By the Time You Read This, Eric Shinseki May Already Be Gone
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Morning Jolt May 29, 2014 By the Time You Read This, Eric Shinseki May Already Be Gone For many, many good reasons:
Wait, it gets worse than the unofficial wait lists: "At least 1,700 military veterans waiting to see a doctor were never scheduled for an appointment and never placed on a wait list at the Veterans Affairs facility in Phoenix." Wait, it gets even worse: "It also appears to indicate the scope of the investigation is rapidly widening, with 42 VA facilities across the country now under investigation for possible abuse of scheduling practices, according to the report." Don't worry, America. The President is on the case: "The President found the findings of the interim report deeply troubling," says Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken.
Today's Ritual Begging and Pleading, This Time With Transformers Today's update on The Weed Agency: My publisher told me some updated pre-order numbers. They're . . . okay. Not bad. Not that good, though. I'm a bit unnerved because in terms of reaching potential book buyers, you kind folks are the lowest-hanging fruit. You already read me and, hopefully, you already like me. And a healthy number of you already have ordered, paper and e-book versions (about even, interestingly enough) and for that I thank you, and I thank you, and I thank you again. Unfortunately, this is the part where I beg and plead for you to order a copy for your friends. You see, a week after my book is released, Hillary's Hard Choices hits the shelves. (The most recent "hard choice" she's blown was selecting that title.) You know that in the coming weeks, Hillary's book will be devouring column-inches in the book-review sections, occupying the front tables at the big bookstores, and dominating the cable news airwaves — all the spots that a book like mine needs for exposure. Above: the five major pieces of Hillary's P.R. machine have combined to form a giant robot called "Devastator." I see Hillary's promoting her masterpiece by doing the tough interviews:
So, she's got Rahm, the Clinton machine, MSNBC, David Brock and company, and the whole gang helping her out. I've got you. Can I count on you to help me out? Can we show that there's an audience out there for a funny little satire that exposes how the bureaucracy-laden federal government is very rarely an effective, efficient, fast-moving tool to solve national problems? And it's a pretty cheap way to send that message: $13 cover price, $10.09 on Amazon — don't ask me why it shifted up a few cents in the past few days — $9.99 on Nook, and as of last night, $7.99 on Kindle. For you Canadians, it's $9.99 on Kobo. How Much Can Our Society Warp Someone? There's a lot to chew on and digest in this essay by SM over at The Wilderness contemplating the role of Hollywood and our modern society's values in shaping, or more specifically, warping that lunatic shooter out in California. Before we dive in, two personal rules: I don't think we should spend much time trying to figure out the motivations and mental logic of an insane person, because there's no logic to be found there. Secondly, I don't think we in media should print the names of mass murderers, since it seems some unhinged types seek out the fame that comes with infamy.
Elsewhere on Fox News, Jonah offered somewhat similar thoughts: "We live in a culture that creates certain expectations for young people, for men and for women, and that has consequences . . . I don't think that asking what kind of culture we're creating for our kids is nearly as stupid a reaction as, say, blaming Sarah Palin's Facebook map for the Gabby Giffords' shooting, which liberals jumped all over themselves to do." Here's the thing. Almost all of our cultural consumptions are conscious choices, whether we want to admit it or not. All of us have an enormous range of options when it comes to what values we want to embrace. If you want to completely ignore the Kardashians, the Lohans, and the Paris Hiltons of the world, you can. You don't have to watch TMZ or Entertainment Tonight, and you don't have to buy the magazines that put them on the cover. None of us are required to watch Judd Apatow or Seth Rogen movies. Yes, we have cultural forces that encourage materialism, a desperate craving for fame, self-absorption, extreme entitlement issues, a belief that all women ought to be perpetually-enthusiastic sex objects, and so on. But we also have cultural forces that encourage spirituality, humility, generosity, dedication, compassion, respect for others, and kindness. Most of us can just as easily watch EWTN as MTV, the History Channel as E!, Mike Rowe as Keeping Up with the Kardashians, or read something inspirational or self-improving as browsing through Us Weekly. We make choices on what we choose to ingest, both physically and psychologically. And we are shaped by a lot more than just our cultural consumption. If children grow up in loving homes, with lots of people who care about them, exposed to role models, mentors, and people who take their well-being seriously and who put time and effort into cultivating that character, conscience and empathy — then they have good odds of surviving exposure to just about any media image or program and emerging with good heads on their shoulders. It's when all of that family-and-neighbors stuff is lacking, then the images and sounds on the screen fill the vacuum. Perhaps it's that we need someone — flesh-and-blood, in person, not via a screen or a phone — telling young people that the images on the screen are just that — images. Television is not real. Movies are not real. You don't really know what a celebrity is like. You should never take advice from celebrities. The catalyst for much of this conversation was Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday asking, "How many men, raised on a steady diet of Judd Apatow comedies in which the shlubby arrested adolescent always gets the girl, find that those happy endings constantly elude them and conclude, 'It's not fair'?" Okay . . . how many? No, really, I'm asking. Is this a major national problem? Ladies, fill me in. I don't hang around that many young, unmarried men. If there are a lot of them, as Hornaday suggests, then they probably missed the point of most of Apatow's movies, because the shlubby arrested adolescent almost always has to grow up and be responsible before he can get the girl. If indeed these Hornaday dreamers exist in large numbers, they need to read and/or hear this profane advice from Cracked. One key point is to stop telling yourself and everyone else that you're a "nice guy":
Being a "nice guy" is the bare minimum in attracting a wonderful woman to be your mate. You need to figure out what you are extraordinary at — which may relate to your career, or it may not -- and you need to dive into it. You need to have well-earned pride and confidence in yourself, and figure out where that line is before you enter "egomaniac" territory. Is our society manufacturing young people who are "wired to believe that simply showing up will be enough to experience joy, sex, love and happiness"? Doesn't life metaphorically pick up a tire iron and beat that out of most of us early in our lives? And aren't all of us who aren't deeply mentally disturbed capable of growing up and adopting a more mature perspective on what it takes to get what we want out of life? ADDENDA: Last night Greta Van Susteren taped her program from New York, so they didn't need the usual D.C. folks on the panel. Eli Lake shares some ominous news: "As President Obama outlines what he promises to be the end of the war in Afghanistan, new U.S. intelligence assessments are warning that al-Qaeda is beginning to re-establish itself there." To read more, visit www.nationalreview.com
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