Pentagon Pays Screenwriters, Eyes Craigslist
The Air Force is bankrolling a Hollywood screenwriting class. A screenwriting class for PhDs. No, seriously.
The Christian Science Monitor explains:
America, it turns out, is suffering from a science and engineering shortage. Students are bypassing the sciences for sexier and more lucrative jobs...
This creates something of a national security problem... According to Dr. Barker, who works in the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, those who manage the national labs and others who conduct sensitive research have been saying for years "how hard it is to find qualified graduate students who are US citizens..."
Barker notes that 50 percent of America's scientific-and-engineering workforce will be eligible to retire in the next five years. Who's going to replace them?...
Hollywood... [may] be part of the solution. By writing and producing movies that have more scientific themes - and more authentic and appealing science protagonists - boosters think the US could encourage more young people to pursue careers in plasma physics, molecular biology, and other fields...
So what they've done for the past three years is convene a three-to-five-day screenwriting class at the venerated American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Called the Catalyst Workshop, it's a lot like other screenwriting classes that have become a cottage industry across the nation. But here's the twist - all participants in this one are actually scientists. Hardcore, PhD-laden, lab-certified scientists.
Now, the government has dabbled in the movie business before. The CIA, for instance, produced an animated version of Animal Farm. After 9/11, the BBC notes, Die Hard screenwriter Steve de Souza was one of two dozen writers and directors who were "commissioned to brainstorm with Pentagon advisers" about possible terror plots. The Army currently works with a bunch of Hollywood types at USC to build next-generation simulators.
And this isn't the only unusual source the Pentagon is tapping for its know-how. As USA Today reports, Defense Department officials are growing increasingly interested in Craigslist, YouTube, and other fast-moving start-ups, for ideas about how terror groups operate.
The military is paying closer attention to business... because the world of geopolitics has discovered itself to be on the same road that business has been on for some time. That road is flatter, more networked and more decentralized than ever.
Large companies are groping for strategies to fend off disruptive competitors, including YouTube, Kazaa, Skype and Wikipedia, companies that are giving away video, music, long-distance and information while eroding the revenue stream of companies that charge for it. YouTube is a website where users swap millions of free videos. With fewer than 100 employees, it has created anxiety throughout the giant industries of film and TV...
How large, traditional companies fare in this fight may prove invaluable in developing a strategy against al-Qaeda. That's why the military is going to school. A book making the rounds at the Pentagon is The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. It was written for a business audience, but military strategists are saying, "This is the best thing I've read that applies to counterterrorism," says Lt. Col. Rudolph Atallah, a Defense Department director in international affairs.
The premise of The Starfish and the Spider is that centralized organizations are like spiders and can be destroyed with an attack to the head. Decentralized organizations transfer decision-making to leaders in the field. They are like starfish. No single blow will kill them, and parts that are destroyed will grow back.
When Starfish co-author Rod Beckstrom arrived at USA TODAY's suburban Washington, D.C., headquarters for an interview in November, he said he had just come from meetings with representatives at the Pentagon and elsewhere in the "intelligence community." He said he was contacted "out of the blue" in September by one of the highest-ranking officers in special operations, and more recently by a high-ranking special operations officer at Fort Bragg, N.C.
TOP
SECRET
PATRIOTIC CLEARANCE REQUIRED
BUSH COUNTRY
9/11
I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of The United States of America
One nation under God
Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
Welcome To Bush Country 9/11
Bush Country 9/11 is a fast paced rock ‘n’ rap boot stomping modern day patriotic I love America and we’ll kick your ass song.
It was written for the troops to help them remember why we fight.
We will never forget
Death is not pretend
It’s the trend
When Marines descend
Look for the clue
Exodus 23:22
He for told you
Open your eyes
Come alive
And catch the tide
A lot of Good men just died
KEY CODE:
P – PURPLE – PRESEDENTS SOUND BYTE
R – RED – DIRECTION OR SOUND EFFECT
B – BLACK – MAIN SINGER
G – GREEN – GIANTS VOICE
G - Confess your sins its good for the soul
G - If you’re with me let’s roll
R - ( Music begins )
B - Stand up
B - Shake the dust from your hair
B - They soar like vultures in the air
B - And only God can help the hearts they tear
G - Fair weather friends are just pretenders
G - Remember
G - This is not for the week and tender
G - We will rise from the cinders
B - No matter the gender
B - We don’t retreat or surrender
B - Be prepared for how we deal with these offenders
R - ( Shot gun pump )
G - Send’em to hell
G - With the blast of a shot gun shell
G - Let’s roll
G - Smok’em out and mak’em run
G - Into the sights of my gun
G - This is Bush country son
B - There’s no escaping as it crashes
B - The smoke and ashes
B - Then the death cloud smashes
( Sound of building falling )
G - Dear God
G - Save the children as it passes
B - Whistles in the steam
B - From the ground our blood screams
B - There’s no hope it seems
B - So we cry
B - Hold our candles and believe a lie
R - ( Bell toll ) ( Soft )
G - There’s still a chance they didn’t die
R - ( Bell toll ) ( loud )
B - Our light is in the darkness
B - But the darkness shall not over come
G - Look for the clue
G - Exodus 23:22 he for told you
G - Stand up
G - Send’em to hell
G - With the blast of a shot gun shell
G - Let’s roll
G - Smok’em out and mak’em run
G - Into the sights of my gun
G - This is Bush country son
B - From out of the nation come men forged by fire
B - Their devotion never tires
B - Their mere presents inspires
B - But they too are soon reduced to criers
B - If you said you wouldn’t be
G - You’re a liar
G - Turn and face the ghostly rubble
G - Work your shift then pull a double
G - Men of iron don’t quit when there’s trouble
G - In your tears there’s no disgrace
G - Stand tall when their children see your face
B - As long as brave men still answer the call
B - We stand the tallest when we fall
B – And we can not repay the debt we owe you all
G - Long live the God we know
G - From him the milk and honey flow
G - When the winds of war blow
G - He bends his bow
G - And lays the devil low
B - Vultures practice what they preach
B - Don’t you dare turn the other cheek
R - ( Presidents sound byte )
P - Make no mistake
P - The United States will hunt down and punish
P - Those responsible for these cowardly acts
G - Dive – Dive – Dive
B - Stand up
G - Get up
G - Get out of that ditch
B - Back up son
B - Give me room – Give me room
G - Send’em to hell
G - With the blast of a shot gun shell
G - Let’s roll
G - Smok’em out and mak’em run
G - Into the sights of my gun
G - This is Bush country son
B - At first tama hawks abound
B - Then the jets pound
B - They leave frowns
R - ( Giants foot step - close )
B - Unhappy clowns
R - ( Giants foot step - closer )
B - You think you can’t be found
R - ( Giants foot step - closest )
B - We’re behind you turn around
G - FE – FI – FO – FUM
G - Did you think we wouldn’t come?
R - ( Shot gun blast )
G - Dumb
G - We told you once
G - We told you twice
G - You spill our blood there’s a price
G - Take my advice
G - Shave and try to look nice
( In coming missile ) ( Big kaboom )
G - Whoooa
B - The next ones for you
B - Signed
B - Let every man be a liar and God be true
B - Save the last bullet your threw
B - Men are closing in
B - We’re coming for you
R - ( Shot gun pump )
G - Send’em to hell
G - With the blast of a shot gun shell
G - Let’s roll
G - Smok’em out and mak’em run
G - Into the sights of my gun
R - ( Shot gun blast ) ( Music stops )
R - ( Shot gun pump )
G - This is Bush country son
Bush Country 9/11
By Bill Wagner
WWW.Buckshotdad1960@yahoo.com
Copyright 2002
Posted by: Bill Wagner at January 4, 2007 2:15 PM