A Different View: Travels with Team Easy, Iraq 2007

Blog friend (and CEO of Cooking With The Troops ) C. Blake Powers, the Laughing Wolf, and co-blogger at Blackfive, has a new book out:

A Different View: Travels with Team Easy, Iraq 2007

Also available in Kindle.

The official book blurb states:

"A Different View Of Life At The Front Rather than combat, this book is about the day-to-day life with troops in Iraq. The focus is on the 90-99 percent of the time that is tedium or boredom, rather than the one percent that is the focus of most photographs seen on the news. Foreword by Matthew Currier Burden, author of "The Blogs of War" "You can see that in his excellent work here. And I sincerely believe that you will experience something new through his “arch” into a very untraveled world…" Introduction by JD Johannes, author and filmmaker, "Outside The Wire" "Blake’s photography shows the preferred normative, but because it is not news, rarely seen." “Blake has come a long way since his days as an assistant at Playboy Chicago. It’s great to see just how far, by his showing a side of combat that few ever see, or even have the opportunity to see. A super job, I’m glad to say I knew him ‘when’….” David Mecey, former staff photographer, Playboy Magazine. "Blake has generated an outstanding work that reframes the still quiet moments of war. One could easily use this book in reintegrating one's self, family, and life. The parallels drawn between the landscape of war and the landscape of our southern United States (which still bears the scars of past war) are particularly apt. I'm pleased to see this work become available to our community." - Damon Bryan Shackelford, creator of Delta Bravo Sierra military cartoons." (Bold typeface and links added for emphasis and all-around linkery goodness. - CAA.)

Bottom Line At Bottom (BLAB): Both Matty 0'Blackfive (the original "paratrooper of love") and the DBS cartoonist say you should read it.

(I guess I'd better read it too.)

re: "Cain survives"

Lemuel Calhoon at Hillbilly White Trash ("Commenting about politics, religion, firearms, food, Celtic music, beer, science fiction and the Asheville Vortex. Home of the Hillbilly Ecosystem.") shared his analysis of the Herman Cain presidential candidacy (and why it had to be stopped).

Money quote(s):

"In the fever swamps of liberal/progressive thought supporting Cain is absolute
proof positive that one is a racist!"

This came up recently in a Facebook discussion I was party to: bolstering his Dem. talking points about how bigoted Republicans are, a fellow commenter pre-emptively stated that Cain and Steele don't make the Republicans not racist.

(Personally, I can take-or-leave Steele; as a former Maryland resident CAA is about as impressed with the (relatively) conservative credentials of Md. politicians as he is with those from Massachutsetts. Now, Rep. West on the other hand....)

"This makes him a mortal enemy (as all conservatives are) to the political left,
but because he is black he occupies a place of extraordinary vilification in
that by his very existence, he disproves the left's narrative of American life."

And that must not be allowed to stand.

Mr. Calhoon concluded:

"This is to the Democrat party what sunlight is to a vampire. If even 20% of
black Americans voted Republican the Democrats would never win a presidential
election and would win damn few congressional contests.

Democrats know this and they are desperate to keep blacks in their place.It is
also why they are so desperate to open America's borders and get amnesty for the
millions of Mexicans illegally in this country. They need a replacement
minority that can be controlled in the event that the black population (or even
a large minority of it) wises up and realizes that the white liberals they have
been voting for are responsible for much of their misery and the black "leaders"
they have been trusting have in fact sold them out.

This is the essence of the furor to destroy Herman Cain as it was the driving force behind the
attempt to destroy Clarence Thomas. It is why every black conservative who
dares to step forward and declare him or herself is attacked is attacked and
smeared.

This is why the Chicago machine bestirred itself to vomit out a
small parade of women who were willing to falsely claim that Mr. Cain "harassed"
them. This is why Republicans have been unwilling to play along and boot him
out of the race. We know that they are trying to play us and we ain't going
along."

11/11

CT - Pall lifts along with AIDS travel ban

From my archive of press clippings:

Chicago Tribune

Pall lifts along with AIDS travel ban


Patients, families cheer lifting of U.S. AIDS travel ban

By Bonnie Miller Rubin Tribune reporter

December 1, 2009

Senora Desiree cries when she talks about her only son, who is HIV-positive. The fact that the 18-year-old has been barred from visiting Chicago only heaps humiliation on top of her pain.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):"

"President Barack Obama recently announced that the 22-year-old ban on entry into the United States for anyone infected with HIV/AIDS will be lifted in January, making life a bit easier for mothers such as Desiree, who did not want her full name used because of the stigma of having an HIV-positive relative."

"(T)he Immigration and Nationality Act denied visas to anyone with a "communicable disease of public health significance," adding HIV to the list, alongside other travel-restricted conditions, such as tuberculosis and leprosy."

"The ban meant those with HIV and AIDS were not allowed to enter the U.S. and noncitizens already here could not stay, dividing families and upending lives.

While Immigration officials have granted special waivers to some people with the illness, the process is complicated and expensive, attorneys say.

Only about a dozen countries -- including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya -- have similar HIV travel restrictions."

"The CDC, however, was required by statute to uphold the ban, said Cetron, director of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine."

&

"The process started during the Clinton administration, but picked up momentum under George W. Bush, eager to build a legacy around his HIV work. As a candidate, Obama pledged to keep up the fight, culminating in the White House ceremony a month ago when it was announced the ban would end Jan. 4."

_____
brubin@tribune.com

WP - 'Mixed-Status' Families Look to Obama

From my archive of press clippings:

Washington Post

'Mixed-Status' Families Look to Obama

By Kari Lydersen

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, November 16, 2008; A04

CHICAGO, Nov. 15 -- The people were of different nationalities and backgrounds, but they had a common refrain: Don't split up our families.

Read the whole article here.