Garry, I never suggested that you shouldn't post here, only that your comment about red stars was out of line. On this blog.

And fwiw, I am the one who brought up the book about Military Brats, as part of a longer post, in which I was supporting many of your points. Perhaps you missed that one...

except that I was so shocked at the reaction to my defense of Paul D. I actually felt dismissed. So I mentioned the book, and my earlier post, just to show that I wasn't really trying to pick on Garry, but was just defending Paul, and UT's lack of stars. I didn't mean to get into a flame war, either, and now that I know what one looks like before it really gets out of hand, I'll be more careful in future.

Thanks for seconding the book recommendation, Annie! Maybe if enough others here read it, too, we can run a parallel discussion in one of the comment threads where it seems appropriate.

A boarding school Jesuit? Sounds exotic to me. My father grew up poor on a farm in southern Illinois. In retrospect, I can see that he probably was a softie, too, underneath it all, but the AF did its very best to rid him of that burden. The Catholicism was definitely pervasive, though, and so was the base environment. (Tho' it wasn't bad for trick-or-treating.) We didn't always live on base, though, and sometimes, in between assignments that allowed families, my mother would take us back to Florida where her family lived. She came from an Episcopalian family. So, my siblings and I are also the product of a "mixed" marriage. No big deal now, but it was then... even though my mother converted. (It didn't really take.)

Garry, FYI... there is probably a lot more support here than you realize for the issues that are important to you. Please try not to project your experiences from elsewhere (including some of the other Salon threads) onto Glenn's readers. Honestly, I hardly ever comment anywhere else anymore, just because of the quality of discussion right here. I was a little worried when Glenn announced that he was moving his blog to Salon. I was glad, but concerned, too, having witnessed some really outrageous comment threads as they degenerated... I didn't want that to happen to his blog. With a few exceptions, it mostly hasn't.

Indeed, you must lead a charmed life. Or, if not in reality, you at least give that appearance. And I mean that in a good way... that you are someone who knows how to attract to himself the good things in life. It's not as easy as it looks.

I meant RMP!

I didn't realize, Garry, that you didn't know about the history of Glenn's blog. You've been around Salon long enough (and FDL?) that I just assumed you knew.

Anyway, I also had that history in mind when I suggested that you start a blog, as one way to contribute to that critical mass needed to make veterans' and military families' issues more visible in the Media. Blogs done well do rise in the blogosphere. And they bring their issues and following with them.

Reading your last comment re: the proper contexts for using "grunt," I wonder if you couldn't ask some of the current (and Vietnam?) vets that you work with to contribute to such a blog. You wouldn't have to write the whole thing yourself then, and and the rest of us might get a better feel for what "a day in life of" is like. We really should know. And the press is not going to be able to help us with that.

Blogger, where Glenn started, is pretty easy to get going, and so is setting it up for a group.

In addition to the first-person posts, you could also link to the news stories, articles, etc., already mentioned. You have an awful lot of energy-- this would be a good use for it.

But, before you decide, read that book first. It will help you to decide whether it would be the right thing to do, and if so, why/how, etc.

I don't mean to sound bossy, if I do, but I keep "channeling" this muse who seems to know what other people should (or could) be writing about.

(fwiw, I am one of those who is not in favor of Glenn going to Iraq. You keep comparing him to journalists and war correspondents, but Glenn is a lawyer, using a blog to argue our case on some important Constitutional issues. He doesn't have the "cred" (like a Mauldin) that he would need in order to expect that the military would have his back. In fact, I would worry about his safety, should he accept an invitation from Boylan. And there probably isn't anyone else who can do what he's already doing as well as he is.)

...the thread took an interesting-- and very welcome-- turn.

Yes, I think we have more than one humorous curmudgeon here, and if I were a man I'd want to be one, too. Anybody know what the equivalent is for a woman? Probably not as becoming.

Perhaps sharing some institutional memory tonight will help future threads keep from bursting into flames... (let's hope)

I missed most of Grey's Anatomy. Feel free to offer any summaries re: Christina, et al. Spoilers okay, because I'll forget by next summer.

Pedinska... maybe sometime soon we could discuss some of those movie ideas (a la Greenwald) [wink, wink]

Thanks, Pedinska!

And they're all so different, too.

Even more excellent examples. Still no "name" like curmudgeon, but they are definitely equivalents.