David Friend, the magazine's creative director and author of a very fine book on the meaning of 9/11 photography, weighs in with a swell review of So Wrong for So Long today. Follow the link. The "Dharma and Greg" reference has to be a personal first.
http://www.vanityfair.com/ontheweb/blogs/daily/david_friend/index.html
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I caught your article, "Unsung Heroes of Iraq War Coverage" in Progressive Populist, where you asked, "That's...my...list. What about yours?" How wise of you, and how important it is to recognize, for a change, those who did the job right, instead of the lavishly paid household names who got it all wrong.
A regular free-lance column, "Ozaukee Farmstead", has been published for the last six years in a general readership local newspaper in the very heart of the Congressional District owned by F.J. Sensenbrenner. Writing and research of this quality and temerity has never before been seen in Wisconsin's Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties.
In September, 2002, ("The Madness Must End") and again in December, 2002 ("Import Destruction, Trash Freedom") this column, in this simple down-home newspaper, blew the whistle on the false assertions being used to justify the planned invasion of Iraq BEFORE the invasion, and before Congress voted to allow the Administration to embark on that military adventure.
It was in August, 2003 that "Ozaukee Farmstead" first called for the impeachment of "... a President who lied to get us into war; is endangering, not protecting the American people; and is compromising, not defending our Constitutional rights".
The circulation area of the newspaper, and the three counties of Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha, have voted two-to-one against popular Senator Russ Feingold, every time he has won election to the U.S. Senate, and they voted two-to-one for G.W. Bush both times he narrowly lost in Wisconsin. But 80 percent of reader comments in response to this before invasion anti-war article in the Ozaukee News-Graphic approved of the article.
The "Ozaukee Farmstead" column has not focused only on the illegal, immoral, unjustified, tragic invasion and occupation of Iraq. But some 15 or 20 subsequent articles have focused on that subject. A compelling, easy reading story ("A History Lesson Learned the Easy Way") compares the columnist's military experience with that of the current "American War in Iraq" generation. The latest Iraq occupation article ("Coming Home When It's Over, Over There") in this six year long series appeared March 20, 2008.
The writer of "Ozaukee Farmstead" continues to plow and seed this heavy but fertile soil that needs working, and continues to be paid two and a half cents a word for his column. Until last fall, despite being a regular columnist for over five years, his column was the only such regular column printed in the publisher's chain of local newspapers that was NOT also presented in the "Opinions" section of the publisher's on-line newspaper, "Greater Milwaukee Today" www.gmtoday.com . His columns now appear there, and some are also archived there.
One of his columns, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the unanimous Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decision, was entered in a national essay contest, the only writing contest he has ever entered. The national NAACP awarded that essay first place.
The best place to see these published newspaper columns is in the author's "Hearts and Minds" blog. clydewinter.wordpress.com where they are organized and easily accessed. Click on the category that interests you, such as "War on Terror".
It is unlikely that you have not guessed that the writer of this newspaper column is also the author of this comment. Let me explain that it continues to be lonely work, with few rewards, and I realize that if I don't toot my own horn, and draw attention to my own work, that the seeds may not germinate, and the yield may be smaller than is so badly needed.
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