I see now after having read Glenn's updates that Boylan is stating that the email wasn't from him. Although very unconvincingly.

"I got drunk last night, and everything I said or did wasn't me. I blacked out.

Regards, Col. hungover Boylan."

... if little Stevie Boylan is typical of the children running military ops. While it's to be expected that lifelong Republicans are utterly clueless about war (since their knowledge is primarily gained from John Wayne movies and other circle-jerk infotainment), you'd like to think that the actually military leadership wouldn't be as ridiculously stupid as George Bush, Dick Cheny, and Rush Limbaugh. Little Stevie proves otherwise. A complete rightwing tool no different than Litle Billy Kristol or Glenn Beck.

If there was ever a case for adult leadership to immediately return to salvage the wreckage left of the United States under the Republican party, this asshole Boylan sums up the problem beautifully.

He talks about “comic relief” and then attributes “real talent” to (LOL) Alan Colmes?

A description I would never expect to see used in the same sentence with reference to Hannity’s "human straw man”, unless in the context of comedy. But his unintended comedy line is not so surprising. He’s probably judging Colmes by the same authoritarian-tool talent metric that’s obviously served him so well in his career.

BTW, to those who think the email is a hoax or that a man in his position could not have had such “a thoughtless, hasty reaction” - -(Gustav Sunday, October 28, 2007 07:21 AM), Glenn has apparently addressed those concerns directly with the Colonel (see his updates). The Colonel has denied it. Unconvincingly IMO, in the context of the emails exchanged, so far. The plot thickens. Meanwhile, consider this re the Colonel’s MO:

When the number of American deaths in Iraq reached 2000 on Tuesday, Oct 25th, 2005 and the American people (reluctantly followed by the MSM) were beginning to take note of the significance; this was the Colonel’s immediate reaction:

"It (the 2000th American death) is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives" (emphasis and parenthetical added by me).

That number has now grown by another 1800 plus. Let’s face it; the Colonel was probably distracted when he wrote this email. He’s probably preoccupied figuring he needs to come up with something a little more…, uhmm, sensitive when that “artificial mark on the wall” is doubled.

Cut the Colonel some slack, Glenn. That’s a lot of pressure for a hack who’s too stupid too even realize he’s a hack.

strangely, the email exchange in update 3 makes me suspect more strongly that this is either:

1) genuine (but regretted)

2) a setup

good luck glenn in sorting it out.

That it came from the Colonel (making the drunken stupor theory more likely...) or that it didn't -- which implies that someone spoofed his address, created this drivel and actually sent it to Glenn. Security hole in the .mil server, an 'inside' job, or ?? Bizarre is right.

Great post, I just went back to find it. It is comforting to know that UT has someone with your experience on our side. It's no wonder to me (now) how you know so much about the pathos of media-types. I agree that this letter is so childish and disgraceful- just utterly unprofessional- and how that explains all the skepticism about its authenticity.

All of this- your post, the surge of action on Dodd/FISA Amnesty- makes me hope that Glenn finds a sponsor/fellowship/grant, etc. that can provide him with a proper staff for handling the administrative tasks you recommend. I don't want to denigrate the effectiveness of everyone's volunteer efforts, there are just some things that are better handled from a central, official entity.

There's a guy you've probably heard of- George Lakoff- who has applied some academic research into the undeniably impressive GOP organization on influencing the modern media and controlling the language ('framing') of the Debate of Ideas in this country. One of his observations is the unconditional private funding of think-tanks, which operate as hubs for financing and networking right-wing academics. There is no shortage of funds for any pundit, academic, or 'journalist' who will generate content- papers, articles, conferences- that supports the Republican agenda. These groups are established for the express purpose of saturating the political world with self-affirming documentation. The loose affiliations of groups and organizations (such as the think-tanks or the Federalist Society), private funding, and 'independent' journalists and academics (through grants, fellowships, etc.) provides a public face of broad, disparate support for ideas that in fact all have the same origins.

So back to my point: If there was anyone deserving- rather, who's performance demands- similar attention from private foundations and funding, it is Glenn. He could be a new model for activism- speaking from authority, with a voice and venue that makes even the most complex issues accessable, combined with the more traditional advocate support structures.

Eh? Anyone? Bueller?

It's a poorly written, dimly expressed letter, which points to how fuzzy the man's thinking is. Isn't it grand knowing that we have such people defending our freedom?

From Boylan's update: "I have been a victim of identity theft of late in Vermont and at least two other places trying to rent property and that person identified themselves as me."

This is garbled syntax similar to that of the original letter. Note the weird dangling modifier "trying."

In-teresting...

Glenn,

I've not read through all the letters so maybe hundreds of people have already said this. Email's can be totally spoofed including the headers. You need to confirm "out of band" to see if an email is authentic.

Taking Col. Boylan at his word, there is another story lurking here, IMO. It means that the iraq.centcom.mil servers can be spoofed. I can imagine that someone could provoke an international incident by spoofing email to be from an official spokesperson of the US Military.

Ah, maybe they can be spoofed only by someone *within* the domain. Still a problem, don't you think? Hey, if Scott Beauchamp wants to give the military a black-eye, then aren't there other people in a similar position who might want to do so?

If Boylan is not alarmed, then things really stink.