Mad as Hell

Bourbon and Lawndarts has been channeling Howard Beale lately:

Whats driving international relations?

Lest we forget what the driving issue is in world politics these days:



The evangel of Arthur Jensen:


Network (1976)

“Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?” The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is ecological balance. You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no “Third Worlds.” There is no “West.” There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immense, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! Petro-dollars. Electro-dollars. Multi-dollars. Reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic, and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up and howl about America and democracy.

There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon—those are the nations of the world today. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there’s no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you to preach this evangel, Mr. Beale.”

Gonzales Resigns

"It's Morning in America"

- Fired U.S. attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias on the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

What is unfolding right now is absolutely incredible, if not incredibly disturbing. I'm not sure the media has the narrative down.

'Voter Caging' is the important thread here:

What the heck is vote caging, and why should we care? By Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, May 31, 2007

PBS Caging Story - Part I


PBS Caging Story - Part II

Horton on Hofstadter

Scott Horton has an excellent post up about Richard Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American Politics". I have always said Hofstadter nailed it for the ages. Worth the read.

Love this Photo

I really want this framed:


Courtesy of the National Security Archive

McMaster

Army Colonel H.R. McMaster was passed up for promotion to Brigadier General for the second time this week. McMaster, a veritable military genius and rock star is responsible for one of the few successes in our Iraq campaign, with the successful pacification of Tal Afar. In the Gulf War McMaster was awarded a Silver Star for his leadership at the Battle of 73 Easting, which was subsequently chronicled by Tom Clancy. In the intellectual realm, McMaster’s doctoral thesis at UNC transformed into the book Dereliction of Duty, which now an influential text about the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Vietnam.

Col. McMaster is the target of a political hatchet job. I imagine he stuck it to the bureaucracy one to many times, was shown to be right one to many times, and made too many bureaucratic and political enemies. This is a damn shame. Col. McMaster is exactly the type of man our nation needs and deserves to serve as a flag officer.

In face of this political hackery, the words of my idol, Air Force Col. John Boyd resonate particularly well:

"Tiger, one day you will come to a fork in the road,” he said. “And you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go.” He raised his hand and pointed. “If you go that way you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments.” Then Boyd raised his other hand and pointed another direction.

“Or you can go that way and you can do something – something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide you want to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference.” He paused and stared into the officer’s eyes and heart. “To somebody be or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you will have to make a decision. To be or to do. Which way will you go?

Sole Survivor

The Washington Post has a great article about Marcus Luttrell, a man at the center of one of the most chilling battles in the "War on Terror". Luttrell, who was previously only discussed as "The ONE" and definitely has the same wallet as Jules Winnfield, finally gets to step out of the shadows and tell his tale with Patrick Robinson in Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. The coauthor of Lone Survivor, Patrick Robinson, is my buddies father, so I have been privy to some of the story for a year now. I have little doubt that this is going to be an intense book. Luttrell emerged as the only survivor of Operation Red Wing in Afghanistan, June of 2005.

Remember:
Petty Officer Danny Dietz (SEAL Team 1)
Petty Officer Matthew Axelson (SEAL Team 1)
Navy Lt. Mike Murphy (SEAL Team 1)
Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature (pilot, US Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment)
Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach (pilot, US Army 160th SOAR)
Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby (US Army, 160th SOAR)
Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles (US Army, 160th SOAR)
Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan (SEAL Team 10)
Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen (SEAL Team 10)
Petty Officer 2nd Class James Suh (SEAL Team 1)
Petty Officer First Class Jeff Taylor (SEAL Team 1 medic)
Master Sgt. Michael Russell (US Army, 160th SOAR)
Maj. Steve Reich (pilot, US Army 160th SOAR)
Sgt. 1st Class James "Tre" Ponder III (US Army, 160th SOAR)
Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Shane Patton (SEAL Team 1)
U.S. Navy Lt. Michael McGreevy (SEAL Team 10)
Petty Officer Jeffrey Alan Lucas (SEAM Team 10)
Senior Chief Petty Officer Dan Healy (SEAL Team 1)
SSgt. Shamus Goare (US Army, 160th SOAR)