I’ll be looking carefully at Jeff Goldstein’s Vent next week to see if Deb Frisch is stalking him in the bushes nearby.

pjcomix on August 18, 2006 at 10:11 AM

Really intrested to hear what jeff will have to say next week.

umbergbr on August 18, 2006 at 10:24 AM

Great job Bryan, you filled Michelle’s shoes admirably.

Not to discount the heroic effort done by our WWII vets, but I think today’s soldier does an even better job at defending our freedom due to all the restrictions (those listed by Bryan and False Dervish plus many others) that are placed on them.

dalewalt on August 18, 2006 at 10:43 AM

Also, to add to your list:

g) No ‘Homeland [in]security’ office giving CAIR Japan guided tours of airport security Pearl Harbor on 11/1941 and detailed info on what they are looking for maps of the radar coverage.

Oh and good vent Bryan.

CrazyFool on August 18, 2006 at 10:47 AM

If the battle of Iwo Jima were fought in 2006, the ACLU would sue, saying the use of flamethrowers constitutes ‘torture’, and the libs would be wringing their hands over our use of ‘racial profiling’ by targeting the Japanese.

speed647 on August 18, 2006 at 10:52 AM

Excellent job, and keep pointing out that we cannot win a war where our side is severely restricted in our responses while our enemies have no restrictions at all.

“A battle that you win cancels any other bad action of yours. In the same way, by losing one, all the good things worked by you before become vain.” - Machiavelli

thirteen28 on August 18, 2006 at 11:11 AM

Bryan - Wonderful job. I’m convinced that half of the disapproval of the President’s conduct of the war in Iraq comes from those of us who disagree with the ROE. Either fight it to win or get the hell out.

I look forward to next week and any future Vents you may host.

MCPO Airdale on August 18, 2006 at 11:30 AM

Flower Power Never Won A War.

Indeed.

And “Appeasement” never won a war either.

Lawrence on August 18, 2006 at 11:50 AM

PS. Bryan ,when we gonna see you dance ?

Um, how about never?

Bryan on August 18, 2006 at 12:01 PM

Not to discount the heroic effort done by our WWII vets, but I think today’s soldier does an even better job at defending our freedom due to all the restrictions (those listed by Bryan and False Dervish plus many others) that are placed on them.

dalewalt on August 18, 2006 at 10:43 AM

Good point, Dalewalt.

I fear that there will be MORE restrictions placed on those troops as election time draws near, and their job will be more difficult.

Until the perception that this is BUSH’S WAR against terrorism is replaced by AMERICA’S WAR against terrorism, every victory will be looked upon by the-forces-that-hope-to-be as a victory ONLY for Pres Bush.

The False Dervish on August 18, 2006 at 12:25 PM

GREAT VENT BRYAN–It’s good to know that Michelle is taking a much deserved vacation and that HOT AIR is in capable hands until her return . I like the concept of guest hosts occasionally, but prefer to see Michelle or you most of the time. KEEP UP THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM !!!——PS- very informative history lesson .—THANKS

PAPA BEAR on August 18, 2006 at 1:11 PM

Your VENT proves that at one time, we knew how to fight and win a war. Patton’s “no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country” speech resonates here.

I fear those halcyon days have forever passed.

pubscout on August 18, 2006 at 1:32 PM

Excellent vent!!

Victory nor liberty is free.

MarkB on August 18, 2006 at 1:46 PM

Flower Power, indeed. I spit!

Britain’s Lord of the Admiralty Jackie Fisher said it best in WWI:

“The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility. Hit first! Hit hard! Hit anywhere!”

It’s a military axiom that to win a war, you must attack. Contrary to those who want to wage this conflict as a “law enforcement” matter, the best outcome you can hope for by staying home and adopting a bunker mentality is simply not to be defeated. Winning with such a mindset is out of the question.

The true American way of war has always held in contempt the ideas of “soft power,” “gradualism” or “proportionality.” Our forebears understood that the way to win - and to bring the boys home as soon as possible - was to bring full power to bear upon the enemy and crush them.

You can be magnanimous after you’ve won.

“Gradualism and proportionatity” weren’t what Sherman had in mind in 1864 when he burnt a swath across Georgia and the Carolinas; nor what Grant was thinking when he ground Lee’s army to powder in 1865.

Those foolish words weren’t what motivated Curtis LeMay when he outfitted the B-29s with napalm and magnesium bombs and sent them in swarms, at night and at low altitude, over Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. And they sure as hell weren’t on the Marines’ lips when they were blasting and incinerating Imperial Japanese Army dead-enders on Iwo, Peleliu or Okinawa.

On the other hand, those terms were plain to see in our conduct in Korea and Vietnam.

Anybody detect a couple of patterns there?

“Never give counsel to your fears. The enemy is more afraid than you are. Don’t worry about what he’s going to do to you; think about what you’re going to do to him!”

- Gen. George S. Patton

Spurius Ligustinus on August 18, 2006 at 2:12 PM

Good vent Bryan!

Lots of interesting bits of an interesting story.

The world can be glad that I’m not in charge of anything. If I were in charge of the IDF I would have used the warning leaflets and the Precision Guided Munitions.

However, the leaflets would have warned that the area wasn’t going to be hit, it was going to be destroyed and the PGM’s would be used to do just that. I wonder if anyone’s ever tried loading up a B-52 and doing a ‘precision carpet bombing’ where each shell is set to land in a precise grid? If it looked like any bunkers had survived the initial pass I’d do another and mix in some fuel-air explosives to make sure I got the attention of anyone inside those bunkers.

I may not always be nice, but I try to be thorough.

KCSteve on August 18, 2006 at 2:20 PM

Machine,

I cannot tell you how much I hope you are right. However, it seems that the 30% you refer to are the majority of the politicians, the mainstream press, the ubiquitous “useful idiots” attending Hezbollah and Hamas rallies, the ACLU, CAIR, Soros and the rest of the well-funded traitors that are trying their best to destabilize this country.

My point is that the 70% of the rest of us need to make a difference now! We need to vote, we need to stand up and be counted. We need to make our national leaders account for their actions. We need to take back this country from the seditious 30% while there is still a country left.

God Bless America!

JonR on August 18, 2006 at 2:43 PM

Oh, and Bryan, what brought you to Iwo? It doesn’t exactly seem like a tourist trap…?

Bob's Kid on August 18, 2006 at 2:50 PM

First I saw the airplane (missed the tiny flowers) and got all excited because I fly myself; love to take off the best because I’m a speed-freak but landing is definitely the most engaging.

Then, uh, I saw Bryan. Oh, those glaaasses! And the way you move those lips…do you ever wear the same clothes or do you change them for every shoot, like Michelle does?

Topic? Hmmmm…there was a serious topic discussed in this post but what the heck was it? I need a cold shower…

Ah, yes, it’s very serious, indeed. We need to fight to win!

Thank you Bryan for giving us gals an opportunity to view the vents the way many guys do :)

Entelechy on August 18, 2006 at 2:59 PM

Nice Vent. My how times have changed. Since the 19th century, never have we suffered an attack by foreign insurgents on the soil of the United States such as we did on 9/11. Pearl Harbor was decimated in a sneak attack, but Hawaii wasn’t a state at that time. Plus, PH was a military target. The sneak attack on the WTC wasn’t a military target, it was a terror target aimed at decimating & terrorizing civilian lives at ground zero and everywhere. Without actions and safeguards implemented here and abroad since 9/11, one can only wonder at what carnage has been averted since 9/11. But both attacks had the same goal, they were/are stepping stones to domination and take over of the United States, and ultimately the entire world.

Foreign insurgents swayed an election in Spain with their terror, and they seek to dictate the leadership of the US in a similar manner. The tragic part is, it seems to be slowly working. We’ll never be free to live in peace until we are free from the enemys of freedom, here at home and abroad. The only way to do that, sadly, is to either acquiesce to their demands, or root them out of their “caves and tunnels”, wherever they may be. For shame that such a large number of people in seats of power and influence in the US would sooner acquiesce than decisively end the threat to the freedoms they, and all of us, enjoy.

To be honest though, I think Barbara Streisand in a buhrka would definitely be an improvement.

SilverStar830 on August 18, 2006 at 3:14 PM

Nice one. And way to inoculate against the whining with the NOT SAYING/AM SAYING screen.

see-dubya on August 18, 2006 at 4:36 PM

Rick, you nailed it - we must make this our single-threaded priority for ‘06 and ‘08. Nothing is more important:

We must get out and vote to keep these kooks out of office (despite our frustration with current conservative politicians).

Entelechy on August 18, 2006 at 5:04 PM

When we teach a PC form of history our high school students learn that we were the bad guys because of the evils of internment. We don’t teach who the heroes were and why we had to fight. This means that people don’t understand who the heroes are today and why we need to fight now. If I remember correctly the Japanese calculated that heavy casulties would cause the USA to give up on unconditional surrender and agree to negotiations. Their miscalculation encouraged planners to use the atomic bombs. I’m not betting that the al Queda and Hezbollah strategists are too much brighter.

mkstach on August 18, 2006 at 7:37 PM

Good job Bryan.
If I understood your vent Bryan, we can’t win a war with one hand tied behind our backs, or being PC, or with the MSM in foxholes with cameras. I FULLY AGREE!

I say boot the MSM/press out of any military conflict, anywhere. So what if we don’t get the news for a few days, because our enemy won’t be getting the news via the New York Times either /sarcasm. Wars are never won with standoffs, or by pullouts. You either go into an armed conflict to kick ass and win as fast as possible, and sure as hell not to lose, or stop short of the mission. BTW, you use every means at your disposal.

Vietnam was not lost by our military (God Bless our Vietnam Vets), but instead, by a group of dumb democrats, and a dumber defense secretary that didn’t know the difference between a Model-A Ford, or F-4 Phantom jet, or what the goals and objectives were. Thank God our military aren’t fighting protracted conflicts like Nam anymore. 

byteshredder on August 18, 2006 at 10:28 PM

I saw a documentary on PBS several months ago, about WWII. It included a discussion about military censorship during the war. FDR understood how the media could undermine the war effort by reporting the mistakes, the pain and suffering, the casualties incured during WWII. So to prevent that from happening, the government imposed strict censorship for war coverage.

In the example that Bryan used, if the press had reported the high number of casualties in taking the island, support for the war would have evaporated overnight and there would have been demands for an immediate cease fire.

But the press was prohibited from reporting the actual numbers because of imposed military censorship, and the public’s morale was not affected.

Likewise, our defeat at the Battle of Savo Island was “classified” and remained unreported until the 1960’s. The government did so to prevent erosion of the war effort during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

This is what has been missing since Vietnam, at least: Controlling the information flow out of a war zone.

In case anybody in the media is paying attention: The First Amendment DOES NOT APPLY OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

The military can — and IMHO, should — require that all reports FROM A WAR ZONE be submitted for censorship, the way it was done in 1941-1945.

The media has an agenda that is not at all hidden: To undermine the Bush administration and force and end to the war in Iraq by undermining the popularity of the war through biased and incomplete reporting, and manipulation of the news presentation to reflect adversely on the administration. We are crazy to let them get away with it.

When PBS’s The News Hour shows it’s “Honor Roll” at the end of the show, it is NOT about honoring our fallen men and women. It is about PRESENTING THE MEME that Americans in Iraq are being picked off, one by one, and we’re helpless to do anything about it — with the unstated implicaton that we should quit Iraq in order to “stop the killing.”

If The News Hour really wanted to honor our dead, they would be also describing the mission they were on when they were killed, the results of that mission, and how badly the enemy was hurt.

Giving context tells the entire story, and that story is that we are winning the insurgency (truth: we are), that recovery is proceeding well (did you know that oil production now exceeds that of Saddam’s government pre-invasion?). If you do, you didn’t learn if from the leftist so-called “Mainstream Media”.

To return back to Iwo Jima for a moment, the American public was told at the time that taking Iwo Jima was IMPORTANT to the war effort, that the cost in blood was necessary to shorten the war. It was true. Taking Iwo Jima gave the United States an airfield capable of landing battle-damaged B-29’s returning from raids over Japan. Taking Iwo Jima also eliminated it as a base for Japanese fighters to attack the bombers on the way in.

Had The News Hour existed then, free of military censorship like today, they would have reported the total number of US casualties, IGNORED the Japanese losses, ignored the role that the air strip on the island played, and flashed the pictures of each KIA Marine on the screen in a littany that would have lasted months.

And before the week would be out, there would have been calls for pulling out of Iwo, for cancelling the invasion of Okinawa, for shelving PERMANENTLY, the use of the Atom Bomb on Japan, in liew of a “cease fire” with the Empire of Japan.

That’s Point one.

Point two:

Ernie Pyle, America’s best-known WWII correspondent who was killed in action once said “Every reporter is a citizen of somewhere and a believer in something.”

Before any “journalist” is allowed to embed with our troops or enter the theater, what it is that they (and their editors) believe about the war, the troops, and the national leadership should be ascertained and only those reporters NOT hostile to the mission, the troops, and the administration should be allowed to go along.

We should never knowingly allow a media Fifth Column unfettered access to the battlefield or any country we occupy.

The object of fighting a war is to WIN, as Bryan convincingly explained. Allowing the hostile, agenda-driven media to control what is said about war is to invite defeat, not at the hands of the people we are fighting, but of Fifth Column media.

Yes, I am openly advocating MILITARY CENSORSHIP during wartime, and the media howling monkeys who object can stuff it where the sun don’t shine.

George W. Bush should have repeated FDR’s fireside chat of 23 February, 1942 on March 16, 2003, and every six months thereafter.

“Your Government has unmistakable confidence in your ability to hear the worst, without flinching or losing heart. You must, in turn, have complete confidence that your Government is keeping nothing from you except information that will help the enemy in his attempt to destroy us. In a democracy there is always a solemn pact of truth between government and the people, but there must also always be a full use of discretion, and that word ” discretion” applies to the critics of government as well.

This is war. The American people want to know, and will be told, the general trend of how the war is going. But they do not wish to help the enemy any more than our fighting forces do, and they will pay little attention to the rumor-mongers and the poison peddlers in our midst. ”

[Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Fireside Chat 20 (February 23, 1942), On the Progress of the War,"

http://millercenter.virginia.edu/scripps/diglibrary/prezspeeches/roosevelt/fdr_1942_0223.html]

georgej on August 19, 2006 at 8:06 AM

kudos Bryan.. nice job.. good radio voice too.. lol

RobertCSampson on August 19, 2006 at 2:09 PM

Not at all. You looked good, if you’re really concerned. Thanks for the great history lesson. :)

Anwyn on August 19, 2006 at 2:54 PM

Bryan, my parody on some of our board-boys aside, the vent was great. It was also the most interesting documentary on Iwo Jima, especially from a first account.

You are too self-conscious. There is nothing wrong with your face. Au contraire! I appreciate your serious demeanor and the earnestness with which you approach such important topics. I really value your talents on this team.

Entelechy on August 19, 2006 at 6:27 PM

Timing: on vents, on photography, on death…

Entelechy on August 21, 2006 at 10:49 AM