notes and observations from my day, mostly in lowercase letters.
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Here are some random tidbits of information about myself: I am tall. I have a dog. I have never been arrested. I get weird anti-Semitic e-mails as a result of this blog, even though I'm not Jewish. You can e-mail me here.
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Miller Heavy: what i've got to say
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Thursday, March 23, 2006
wait a minute -- you mean Iraq and al Qaeda really were linked before the invasion? well, how come we're not hearing about this?
4:24 PM
never mind that "senior Muslim clerics" are demanding that the guy in Afghanistan who converted to Christianity be put to death: Islam is a religion of peace.
4:15 PM
Friday, March 03, 2006
fascinating transcript published here by Time Magazine of the Gitmo interrogation of the suspected "20th hijacker."
10:17 AM
Monday, February 20, 2006
i make a point to boycott companies whose politics offend me.
one of my personal favorites is Citgo, which is owned by Venezuela's national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, and has been since 1990. some people argue that such a boycott only hurts the American employees of Citgo, which is still headquartered in the U.S. of course, that's the same argument i heard during the anti-apartheid era. i didn't buy it then, either.
another is Ben & Jerry's, which contributes one percent of its profits (see 1988 on the link) to leftist groups and campaigns.
9:24 AM
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Leonard Pitts wrote a great article about the ongoing riots over the Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammed in an unflattering light. i still don't understand this; i mean, you don't see Orthodox Jews rioting if someone eats pork or works on Saturday. Hindus don't shoot people who order a steak in a restaurant. and although Christians certainly complain (sometimes too much) about perceived heresy, they don't burn down embassies.
Pitts' article is here, if you're interested.
4:20 PM
Monday, December 13, 2004
here we go again: leftists can't cope with the fact that Bush won the election.
Jeez. get over it, guys!
2:12 PM
Thursday, December 02, 2004
they say Americans are ignorant; yet nearly half of the polled Brits had never heard of Auschwitz!
4:05 PM
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
the next time that Los Angelenos complain about the fact that they have to drive an hour to get to the nearest Target, they can thank their city council's decision to restrict the growth of superstores
5:07 PM
well, i suppose the fact that my name is Matt is now officially a good thing.
4:33 PM
Monday, August 09, 2004
maybe i'm overreacting, but something tells me attacking Jewish students at Auschwitz is probably a great way to get a first-class ticket to hell.
3:25 PM
Friday, July 30, 2004
if you read this regularly, you'll probably enjoy ProtestWarrior.com. i strongly recommend the t-shirts. also, the videos of people calling the Protest Warriors names is pretty funny, too.
2:16 PM
Monday, June 21, 2004
that most Americans rate Reagan over Clinton does not surprise me in the least.
in the meantime, i was disturbed to see Clinton refer in his recent autobiography (which, in the interests of full disclosure, i'm basing this comment off of news reports) to his impeachment as "illegitimate." he was the chief executive of this nation; and in that position it was his duty to uphold the law, including, presumably, the Constitution. the Constitution provides for an impeachment process; it was exercised. regardless of whether you thought the impeachment was proper (i happen to think that anyone who lies under oath ought to be prosecuted; unfortunately, that prosecution doesn't happen enough, in this lawyer's mind), it's disappointing to see him undermine a legal process by claiming it was "illegitimate."
and while i'm ranting, have you ever noticed that only "the Left" uses the term "illegitimate" when referring to politics? it's a very academic way to approach things -- next thing you know, they'll be talking about rubrics and the like....
(this soapbox moment brought to Chris A. in an effort solely to annoy him)
6:22 PM
Friday, June 11, 2004
From a USN chaplain in Iraq. This e-mail was sent to me by a friend who's a former naval officer and still keeps in touch with his career colleagues.
This is powerful stuff, and I wish more people could/would read it.
30 May 2004
Dear Friends,
This is my third letter from Iraq. I have been working myself into the right mood to do this. Today is the day. In my last two letters I have leaned toward being as upbeat as possible. This time will be different; today I want to talk about Memorial Day, but I will start off by giving my perspective on the Abu Ghraib prison problem.
First off, the investigation into the abuses at Abu Ghraib
began back in January. That is why the first court martial was ready for trial in May. The senior people here knew about the investigation; the rest of us didn't. By the time the media "broke" the story, the investigation was almost done and the soldiers who had committed the abuses had already been rotated home.
Second, I (we) don't see all the news coverage that you in the states see. I do see some Fox News and CNN. Fox editorializes toward the right wing; CNN is the voice of the anti-war movement. I wonder that if CNN had been around in 1942 we might all be speaking German and Japanese. I can tell you this, everything I have heard on CNN is so biased, negative, and
out-of-touch that I will never watch CNN for the rest of my life. That being said, when the rest of us found out about the abuses we were shocked and sickened. I think maybe more so than people back home because we are here; these are the people I see every day. The people I see every day who are going out to fix: schools, hospitals, reservoirs, power plants, and sewer systems. They do these things risking sniper fire and hidden explosives. These soldiers are not a handful of bad apples like those at
Abu Ghraib, these soldiers number into the thousands. Now think for a second, how much have you seen about that on the news? I believe Abu Ghraib should have been reported, but when I see the fixation of the media on the actions of a few, when the courage shown in reconstruction and the restraint shown in combat by thousands of our people is never shown, I believe this is inexcusable. For the real story of what our people are
doing here, go to www.cjtf7.com/index.htm. Click on Coalition News and then Humanitarian Efforts.
Third, what happened on that cellblock of Abu Ghraib is what happens when leadership is not out walking around. That is true in the military or in college dorms. I haven't seen it reported in the news, but other soldiers turned in the soldiers who did this. If the dirt bags that committed those abuses had been turned loose among the troops here it would've been ugly. I haven't heard any comments about them coming from soldiers that didn't express a hope that they would get the maximum punishment. A few leaders need to get demoted too.
As per the "outrage", if you were "outraged" by this, good. I was. However, I would like to ask Arab governments and our own media elites, "Were you just as outraged by what happened under Saddam? If so, you didn't show it."
Here is what people need to understand: the interrogation of prisoners of war is a little tougher than what the typical thug gets by the local police. I went to Survival, Evasion, Rescue, and Escape (SERE) School back in 1995. I am more proud of completing that course than anything I have ever done. Also, I would never do it again. After playing hide and seek with "bad guys" in California in March, we all got caught, knocked around,
froze, went hungry, sleep deprived, threatened with worse, and then interrogated. Here's the deal: when interrogation is done correctly, people don't break so much as they leak. (The purpose of SERE is to teach you how not to leak. That is the classified part of the school.) The interrogator wants them to leak in a way so that the prisoner doesn't even know he is leaking. When someone breaks, as opposed to leaking, they usually give out a data dump of gibberish and then physiologically shuts down. A good interrogator avoids that. If you hurt them or scare them too
badly, they quit leaking. Interrogators ask the same question about ten times, ten different ways. Disoriented people leak and they don't even know it. What most Americans think of when they think of POWs being interrogated is what they remember of our pilots in North Vietnam. The abuse our people went through in Vietnam wasn't to get intelligence; it was to exploit them for propaganda purposes. I mention this to put the term "abuse" in context. When a terrorist here in Iraq or jaywalkers back in
the states report jailhouse "abuse," what does it mean? When we catch a guy red-handed restocking his weapons stock and question him, withholding his TV privileges isn't enough. He won't be happy, but neither will he be destroyed or scared for life. He will tell his buddies, "I didn't tell them anything." In fact he will have told us a lot.
As I said, I had to work myself into a mindset to talk about this. To work around horror without out letting the horror seep into your soul is a spiritual battle. This week I worked with a National Guard soldier who had to clean up after a convoy of civilian aid workers were killed when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off on the road into Baghdad. He is a carpenter in civilian life, but this week he was out on a highway picking up arms and legs while watching out for snipers. He was cleaning up after monsters. Some other young Americans were put in charge of guarding monsters and then became monsters. Care of the soul is serious business. That is part of the reason why I became a Navy Chaplain.
The other reason is the people. The folks I have known in the military are more interesting to be around than anybody else I know. This leads me to Memorial Day. Earlier this month I went to Camp Cooke at Taji. (To lend perspective, Taji is really north Baghdad; I am in west Baghdad.) The 39th Brigade (Arkansas National Guard) is stationed there. I didn't know any of them, but I wanted to see my home-state Guard here in Iraq. So I badgered my way into flying up there for two days. They are stationed in the old Iraqi army air defense school. Unlike downtown Baghdad, the old air defense school was turned into rubble. It is getting better, but it was like living in a junkyard.
Their first month in Iraq was tough. These soldiers patrol the roughest part of Baghdad. While I was there, the Chaplain of the 39th told me this story: One of the old troopers who came was a 52 year-old Sgt. who had already done his 20+ years and had retired. But his son was in the 39th, and when the father found out they were coming over here, he reenlisted. On their first week in country, Camp Cooke was attacked by rockets and the
first rocket that landed killed the father.
I was born in 1958 and came of age when the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement were both in full swing. It has taken me years to put this into words, but I believe that as bad as that war was, the legacy of the anti-war movement was worse. The anti-war movement gave rise to the moral superiority of non-involvement and non-commitment. While that may have worked to help draft-dodgers sleep at night, it's not much of a strategy of how to go through life. Taken to its logical conclusion the message is:
don't commit to your county, don't commit to your spouse, and don't commit to your kids, church, or community. Don't commit to cleaning up your own mess or any cause that demands any more from you than rhetoric. This was the mindset in which our country was firmly stuck. Until 9/11, some woke up. Kids came down and joined the service. To the dismay of some of their teachers, parents, and the media elites, they came down here and raised their hand in front of the flag. And they are still coming to
the shock of the non-committers. The Marines have more enlisting than their two boot camps can handle.
And we are all here together for Memorial Day 2004. Old National
Guardsmen, grandfathers, and single moms, Texans and Mexicans, Surfers and Rednecks. A few weeks ago an Illinois National Guardsman, mother of three, was hit six times, saved by her body armor, but lost part of her nose. She stayed on her 50 caliber, firing on the bad guys, protecting the convoy. She said she was thinking of her kids and the guys she was with.
Commitment is love acted out. It is sad that the non-committers missed that. They and their moral high-ground haven't been near a mass grave. The kids I see and eat with every day still want to help this country, in spite of getting shot at while doing it. That is love acted out. You either get it, or you don't.
During my time in Iraq I won't be able to see any of the Biblical sites that are here. But a few weeks ago in Taji I got to stand on some holy ground, where a father died when he went to war just to be with his son.
Sincerely yours,
Steven P. Unger
LCDR, CHC, USN
Multi National Corps-Iraq
8:52 AM
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
rest in peace to the greatest president of the 20th century, Ronald W. Reagan.
2:57 PM
Monday, June 07, 2004
got an e-mail from the guys at ChipotleAddict. log in and say hi!
10:51 AM
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
at long last! one of my pet peeves -- "ladies' nights" at bars or other establishments -- have been declared discriminatory by New Jersey.
think about it. if there was a "men's night," wouldn't someone complain? what about "Hispanic night"? "wheelchair-bound night"?
5:46 PM
Monday, March 15, 2004
following an apparent al-Qaeda attack in Madrid, Spain has now announced that it is withdrawing its troops from Iraq. isn't this a bad sign to send? apparently terrorism does work, after all. (perhaps it's their border with France.)
2:22 PM
Friday, January 23, 2004
a local lawyer died. he had been practicing less than a year and, although he was married with six kids, had no life insurance.
i find it horribly irresponsible that a man with six kids didn't have life insurance. from a very cold perspective, he (and, presumably, his wife as well) chose to risk it; and they lost the bet. now others will be asked to pay the debt.
am i angry? no. i'm not angry at the guy; i'm not angry at his wife or kids; and i don't think his children should have to "pay" for this poor decision that they did not and could not affect. so if asked, i'll probably contribute to a fund for his kids; but i'm still going to shake my head and think or, more likely, say, "what an irresponsible dumbass." because that's what i think you are when you take such an enormous risk as leaving your wife and children un-provided for.
3:02 PM
well, if the guy was fat, then the guy was fat, right? i mean, let's call it like it is!
11:14 AM
Thursday, January 22, 2004
now, this is kind of funny: a bunch of students put up posters promoting a white student from South Africa for their high school's "Distinguished African American Student Award."
but more importantly, why is this school offering an award only to a student of one race?
11:15 AM
Monday, January 12, 2004
one of my current favorite things is the local library's website. as much as i love shopping for books, it's expensive! i can look up on the library website any book i saw in a bookstore and put a hold on it. then it forces me to hurry up and read it before someone else is asking for it...
1:40 PM
Thursday, January 08, 2004
terrific article on whether pedophilia is a crime that should be punished or a sickness that should be treated:
"as science—and culture—increasingly medicalizes bad behavior, finding a neurological component to everything from alcoholism to youth violence, we run the parallel risks of either absolving everyone for everything, or punishing "criminals" who are no guiltier than cancer patients."
interesting thought.
11:29 AM
Monday, January 05, 2004
okay, explain this one to me: i keep reading online and seeing in the papers that Pete Rose has "changed his story" and now admits to having gambled on baseball?
why do we say he has "changed his story"? don't we really mean "he lied and he's now confessing he lied"? why don't we call it like it is?
Pete Rose lied. period. now, because it's convenient for him and because he knows that if he keeps lying he'll never get into the Hall of Fame, Pete Rose has admitted he lied (and lied and lied and lied).
6:17 PM
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
what? Carole Moseley Braun quit her race for the Democratic presidential nomination? why? i was sure she would win. she had such a great shot, what with her incredible record on visiting oppressive dictators and ethical violations!
5:13 PM
i'm still here.
also, still not using uppercase letters.
i promise to write more in the future.
5:13 PM
Monday, October 13, 2003
but the wealthy already pay a larger percentage of taxes than other taxpayers do, Mr. Lieberman -- why are you proposing they pay even more?
1:54 PM
Friday, October 10, 2003
from an otherwise unremarkable article from ESPN.com comes this nugget of wisdom from a Tennessee football player:
For instance, one starter on the football team turned in a polished paper on the topic of Madonna, the pop icon. When a skeptical teacher asked him to summarize the paper in class, a tactic used to root out plagiarism, the following is what the player wrote on a sheet of lined paper:
I have learn a lot of the things about Madommon thought her videos, hearing to her music and Magizines Articiles people wrote about her. Both in positives and negivites ways. They should not be a double standard for men and women. Because if they are double videos, they could be Double standard everywhere.
1:39 PM
Friday, October 03, 2003
like i said, and this time it's confirmed by a left-leaning media outlet: McNabb isn't as good as he's cracked up to be, and there's a serious chance that the media fawns over him strictly because they need an affirmative action "blacks can play quarterback" poster child.
now, on the other hand, somebody has to explain to me why Steve McNair at Tennessee doesn't get some notice. he's an unbelievable QB. (and, while we're at it, we all know Kordell Stewart gets plenty of notice -- but that's because he sucks.)
1:17 PM
i'm sorry, let me make sure I understand this. a guy at Ball State is paralyzed when a bunch of students (likely including him, i might add) tear down the goal posts and they snap, hitting him. now he sues because it's the manufacturer's fault:
"All we want for [the manufacturer] to do is build goal posts that don't snap and that don't come crashing down on people," his lawyer said. well, i hate to break this to him, but they don't, unless a bunch of drunks are trying to rip them down.
i would loooooove to defend this one.
12:22 PM
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
i'm not certain Rush Limbaugh is not correct when he says that Donovan McNabb has gotten more positive press than he deserves because the politically correct among sportswriters, league officials, etc. want to see a black quarterback be successful.
5:31 PM
i really like this idea. The Free State Project has chosen New Hampshire... maybe i'll move there.
1:28 PM
whoever thought this was a good idea needs to be smacked about the head and neck with a broken bottle:
School apologizes for Nazi display by band
Performance coincides with Rosh Hashana
DALLAS, Texas (Reuters) -- The Paris, Texas, school district apologized Tuesday for a performance by one of its marching bands which played an Adolf Hitler anthem and waved a Nazi flag during a football halftime show.
Band director Charles Grissom said the song and flag were part of a musical performance called "Visions of World War Two". It was performed at a Dallas high school Friday, which was also Rosh Hashana, the start of the Jewish new year and one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.
"The performance is an attempt to factually portray the history of World War Two, triumph of good over evil, and to honor our veterans for their sacrifices in ensuring freedom throughout the world," Grissom said in a statement. He added later that he made a major mistake in judgment.
9:52 AM
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
this site, Escrow.com, is really something else. we're trying to get some tickets for a football game and don't want to pony up $400 to some crook without being sure we're getting the real deal. so we're going to use this service to make sure we don't get the shaft.
a $400 transaction only costs an additional $25 and it seems a real bargain to me.
3:42 PM
Friday, September 26, 2003
is it just me, or is this hysterical?
the Border Patrol stopped the "Freedom Riders" bus loaded with immigrants who are protesting ... um, immigration issues.
ha!
4:49 PM
Friday, September 19, 2003
one of the best parts of the return of football season -- and trust me, there are many -- is the return of fantasy football
2:39 PM
I have been roundly enjoying the English harrassment of David Blaine.
2:34 PM
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
just got back from a long weekend in Vegas. let me tell you what, that place is something else. the money in that town is unbelievable.
spent an interesting evening at the Voodoo Lounge at the Rio and the Ghost Bar at the Palms. incredible crowds -- probably a couple of the top (literally and figuratively) bars in the country. swanky.
12:24 PM
can i just just say how damn happy i am that football season is finally back? last night i watched the Chiefs-Packers game in Canton. yes, i know it's a preseason game. but who cares? at least it's football. and none of that Arena crap, either.
12:10 PM
Friday, June 13, 2003
so let me get this straight: two burglars break into a farmhouse. the farmer shoots them both; one dies. the farmer goes to jail for manslaughter, and the surviving burglar gets to sue him because the farmer violated his human rights?
that's nuts. thank God i'm living in America.
10:25 AM
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