February 04, 2005

• Wow. Good on him, and all the others we don't get to hear about or see coming home.
• Put me in mind of a favourite poem of mine written about the death of another brave soldier who wasn't necessarily the best beloved of his comrades, in a different desert war: Heroes I did not see Lannes at Ratisbon nor MacLennan at Auldearn nor Gillies MacBain at Culloden but I saw an Englishman in Egypt. A poor little chap with chubby cheeks and knees grinding each other, pimply unattractive face - garment of the bravest spirit. he was not a hit 'in the pub in the time of the fists being closed,' but a lion against the breast of battle, in the morose wounding showers. His hour came with the shells, with the notched iron splinters, in the smoke and flame, in the shaking terror of the battlefield. Word came to him in the bullet shower that he should be a hero briskly, and he was that while he lasted but it wasn't much time he got. He kept his guns to the tanks, bucking with tearing crashing screech, until he himself got, about the stomach, that biff that put him to the ground, mouth down in sand and gravel, without a chirp from his ugly high-pitched voice. No cross or medal was put to his chest or to his name or to his family; there were not many of his troop alive, and if there were their word would not be strong. And at any rate, if a battle post stands many are knocked down because of him, not expecting fame, not wanting a medal or any froth from the mouth of the field of slaughter. I saw a great warrior of England, a poor mannikin on whom no eye would rest; no Alasdair of Glengarry; and he took a little weeping to my eyes. From the Gaelic of Sorley Maclean Would that we could make a world where they could show their courage with killing or being killed.
• the st. pete times is owned by the poynter institute, a highly regarded nonprofit school that offers advanced training for journalists. the newspaper has a great reputation for outstanding journalism.
• This was very well done..thanks, Sullivan for posting it. I had to stop reading it after a while, it doesn't pay to get that emotional at work. My thoughts to the family and friends of this young man, and to the families of all of those that will not be returning. It is hard to comment further on this without it becoming political, and that is not my intent. It is better, perhaps, to let this thread be a tribute and not a soap box.
• My feelings exactly. Love the soldier...
• Thank you -- this is poignant. The man is a hero.
• I thought it was important to talk about the soldiers. That is why I posted this and another post the soldiers with PTS. I'm disappointed that my side of the blogosphere (Atrios, Kevin Drum, Josh Marshall) did not write about Smith. SideDish. The Times is a great paper. They kick the Tampa Tribune's ass so bad it's pathetic. Tom McEwen turned payola into an art form.

  The second, which received greater notice within the industry, was a December 1999 story in Editor & Publisher magazine. As writer Allan Wolper pointed out, McEwen used his column to help sell taxpayers on a $35-million spring training facility for New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a friend who helped McEwen start his travel agency and who McEwen often had defended in print. And while McEwen extolled the Tampa Bay Lightning in his column, his travel agency, run by his wife, Linda, with himself as CEO, earned thousands of dollars for handling the team's travel arrangements. McEwen makes no apologies for the way he did business.

  SideDish, you should love this part.

  "I think McEwen brought a comfort level to the people he covered that perhaps some of our current people don't bring," said George Solomon, assistant managing editor for sports at the Washington Post, who once worked for McEwen as a freelance writer. How comfortable? Henry Saavedra, executive director of the Tampa Sports Authority, acknowledged -- laughingly -- that McEwen sometimes put words in his mouth. "Those quotes were better than what I could have given him," Saavedra said.