December 6, 2007 - Y.A. Update
Last few days “Deep Thoughts by Pat Dollard” here.
3:39 A.M.
Doing last minute reviewing of tapes, and packing, as I’m about to get on a plane in two hours. I am going into the bigtime editing room to work with a new editor on finishing the suicide bombing episode the way I want it. Tony is to call me to go over his notes before we start. So yet again, I’m at a fateful juncture. Either Tony and I can agree on the specifics, and this editor does what I need him to do, or we could have a problem. I’m happy to keep Tony on, but another big time tv producer, just to be helpful, has offered me his facilities and team of crack editors. So worse case is maybe just that I finish the cuts with those guys, and keep Tony on as EP. I love Tony, he’s great, but creative vision is creative vision. If two people can’t see eye to eye, something has to give. And let’s face it, I’ve paid the price to tell the Marines’s story the way I want it told. Every step of the way everyone told me I was not qualified for this venture. “You can’t use a camera”, “You know nothing about military culture”, “You have no weapons training”, “You will be working in the most deadly city in the world” - “Pat, you just don’t have the experience to pull it off, don’t even do it”. Well, somehow it’s gotten me into business with the Scotts, a deal at Showtime, etc. I’ve proven everyone wrong so far, and I’m not about to listen to the last naysayers in the line, who now be saying, “Pat, you don’t have the experince to be an editor, just leave it to us” - just like I was supposed to leave the whole notion of covering the Iraq war to others. Instead, I have filmed the largest single record of the Marine Corps at war in its history. Obviously, somethings working right the way I’m working. I’m not stopping now.
I’ll be in the editing room most of the day, so it’ll be hard to update. Stay on Bash’s ass to keep the site right today.
I will be able to use a computer to update “Deep Thoughts” throughout the day quickly, at least.
4:20 A.M.
I read every AP wire report on Iraq. They have a policy of not calling Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists. The rule from above there is that all these suicide bombers and butchers must only be referred to as “Al Qaeda militants”.
Time magazine two years ago was also trying to run a pro-terrorist PR campaign, insisting that the bulk of terrorists and gangsters in Iraq were “Nationalists”. This helps portray them as victims of an evil American occupation, and that they are just poor beleaguered folks fighting for their independence. Funny how the Iraqis have now proven what I’ve been saying for years: the so-called insurgents ( another sympathy-inducing euphemism) and “Nationalist Fighters” are in fact Al Qaeda invader/occupiers and Shiite gangsters, that they now want us to help liberate them from. Fuck you MSM, you are traitors who have killed young Americans because you have prolonged this war by encouraging the enemy, and functioning as their PR arm. Fuck you.
12:52 P.M.
You haven’t heard from me for the last eight hours because the creative meeting with Tony Scott went well, and instead of leaving, I am here working. They put me with a new editor, D.B., who right off the bat asked me if he could have a private word with me in his edit suite. He immediately told me he was a staunch Republican, and a big admirer and supporter of the project. He had all the right things to say about the themes of the series and the intentions of my efforts, and the brutal and raw reality of the style of my footage and how I was cutting it. Things are going along quite well, although we’re still yet to see if Tony and I are truly on the same page once this next pass is done. But like I say, he’s being great, I’m doing my thing, and as we’ve both acknowledged to each other, the next few days will tell the tale about whether or not the collaboration should and can continue. Doing my best, but I have only one master, and that is the duty to tell the story of 3/7 Marines in Ramadi, the way it should be told, the way it really was, and what it all really meant, both big picture and to all of us who were there as warriors and human beings
Later.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
Stay focused.
December 6th, 2007 at 4:34 amFuck the naysayers. They are like lefty lib politicians and the MSM, they want failure.
Fuck “big-time” editors who tell you to leave it to them, anybody can become technical, but techies cannot be taught to be artistic or visionary.
But I like donuts and Red Bull, so the editing room is a beautiful place…it exists between the ears.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:55 amYa gotta way wit da woids Bash!
December 6th, 2007 at 7:18 amSemper Fi!! Pat, Hate bush Hate Bush Hate Bush, F the troops…. MSM mantra…Surender!! F them, and Pat you stood up for Marines, you think we will forget that, bro? Hell no!! Even for the old ones!!! Thanks!!
December 6th, 2007 at 7:20 amI admire how you keep a close watch on the tactics of the MSM. Keep up the good work! You see right thru them.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:49 amFuck the liberal MSM loony toon traitors! I wish we could start a civil war right now and they’d be the first targets. Well, them and the defeatotreasonocrats. hehe.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:52 amWay to keep on Pat.
“I read every AP wire report on Iraq. They have a policy of not calling Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists.” Also - Ever notice the MSM does not consider Iraq invaded by AQ but does conclude America Invaded Iraq.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:20 amPat, your loyalists here KNOW you can and will do it, and exceedingly well in the porcess! The MSM Dems and all the rest of the liberal, facist socialist bastards will all burn one day. They just don’t want to admit it now, but they have sold their souls.
Between you and Bash, you guys do a great job of getting the truth out. I got out of the Corps when Slick Willy was in office, I could NOT stand to call that scum my Commander in Chief. I gave the country 12 years, and he ended it.
How I feel about my fellow vets and current members of the service cannot be fully placed in words. Pat has been there with them, unlike most of the media. He “gets it”, also unlike the MSM and other assorted pukes. No matter what language we use, how fould it is, even Drillanwr stoops to our level using it on occasion
and we understand, but the vile feeling those reprehensible wasters of oxygen gives to all of the real Patriots really can never be put into 100% language, because the really accurate terms were never created by mankind. The closest that we can come to in all reality is TRAITOR.
Everything else boils down to crude words we use to vent, because none of us have the legal right to do the proper thing, and remove those who have wronged this country and our troops. That will be up to a court of law, if God is willing, and I pray at times that it is a military court, because they can still use hanging and firing squads as punishment. I wish we could stoop to using the same method as Vlad the Impaler. Anyone who has read and visualized the methods employed by that bloody barbarian understands how painful that would be, and that is what the traiters deserve.
Any way what I originally wanted to write about is some of the debt we owe Pat. Yes, we have Balckfive, Michelle Malkin (who is totally hot), Ann Coulter (ditto), Rush and many others keep joining the good fight.
The Marines and Army had Ernie Pile during WWII. I kind of look at it as we have the next standard bearer in the likes of Pat, as he has been able to get so many real stories out to us, as Ernie used to. I know there have been a lot of other embeds, but I do not think any come as close as Pat, and I cannot wait to see his YA undertaking.
God Bless, and Semper Fi to Pat and Bash!
December 6th, 2007 at 11:18 amRight on, Pat!
December 6th, 2007 at 12:06 pmWhen folks say you can’t do something, it just makes you work harder to prove ‘em wrong. I am in no doubt that the finished product will be undeniably the most accurate, informative, and complete story. Vincit omnia veritas!
I cannot wait for the finished product - God Bless
December 6th, 2007 at 12:54 pmPat, I always jot down good quotes when you hear them. Here are a few that seem to fit the journey you are now on:
My Beerdrunk Soul Is Sadder Than All The Dead Christmas Trees Of The World
If you are going to try, go all the way, otherwise don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relative’s, jobs, and maybe your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could be derision. It could mean mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance. Of how much you really want to do it. And you’ll do it. Despite rejection and the worst odds and it will be better than anything else you could imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is. Matt Dillon’s character in “Factotum”
Harrison Ford: [After his first screen test] The studio guy told me, “Kid, you have no future in this business.” I said, “Why?” He said, “When Tony Curtis first walked onscreen carrying a bag of groceries — a bag of groceries! — you took one look at him and said, ‘THAT’S a movie star!’” I said, “Weren’t you supposed to say, ‘That’s a grocery delivery boy?’”
“Nothing is impossible for a person who refuses to listen to reason!” Gary Halbert
December 6th, 2007 at 1:16 pmwhat the hell, jumpin’ on the “‘quote” bandwagon too..
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds” - Einstein
Go Pat, Go…
December 6th, 2007 at 1:29 pmPat -
So very good to hear things are off to a good and positive start. Crossing my fingers they continue as such.
December 6th, 2007 at 4:08 pmWell here is one more quote from someone we all love… Michael Yon’s book “The Michael Yon Story”
“The ultimate negotiating position is being able to walk away, and mean it.” Michael Yon
December 6th, 2007 at 4:25 pmKeep on it Pat. Hope things keep going well
As for your post about the MSM, screw them. they will be remembered in history right along with all the other unsavory characters. This site is the anti-MSM and for good reason. A Great place for all of us like minded, True Americans to come together
December 6th, 2007 at 4:43 pm“Fuck you MSM, you are traitors who have killed young Americans because you have prolonged this war by encouraging the enemy, and functioning as their PR arm. Fuck you.”
“I have filmed the largest single record of the Marine Corps at war in its history.”
You sure did. Up close and very personal.
You did not take the easy road, back down or compromise, for any reason no matter how tough things got. What you are doing is going to be remembered forever as a tribute to the 3/7 Marines in Ramadi and all the Marines.
All of the above reasons, statements, quotes, and your own words and commitment are why we all are behind you and support you Pat!
I am glad things are getting better in the production aspect.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:27 pmG.Dammit, If you have to go through 50 editors that’s what you’ll do. Don’t settle, someone creative is bound to be able to tap into your head and bring your idea into focus
December 6th, 2007 at 6:28 pmPat,
I served with 3/7 on the syrian border in 2004. I thank you for what you do from the bottom of my heart.
December 6th, 2007 at 7:10 pmKeep up the good work, but just remember: Showtime is Viacom is MTV is CBS. Keep your guard up, and your product guarded.
December 6th, 2007 at 7:52 pmDbo
Seth Williams says hi.
Thanks for the props.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:32 pm“Fuck you MSM, you are traitors who have killed young Americans because you have prolonged this war by encouraging the enemy, and functioning as their PR arm. Fuck you.”
OOH-RAH!
Pat -
Without you, and others like you, NOTHING would have changed here! Never forget that. Your help has been remarkable turning the tables on the MSM and getting out the truth that needs to be told.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:35 pmIf you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look to good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings,
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew,
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you,
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty second’s worth of distant run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And-which is more-you’ll be a Man, my son!
-Rudyard Kipling
*****
December 6th, 2007 at 9:49 pmJust seems to fit, for some reason. Then again, it might be the NyQuil talking. You know how it comes with a plastic shot glass? One shot of anything’s never enough to give me a buzz. Half an economy sized NyQuil, on the other hand…
Personal note:
My husband is an active duty US Marine (MSgt- ATC - 23 years). He was stationed @ Al Asad in 05. He had the pleasure of being in Falluja that year along with some other “wonderful travel destinations” in Iraq. Comparing Iraq then to Iraq now is like night & day. EVERYTHING changed for the better starting in November of last year.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:49 pmPat- you ‘outed’ D.B., now we know which side he has chosen.
December 7th, 2007 at 4:27 am