some sweatshop.

I want my politicians, when they finally do get my vote, to do what the hell they said they were going to do in the first place.

I want the Abramoff’s of the world to be labeled what they…nothing more than organized crime in a better suit.

I want the Hollywood elite to make movies to entertain me. Not use their celebrity to sway me politically one way or the other.

Quite honestly, if you’re a has-been-pseudo-celebrity I want you to go away quietly, so that I can remember you fondly through your “artiste work” that’s left in the archives.

I want people to say something and when they say something look at me in the eye. And mean what they say. Not say what they think I want to hear. And then do what they want to later politically or any other way.

I want to be able to go out and work and make a decent wage and buy a home. Half the people that are listening to me right now can’t even afford to buy a house unless they’re working three jobs.

And I want America to be America. All of those opportunities, all of those things that made her great, I want those returned to the forefront. If you want to come to this country we welcome you with open arms. We simply ask that you abide by our laws. I don’t want you to snub your nose at our laws, then take advantage of our opportunities, and then cling to the constitution most of which you can’t even read because you don’t speak the language.

I want us to secure our borders because the country is worth securing. The people that live here are worth protecting.

I want my country back. I want my children back.

I want some semblance of what this country used to be.

It’s worth protecting. It’s worth defending.

I don’t recognize this country anymore.

Not politically, not philosophically, not spiritually.

Whether you like it or whether you don’t God was a part of building this great nation. To remove him is to take away the very foundation of what this country was all about.

I don’t care about your political correctness!

I don’t want to know your sexual preference!

I could care less about all of that. Stop making it the headline of the day!

That’s not America.

I want my country back!

And the only way I’m ever going to be able to get this country back is if I reach out to the brothers and the sisters that all feel the same way and we say “Hell No! You can’t have our country.”

It’s not for sale! Take the price tag off this country!

Take the price tag off the heads of our children!

Stop it already!

The politically-correct-psychobabble-hug-a-tree-experts ; You are not qualified to release sex offenders back into our neighborhoods.

The southern border, more than any other border, needs to be secured tomorrow. For all those that wish to come to this country to take advantage of her opportunity, to live under a constitution a living document that breathes in and out just like you do, this country is not for sale.

I should know. I’m one of the owners. You can’t sell it without my permission.

I want my country back.

Background Notes at the U.S. Department of State

FYI: You can visit the U.S. Department of State's website and find a section devoted to Background Notes on "the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of independent states, some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty."

I've found it can be fairly handy from time to time, even if all you want to know is the official name of a country, or how you should refer to someone with that nationality, or what the flag looks like. Search tip: for a map, click on the "official name" link.

Today's themes: Government, politics, history

Wandering around the blog neighborhood, I'm finding people discussing news and views, and points to ponder, about government(s) then and now, here and there:

At Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux argues that Government Ain't Us. He wonders (as do I) why it is, for so many people, that "The assumption seems to be that unless certain things are done by government, they aren't done -- even if they are done!" Let him explain. And then let's all be more careful how we use the word we. ;-).

At Betsy's Page, Betsy Newmark is wondering where people have been for the last, say, hundred years to have come up with the idea that the government is good at doing things. She points out that even D-Day had its major mistakes, and it was very carefully planned, after all.

At Expat Yank, Robert Tumminello would like to give Sir Menzies a history lesson. Robert goes back to 1946, when Britain was holding German POWs past the time some people thought was proper. There were more than 400,000 POWs, and Clement Attlee's Socialist government was pointedly ignoring the Geneva Convention.

Over at Elephants in Academia, AcademicElephant brings us the news that Hugo Chavez is not a ladies' man. The post takes a glance at how two powerful women in Latin America -- newly-elected President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, and Lourdes Flores Nano (who apparently stands a good chance of being the next President of Peru) -- are dealing with Chavez and with his "vision" for Latin America.

And, just so you know, humorist Garrison Keillor is proposing a constitutional amendment requiring that a candidate for president of the United States have at least two years of full-time military service. I don't know about you, but I sometimes have a hard time telling when Keillor is being serious and when he's being snarky. This column is no exception. Some of it I think he means in earnest, and other parts, well, I'm pretty sure he doesn't. It does have some nice praise for people he's met who have served in Iraq, for what it's worth. (Via Garrison Keillor Goes Robert A. Heinlein? at the Apologies Demanded blog, via I don't remember. Does anyone else ever wish, now and then, that they took notes while following links around the 'net?)

OpinionJournal - A Lady's Lament

I didn't start the day intending to have a movie theme in half my posts. But it seems to have come out that way.

I can't resist sharing the first part of A Lady's Lament: Where have all the Hollywood hunks gone? by Kimberly A. Stassel (OpinionJournal, March 3, 2006):

This year I plan to conduct my own Academy Awards. And in my newly created category of "Best Red-Blooded Male," I regret to say that I can offer up only one nominee: King Kong.

Where have all the tough guys gone? Really, it's enough to make you cry--that is, if all our leading men weren't already doing it for me. From its earliest days Hollywood has had a glorious tradition of punch-throwing, gun-toting, testosterone-oozing leading men, and the world has loved every one of them. James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Sly Stallone, Mel Gibson, these were men. Some were strong and silent, some artisans of broken noses and busted rib cages, some villains, some heroes. But there was no doubt that they had a reason to walk with bowed legs.

And today? These marvelous males have given way to a new generation of Hollywood consumptives...

Sigh.

I'm with her.

Mommy Life: Movies - It's all about choice

Barbara Curtis loves movies. She used to go to funky movie houses in San Francisco in the 1970s. Then she became a mother and didn't get out as much. And then she became a Christian, and didn't want to watch some of the films she had before. And then the movie industry changed course.

I like how she puts it:

Add to that the fact that movies were getting darker and darker - It's been a long slide from Academy Award winners like Sound of Music and Ben Hur to American Beauty and Mystic River (ugh - what an ugly movie that was!)

But she still loves movies. It just takes a little more research beforehand, to weed out the ones not worth watching.

She shares the sites she depends on for reviews, praises the people who are working to remind Hollywood that their biggest money-makers are family-friendly films, and encourages support for Christians who are engaging the culture through film and other creative endeavors.

American Future : The Terrorist Mind

Can you spare sixteen minutes? Marc Schulman's found a video of a New Jersey television station interview with three former terrorists. Including one born and raised here in the United States, by the way.

Bookworm Room: Hollywood and simple patriotism

Hollywood used to be really good at lifting spirits, celebrating Americans and American achievement, and boosting our image abroad. Bookworm is fond of old musicals, especially the war musicals.

She's preaching to the choir around here. The DVD I have set aside to watch this weekend if we can find the time is On the Town. And, OK, it's not exactly the patriotic fare she's spotlighting in her post, but it has sailors and it is a musical :-).

Update: There's something in the air or in the water or something. I just got an e-mail telling me that War Stories on Fox this weekend is an all-new episode on the subject of (drum roll please....) "Hollywood Goes to War":

Hollywood films were instrumental in shaping the resolve of the American public during the gloomy days of World War II. Hear the story of silver screen heroes who served their country and inspired the nation! Oliver North sits down with legends Tony Curtis, Mickey Rooney, and more! Visit FOX Fan Central for a preview from the all-new episode, plus, more exclusive extras.
http://www.foxnews.com/foxfan/index.html

Meet author John Erickson

A little background on John Erickson, the author of a popular book series starring a cowdog named Hank:

...The road to stardom for Hank, however, wasn't all dog biscuits and gravy. Erickson graduated from the University of Texas in 1966 and studied for two years at Harvard Divinity School. He began to publish short stories in 1967 while working full-time as a cowboy, farmhand, and ranch manager in Texas and Oklahoma. Hank and his sidekick Drover are dogs Erickson worked with on the range. This mixture of true life experience, fun, and adventure has gained Hank a loyal following of thousands of children and adults.

In 1982, however, Erickson was at his rope's end. "I was working out in the cold; there was 8 inches of snow on the ground," he says, "I had just gotten a couple of rejection slips from New York publishers; and, I had a wife with two kids and another one on the way." So, with $2000 in borrowed money, Erickson started his own publishing company, appropriately named Maverick Books.

Hank the Cowdog made his debut in the pages of The Cattleman, a magazine for adults. An obvious favorite of readers, Erickson included two of Hank's humorous stories in Maverick Book's first publishing effort, The Devil in Texas (1982). Erickson began selling books from his pickup truck at cattle auctions, rodeos, and just about any place cowboys gathered.

When Erickson started getting "Dear Hank" letters, he knew he was onto something. So in 1983, 2,000 copies of The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog were published, and sold out in 6 weeks. Not long after that first printing, the book was recorded word-for-word on audiotape. Since then, every Hank book has been recorded, making Hank the longest running successful children's series on audio ever....

Read the whole write-up.

hat tip: "Rationalizing" post at Wittingshire. This post shares a short passage from one of the books.

There are lots and lots of Hank the Cowdog books. A sampling:


The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog (Hank the Cowdog Series #1)


The Curse of the Incredible Priceless Corncob (Hank the Cowdog Series #7)


The Garbage Monster from Outer Space (Hank the Cowdog Series #32)


The Case of the Falling Sky, Vol. 45


The Case of the Tender Cheeping Chickies (Hank the Cowdog Series #47)

And, the latest one (due May 4, pre-orders being taken now)...


The Case of the Monkey Burglar

Misunderestimated Germans : American Pride and Optimism

Here's a guy who has moved to the United States from Germany and is looking forward to becoming a citizen. And he's got a sense of humor, too. :-).

Tom McMahon: What I Have Learned In 15 Years

Fifteen years ago, Tom McMahon's son suffered a severe brain injury that left him unable to walk, talk, or feed himself. Mr. McMahon's learned a thing or two in fifteen years of caring for his son. The lessons might surprise you.

(Or not. I suspect those of my readers who live with disability know much of this already. But he puts it so well.)

I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that his post would be good to print out and put in the hands of teens and twenty-somethings -- for that matter anyone who is still cheerfully assuming his life will go the way he plans it to, or anyone who thinks happiness depends on circumstances.

hat tip: GM Roper

George Washington, in the flesh (make that in the wax)

Mount Vernon has commissioned three wax figures of George Washington -- representing him at age 19, at 45, and at 57. British artists Sue Day and Stuart Williamson are doing the sculpting. Richard Pyle of the Associated Press has an interesting article about the project (The Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 20, 2006).

The life-size figures are part of an attempt to help counter the image of George Washington as the stiff and somewhat boring figure on the one-dollar bill.

And, yes, some people think it's funny that British artists are doing the job. I prefer to think of it as further proof that we well and truly buried that hatchet a long time ago...

hat tip: The Bernoulli Effect

Book notes: McDuff series

Going through a stack of used books, getting them cleaned up for the store, I came across three picture books for young children. They looked to be cute, and fast reads, so I settled in.

McDuff and the Baby first. A white terrier has jealousy problems when a baby arrives and he doesn't get as much attention as before. But he comes around in the end. Delightful. (I especially like the page where "McDuff gave the baby terrible squinting looks. The baby didn't mind at all.") The illustrations are wonderful. Fred and Lucy, McDuff's owners, are wonderful people, who radiate intelligence, friendliness, love and joy.

McDuff Comes Home next. The white terrier McDuff sees a rabbit and does his level best to catch it. By the time the rabbit goes down a hole, McDuff has torn off his collar, losing his tag. He is lost, and exhausted. A kindly lady finds him, and helps him find his way home. Just the sight of an old lady in an old-fashioned dress driving a motorcycle with a terrier in the sidecar is worth getting the book. Delightful book. The illustrations are wonderful. Fred and Lucy, McDuff's owners, are wonderful people, who radiate intelligence, friendliness, love and joy. I know I said that about the other book, but I'm impressed by this. How nice to have such charming adults in a kids' book, for a change. (I don't know if you've noticed, but a lot of adults in kids' books leave much to be desired.)

Finally, McDuff Moves In. Oops, this is the starting book in the series. I probably should have started here. A nameless terrier is lost and looking for somewhere to go, and people keep telling him to go away -- until he meets the delightful, good-natured, intelligent, compassionate Lucy and Fred.

My copies are Scholastic school market editions, and the covers don't match what I see for sale elsewhere. But I presume that if the book in question has Rosemary Wells as the author and Susan Jeffers as the illustrator, you'd be getting essentially the same books I read.

There are, I find, lots of books in this series. For instance:


McDuff Moves In


McDuff Goes to School


McDuff's Hide-and-Seek: Lift the Flap Pull the Tab


McDuff Saves the Day

And many more. Too fun.

The books are set several decades ago, from the clothing, cars, and other clues. For instance, the big entertainment in the evening is sitting down to listen to the radio. Anybody who's seen the books and is better than I am at fashions and styles might help me out here. I'm guessing 1930s, give or take a few years? Am I close?