Images of US soldiers allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners provoke outrage around the world.
[Via BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]
Month: April 2004
RE: Battelle on Google’s S-1
John Battelle’s analysis of Google’s S-1 filing — and particularily, the charming-but-stilted founders’ letter — is fascinating and insightful:
The letter states, among other things, that
- We don’t need to do this for the money
- We have no plans to run our business to satisfy Wall Street’s need for smooth earnings predictability
- We plan to give no earnings guidance, not at least as it’s understood on Wall St.
- Don’t ask us to do so, we’ll simply decline the request
- We’ll do odd things that you won’ t understand
- We will make big bets on things that may not work out
- We run the company as a triumvirate, so there will not be clear leadership from one person like most other companies
- We bridge the media and tech industries (interesting), which are in flux, so we’ve chosen a two-class stock structure similar to the NYT, WashPost, and NYT that helps us avoid being taken over by those forces
- We plan using an auction model, as it feels fairer and we understand auctions from AdWords
- Don’t invest in us if this scares you at all, or the price feels too high
- Don’t even think about asking us to cut expenses with regard to our employees
- We believe in the idea of Don’t Be Evil
- It’s evil to pay for placement or inclusion (a swipe at Yahoo)
- We hope to bridge the digital divide through Gmail type free services and a foundation with at least 1% of profits and equity to help make the world a better place
- Betting on Google is a bet on Sergey and Larry (this was said multiple times, making me wonder if there wasn’t some odd future blame being assigned here by the VCs or bankers)
- This letter is our way of answering the questions we can’t answer in the coming months due to the IPO quiet period.
RE: Marines Find Faith Amid the Fire
Great story and accompanying image sin the Los Angeles Times by Tony Perry and Rick Loomis about four Marines baptized on the battlefield in Falluja at a school from which they’ve been fighting. (all images by Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times)
Sgt. Andrew Jones, 25, of Sullivan, Ind, is among four Marines baptized by Navy chaplain Lt. Scott Radetski in Fallujah, Iraq. “With everything that has happened here,
I thought it was a good place to be reborn,” said Jones. Echo Company is battling insurgents. Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times
Lance Cpl Chris Hankins, 19, of Kansas City, Mo, gets a dunking in the font- boxes of MRE’s lined with plastic. Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times
On Monday, Echo Company battled insurgents for two hours. One Marine was killed and 15 were wounded in the latest and bloodiest of numerous skirmishes.
Then four Marines “ from the battle-hardened company, part of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division ” asked a Protestant chaplain to arrange a battlefield baptism.
“I’ve been talking to God a lot during the last two firefights,” said Lance Cpl. Chris Hankins, 19, of Kansas City, Mo. “I decided to start my life over and make it better.”
To give the occasion even greater significance, the Marines chose to have Wednesday’s baptism in the courtyard of a bullet-riddled school that they used in their fight with insurgents.
Two Marines died and several were injured in the same courtyard when a mortar round landed among their group April 12. A small memorial has been erected in the courtyard to the two: Lance Cpl. Robert Zurheide, 20, of Tucson and Lance Cpl. Brad Shuder, 21, of El Dorado Hills, Calif.
After Monday’s battle, a memorial was added in the courtyard for the Marine killed in that fight: Lance Cpl. Aaron Cole Austin, 21, of Amarillo, Texas.
Battlefield baptisms are not unusual among front-line troops, said Navy Lt. Scott Radetski, the battalion’s Protestant chaplain. So many service personnel on deployment request to be baptized that the military even has a two-page sheet on how to create a battlefield baptismal font, called the Field Immersion Baptismal Liner Instructions.
Radetski said he performed one ceremony in Kuwait when Marines were waiting to move into Iraq. Three Marines at another encampment in Fallouja also have asked to be baptized.
“When chaos shows its head,” Radetski said, “we need an anchor for our faith. You need that rock that God promises to be. I consider it an honor to fulfill their request.”
For Wednesday’s ceremony, Radetski had boxes containing MREs, or meals ready to eat, arranged to simulate a smallish bathtub. A large piece of plastic was placed inside, and water from 14 five-gallon Marine Corps cans was poured.
Sgt. Andrew Jones, 25, of Sullivan, Ind., said he had been considering getting baptized before he left for Iraq. His combat experiences convinced him that the time was right.
“With everything that has happened here, all the good friends I’ve lost, I thought it was a good place to be reborn,” Jones said.
The fight Monday, in which insurgents hurled grenades and fired rockets and machine guns at the Marines, left many of the young men of Echo Company shaken and emotionally drained.
Protestant and Roman Catholic services held in the Marine encampment hours after the battle drew heavy attendance. On Wednesday, little of the initial pain was evident.
Capt. Douglas Zembiec, commander of Echo Company, said he had tried to console his Marines while reminding them that they have to continue to do their jobs, including launching a possible assault on insurgent strongholds in the center of Fallouja.
“There’s no room for self-pity out here,” he said. “It will get you killed faster than the enemy.”
The four Marines ” Hankins; Jones; Lance Cpl. Kenneth Hayes, 22, of Redding; and Lance Cpl. Michael Fuller, 20, of Spring, Texas ” stripped to their skivvies and removed their combat boots before being dunked individually by Radetski.
Two dozen Marines stood quietly. Radetski, honoring the four Marines’ request, said the baptism was also being performed to show respect for the fallen and wounded Marines.
The elementary school shows the ravages of three weeks of fighting.
Its windows are broken, debris is strewn about, furniture is broken and books thrown to the dusty floor. Bullet holes cover all surfaces. Windows are boarded or sandbagged to hinder snipers.
Insurgents are holed up in houses a few hundred yards away, their weapons aimed at the school, hoping to kill Marines with a well-timed shot.
Still, the four Marines thought that the courtyard was the ideal spot to make a public profession of their religious belief.
“What better place to do this than here, in the middle of hell,” Fuller said. [Via The Beacon]
Huntington's Warning
I got this from Tim Curlees blog, The Beacon. This piece really hits home with me. I know I have thought about all of these things but Rich brings it all together and with greater meaning.
http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200404280850.asp
Rich Lowry on Samuel Huntingtons latest book, Who Are We?. (cheers to BobbyC for the tip).
He writes that few Americans now anticipate the dissolution of the United States. But few anticipated the collapse of the Soviet Union either. Huntington warns, "The greatest surprise might be if the United States in 2025 is still the country it was in 2000 rather than a very different country (or countries) with very different conceptions of itself and its identity.
Huntington sees an America gripped in a "crisis of national identity." What is that identity? It is partly based on what Huntington calls The Creed, our belief in liberty, democracy, individual rights, etc. But The Creed has a particular source: Americas Anglo-Protestant culture, which includes "the English language; Christianity; religious commitment; English concepts of the rule of law, the responsibility of rulers, and the rights of individuals; and dissenting Protestant values of individualism, the work ethic, and the belief that humans have the ability and the duty to try to create heaven on earth, a city on the hill."
This culture forged a country where people from across the world could arrive and become rich, happy and free if they assimilated. Huntington writes, "Throughout American history, people who were not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants have become Americans by adopting Americas Anglo-Protestant culture and political values." He notes that this is "an argument for the importance of Anglo-Protestant culture, not for the importance of Anglo-Protestant people." The continued vibrancy of this culture is crucial for the countrys future. Without it, according to Huntington, The Creed that sprung from it is in danger of collapsing thus eliminating the two fundamental supports of America as it has been defined for centuries.
But Anglo-Protestant culture has taken a pounding during the past three decades. From multiculturalism, which rejects the idea of a dominant culture. From the assertion of group identities based on race, ethnicity and gender. And from "denationalized" elites, hostile to Americas culture and determined to weaken it in myriad ways. "These efforts by a nations leaders," Huntington writes, "to deconstruct the nation they governed were, quite possibly, without precedent in human history." All these forces have weakened the nations ability to assimilate immigrants, just as it is experiencing a massive, decades-long wave of immigration. Feeling less pressure to learn English or naturalize, the new, largely Mexican and Hispanic immigrants have been able to establish unassimilated ethnic enclaves.
Huntington worries that this dynamic could create "a country of two languages, two cultures, and two peoples," as Americas distinctive culture and The Creed atrophy. Huntington hopes for a better future for the sake of all of us. "Americans should," he writes, "recommit themselves to the Anglo-Protestant culture, traditions, and values that for three and a half centuries have been embraced by Americans of all races, ethnicities, and religions and that have been the source of their liberty, unity, power, prosperity, and moral leadership as a force for good in the world."
A world of grief awaits Huntington. He will inevitably be misunderstood and smeared. On the contrary, only a writer of Huntingtons stature has a chance to punch through the oppressive pieties surrounding these issues and force a forthright debate of them. Huntington says he undertook his new book in the spirit of "a patriot and scholar." A courageous one.
[Via The Beacon]
RE: Gertrude Stein
"Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone."
[Via Quotes of the Day]
RE: Salami slicing Fallujah
In the mere nine days since I posted a piece on the negative trends of battle attrition in Iraq, things have changed. I said that the then-present tactics being used against insurgents in the city could not be sustained because the odds were not in our favor…
[Via One Hand Clapping]
I guess I noticed the same thing. Things were looking bad but I was surprised the foks in Fallujah tried to take on the marines directly. A man must know his limits. Taking the battle beyond guerilla warfare is probably suicidal considering the American firepower. It appears that the best strategy for the folks in Fallujah was to accept the ceasefire and organize themselves for the future power struggle. Now they can do neither! If this is the endgame for the Fallujah uprising, this gives the future Iraqi provisional government a little more time to get a working ruling consensus.
RE: Claudia Rosett's Summary
The Oil-for-Food Scam: What Did Kofi Annan Know, and When Did He Know It? This lengthy article is the best overview of the whole rotten, complicated mess that was the OFP that I have found. If you only read one…
[Via Friends of Saddam]
Since I finally realized that only $800 million was spent on bribes, I have become very curious where the other $9 billion went. This summary does a great job explaining how the money disappeared and who got it.
Hernia operation
My wife got some bad news at the doctor's office. He says she has a hernia and they need to operate. He went on to say that after the surgery she will need to stop riding horses for two months and to expect recover about 80% of her original abdominal strength. My wife's world just crashed down on her. She rides about six horses a day for much of the week. Many of her clients rely on her ability to get up on their horses if necessary to fix problems. All of that has changed! My wife is one unhappy camper and there is nothing I can do but listen and sooth. I doubt that will be enough.
Habitat for Humanity Church Relations Newsletter
I am not sure how I found this page but the first quarter Church Relations Newsletter for Habitat for Humanity is online and can be found at 1st Quarter Church Relations News for Affiliates.
RE: Mark Twain
"We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess."
[Via Quotes of the Day]