...but not enough to deter the political correctness crowd.Clint Eastwood, 76 years old has been starring in, and producing movies for four decades. He is one of the smartest men in Hollywood, because he is sensible enough to know his business. He leaves a huge footprint on screen and hardly bends a blade of grass off, unlike such dopes as Alec Baldwin or Sean Penn, who actually think that everyone wants to hear what they have to say.
No, Clint Eastwood wrote the book on the strong silent type, and guys, woman would dump your sorry asses in a heartbeat for him. Men would rather watch "Dirty Harry" five times in a row, than sit through one episode of "Sex in the City". The man has "It".
He has lately been producing movies which include "Mystic River," nominated for an Oscar; "Million Dollar Baby," which won Best Picture; and recently, "Flags of Our Fathers".
The latest, "Flags of Our Fathers" is about the story of the marines who were photographed in the iconic picture of an American flag being raised on Iwo Jima during World War II. The movie juxtaposes the marines who raised the flag, with their later use by the War Department to sell US Bonds to finance the war.
Well the movie is hardly out and the race police, who noticed that as in "Saving Private Ryan", Eastwood has not used black actors in the combat scenes, are chiding Eastwood. They further note (horror of horrors) that he used "white" Icelanders for extras. The latter may have something to do with the film having been shot in Iceland, and if you get there, it is obvious there are not many African-Icelanders to choose from. Secondly, the US combat forces were segregated during WWII. They also did not include woman. More importantly, if he intentionally excluded them, so what? It is his movie. What a concept; his movie and he does what he wants. If Spike Lee wants to do an all black movie about African American Vikings, who cares? If it is a good movie, people will go. Only in the bizarre diversified world of the multi-cultural left would someone do a head count and make a big deal about nothing. Personally, I thought liberals did not notice and pay attention to peoples' color. Will we ever grow up or do we all have to die to escape the whining?
"Now remember, things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is." -- Josie Wales
ReplyDeleteYou just made my day, Teresita!
ReplyDeleteIceland is evil for not being more ethnically diverse:
ReplyDeleteAn Ethnic Cleansing is called for.
Big File but woth the viewing
ReplyDelete9-11
This is why we fight Islamists.
SPEAKERS ON
woth..an old southern word used when one is talking with a mouth full of food
ReplyDeleteTHE AUSTRALIAN
ReplyDeleteMulticultural madness needs such antidotes
MADNESS
trish said...
ReplyDelete"Kissinger said just last week it would be catastrophic if we left."
Kissinger's not won a war yet.
Who gives a fuck?
Well Trish, I don't see you being asked to the WH by successive Presidents for your advice? So apparently every President since Nixon has given a "fuck", which I guess is just as common a home schooling expression as it is in the public ones.
Plus name me a war we've won since WWII?
Woth, Woth, Possumtater saw them Poodles and got all flustered.
ReplyDeleteIceland is evil for not being more ethnically diverse: An Ethnic Cleansing is called for.
ReplyDeleteEthnic cleansing? You mean like this?
Request to the Administrators of the Elephant blog:
ReplyDeletePlease change the switch on the template so the full date is displayed on posts and comments.
---
Keep up the great work guys and gals, a project calls here:
"I shall return!"
- Doug
Teresita finally gets the goods on Foley for the FBI!
ReplyDeletePlus name me a war we've won since WWII?
ReplyDeleteName me a war we've fought since WWII. They've all been Police Actions since then. ("America, Fuck Yeah!")
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHabu refers to ongoing discussion here:
ReplyDeleteIraqification? Memories of Another Time and Another Place
rufus's link:
ReplyDelete$207,788,000,000 Reduction in the Deficit in the Past 29 Months Due to Stronger Economic Growth
$236,000,000,000 Budget surplus in the last full year of the Clinton Administration before Bush and his GOP congress started spending like two brats at the Galleria with their daddy's credit card.
The War on Poverty
ReplyDeleteWar on Drugs
nah, they don't qualify
Much like the Scourge of Ecsema &
the Heartbreak of Psoriasis
Korea, no, still we're still there, worried about nuclear weapons after 55 years
Granada, we won the War against Granada! Panama, we were able to beat them. That's two, so far.
'Nam, well, let's not go there.
Haiti, no success there, Mr Kofi wanted US to go back.
Salvador, but that was not DoD, so not a US War. But covert ops that went overt, to a degree.
Cuba's Bay of Pigs was similar in intent, but not outcome. So in Latin America we're 1 for 1 in the public Covert Wars.
Saddam's Desert Storm, nope, the Enemy called it that one a "draw". Must have been correct, since he survived, to fight US again another day. Which is not what a Country that's been defeated does.
Not against an Omni-Power like US.
Granada & Panama.
Those two we won, hands down.
The mess in Iraq (and it is a mess), is the logical result of trying to defend within the constraints of The Left and The Liberal Paradigm. No defence can be won under such constraints. Until and unless the Liberal paradigm is overthrown, global Jihad will grow stronger, and we will grow weaker.
ReplyDeleteDoug! Good to see you managed to get those RACIST batteries charged during the power out.
Damn, even those were almost 20 years ago, now.
ReplyDeleteSilly me ... I thought we had moved beyond all this crap, especially with a man as esteemed as Eastwood, but I guess not ... it is indeed very, very sad
ReplyDeleteOkay, I assume he found an Indian to play Ira Hayes.
ReplyDeleteThat's about the only character, that if played by a white man, would be Offensive to history, the man and his people.
raymondshaw said...
ReplyDeleteThe Cold War. I think
I realize that is the dominant thinking..today. But I believe that we'll be reassessing the fall of a wall and the dissolution of the Soviets very soon, and realize it was a strategic pause by the USSR to lower our intensity (celebrate with a Peace dividend) and allow for a regrouping which is now forming.
In the long march of history it will end up being just an exhale and rest period, not a victory.
Granada & Panama...
ReplyDeleteIn the history of warefare these would be labelled skirmishes, not wars.
Those who fought in France and Flanders, who fought in Italy, North Africa,CBI,Holland,Belgium,The Phillipines,The Guadalcanals,Tarawas,Shilohs,Gettysburgs,Antietam's,Fredrickburgs,Belleau Wood and on and on....you tack to the margins Granada and Panama. No disrespect it's just that they don't qualify as "wars".
mətušélaḥ,
ReplyDeletere: Liberal paradigm
With respect, if any number of the legion of paradigms followed in Iraq are "Liberal", they are Mr. Bush's. Other than FDR, no American president had the level of support of the American public for going to war as had Mr. Bush. He pissed it away, as did his father, I might add. As I recall, James A. Baker III (Professor Emeritus of Fuck the Jews) was involved there as well. The fruit does not fall far from the tree.
___The US will be in Iraq for decades to come, because it must.
___This administration is a lost cause.
___The coming administration will probably be a lost cause.
___Within the coming decade, Islam will force upon the American elite the need for a serious policy for victory, doubtless of an existential nature.
___Within the coming decade, millions of Baby Boomers will be on mind altering drugs and out of politics.
Allen,
ReplyDeleteWell stated.
Do you think we could get them to bring back quaaludes ( Rohr 714's) and legalize pot for the geezers?
rufus; 3:56:45 PM
ReplyDeleteHow quickly people have forgotten the state of the economy inherited by Mr. Bush. A review of the market collapse beginning in, say, March 2000 would be instructive. Mr. Bush chose to stimulate the economy by a non-Keynesian method, to the ire of the Dems. Good for him.
However, in 2005, the military budget as a percent of GDP was 3.1. That is about the average of the Clinton years. The Bush years are not the Clinton years, given what has come to be a world war. For failing to recognize or address the monumental defense deficit, I fault Mr. Bush.
Habu1,
ReplyDeletere: Ludes
Let's hope so! The sooner the better. Call it part of the national security effort. A stoned Boomer is, well, a stoned Boomer. No harm, no foul.
I agree entirely with your take on the resurgent CCCP. Kissinger, among others, predicted just such an outcome to the so called victory.
Allen,
ReplyDeleteSee my 4:14:03 PM post in the other thread.
Allen,
ReplyDeleteBush doesn't operate in a vacuum and neither does Dr. Rice. What is needed is a new reality where Jihadi petro dollars can't compete.
New Orleans Cuisine Update
ReplyDeleteSuicide Note Leads to Dismembered Body Above Voodoo Shop
Cajun Style
The United States of America is my country.
ReplyDeleteIsrael is my holy land.
Mr. Bush is my president.
The military is my life.
Mr. Bush is a disgrace to all. He is one of those lost souls, searching for love in all the wrong places. If Mr. Baker had ever really cared for Mr. Bush, he would have advised him to stay out of baseball and politics.
As to vacuums, sound cannot cross the smallest, including the one between the ears of Mr. Bush and Condi.
As to my savaging Mr. Bush exclusively, rufus, you need to learn to read.
As I said to Doug on another thread:
doug,
Mark this: during the 2008 presidential race, the same folk who cannot admit to the gutting of the military by this administration will be the loudest in decrying the danger of electing Hillary, given the need of a major Reaganesque rebuilding of a demoralized military. Suddenly, they will discover the need for a 600 ship navy, a fully funded and manned Air Force and at least six additional combat divisions. No, sir, such a task cannot be trusted to the Dems. Of course, none will see the irony or hypocrisy.
Whether some here are fools or hypocrites or both is made evident, daily.
By the way, rufus, your repeated questioning of my integriy and patriotism says everything one needs know about you, and nothing about me.
rufus,
ReplyDeletere: BTW, you've got the defense number wrong.
No, rufus, the GAO did, apparently. But what could a bunch of bean counters know when faced with the wisdom of rufus?
Matt is right--nobody has the luxury of operating in a vacuum.
ReplyDeleteThe administration is frustrating allen, while rufus is reminding that the administration may well be doing the best it can with what it has to work with.
I agree with rufus, on the principle that these folks are, for better or worse, all we got--and in the long run, supporting them is better than savaging them.
Fine to ctirticize, fine to ehxort, fine to push a position, and complain when it doesn't go right--that's all fine.
Washing your hands of them is petulant, tho, since what will replace them is going to be a whole helluva lot worse.
Allen,
ReplyDeleteYou're a little under the weather. It will pass.
Comic relief (sorry all caps but that's how it was in the email):
ReplyDeleteREDNECK LOVE POEM
SUSIE LEE DONE FELL IN LOVE;
SHE PLANNED TO MARRY JOE
SHE WAS SO HAPPY 'BOUT IT ALL
SHE TOLD HER PAPPY SO.
PAPPY TOLD HER, SUSIE GAL,
YOU'LL HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER.
I'D JUST AS SOON YO' MA DON'T KNOW,
BUT JOE IS YO' HALF BROTHER.
SO SUSIE PUT ASIDE HER JOE
AND PLANNED TO MARRY WILL,
BUT AFTER TELLING PAPPY THIS,
HE SAID, "THERE'S TROUBLE STILL.
YOU CAN'T MARRY WILL, MY GAL,
AND PLEASE DON'T TELL YOU' MOTHER,
BUT WILL AND JOE, AND SEVERAL MO'
I KNOW IS YO' HALF BROTHER.
BUT MAMA KNEW AND SAID, MY CHILD,
JUST DO WHAT MAKES YO' HAPPY.
MARRY WILL OR MARRY JOE.
YOU AIN'T NO KIN TO PAPPY.
Well, habu, I tend to agree that the engagements in Granada and Panama both fall some where short of War, but there was some success in both locales.
ReplyDeleteOne looks for the bright spots in a mighty dim picture.
Yep, Matt--we're all on the same side here. just a lotta angst in the air. and that's normal, for these times. be the shits if we were all just chewing our cud out in the green pastures, not seeing nor caring what was going on.
ReplyDeletewell, me too. I'm a Hindu redneck--believe in Reintarnation--
ReplyDeleteAllen should learn to day trade. That'll teach him to control his anxiety.
ReplyDeleteBuddy,
ReplyDeleteI believe you and Rufus make the best points.
There's no winning in knocking down the man and party that most closely approximate what this country stands for.
Certainly since 1960's the Democrats have moved further and further left. I posted last week the agenda of the CPUSA, Communist Party of the USA, and asked folks to ID which party it was..no one took the challenge but I assure you that it is harmonius with the Democrats.
So things are tough, I don't believe that's the time to rachet up the criticism of the only hope this country has, and that is the Republicans and W at the moment.
Naturally passions are running high the closer we get to a very close election, and the recriminations for not doing thus or so fuel the exasperaton. When the enemy is inside the wire it's the WRONG time to start trash talking the guy in the foxhole with you. Feed him hope and more ammo and whip it, whip it good.
well, I can understand the anxiety. The holy land is under a gathering cloud, and the administration has to play the politics, for the nonce.
ReplyDeletewell said, habu--replete with the effective imagery.
ReplyDeleteSo the deal, if I understand you, buddy, is that if the Repubs lose come 7 Nov, either the House of the Senate the Republic is lost?
ReplyDeleteThat Mr Bush would be less able to do what he has not yet done, but may be planning to do, while he says publicly he is not?
The 325,000 men with guns we have trained and supplied as the newly created Iraqi Security Force will crumble and the mighty aQ insurgents, all 5,000 of them, will take over the oil fields, the wealth of the Iraq, if Ms Pelosi, rather than Dennis Hastert is Speaker of the House?
Mr Maliki will become even more impotent as a leader of a free and independent people if Mr Bush has to veto a Bill?
No, if the Dems take 18 to 25 House seats, they can try to herd the cats.
Let them not fund the US Army in Iraq. Then see where the next votes fall.
Let's see if the Republicans left in the House stand united or stay at their own personal feed troughs.
No, the more I think about it, the more I hope to see a little K Street Shuffle. Do the Republic good, a little divided Government.
Spread the Authority and the Responsiblity around a smidgen.
The Federals are moving away from me, regardless of the outcome.
Vote Democratic, the real War will come sooner, we'll have a better chance to win.
Hillary has the balls to use the bomb.
Yep. Not a pleasant feeling to know that both Pakistan and North Korea successfully tested nuclear bomb designs for the Iranians.
ReplyDeleteCowboy and bride show up at the Hotel, still in their wedding get-ups.
ReplyDeleteClerk asks "Do you want the bridal?"
Cowboy says "Naw, I'll just hold onto her ears til she gentles down some."
American Deaths in All Wars
ReplyDeleteThe following numbers reflect deaths (excluding wounded and missing):
Source: U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA
Revolutionary War (1775-1783) 4,435
War of 1812 (1812-1815) 2,260
Mexican War (1846-1848) 13,283
Civil War (1861-1865) 623,026
Spanish-American War (1898) 2,446
World War I (1917-1918) 116,708
World War II (1941-1945) 407,316
Korean War (1950-1953) 36,914
Vietnam War (1964-1973) 58,169
Persian Gulf War (1991) 269
ASK YOURSELF, DOES THE USA HAVE THE GUTS TO FACE WHAT OUR FOREFATHERS DID?
ASK YOURSELF, DOES THE USA HAVE THE GUTS TO FACE WHAT OUR FOREFATHERS DID?
ReplyDeleteIt takes more guts to admit the premise was wrong and disengage honorably.
Hope you're right, rat, about the sanguine outcome of putting the anti-war party in control of the legislative agenda. We may be half-f**ked as is, but if you're wrong, we'll be double-f**ked. Can't fault the "bring it on, and get it over with now" point on the war, tho. It's a legit position.
ReplyDeleteGWB told O'Reilly last night, that as far as he's concerned, there are two war goals, hold the line, and try to encourage Islam to see the light.
I agree with O'R's post-interview wrap-up, something like "I'm not sure GWB really believes in the second part anymore--but what else can he do but hold to it and hope?"
Think about that a bit. Once there's no hope, we really really do have to start busting up some cities.
Besides, the Carriers are headed for the theater. This argument may be moot.
Teresita,
ReplyDeleteThe premise wasn't wrong. The timing was off. But it's coming into alignment.
DR
ReplyDeleteIf the Democrats gain either body they will spend all of their time trying ti impeach President Bush.
They won't pay shit attention to the war. They'll abandon the work already paid for just like they did in Vietnam.
But they will replay Watergate and Iran Contra, tarring every tangential party. All of that will play to big applause in Caracus,Moscow,Peking,Tehran,Cuba, and do nothing but undermine the United States.
Your affinity for a little squirming at this moment in time is ill advised and will do nothing but give succor to those who have attacked us,killed us, and have vowed to continue doing so.
I have not heard one, not one Democrat stand up and support this country. They travel to our enemies camps where they are feted and fawned over and then they return to represent them, not their constituents....Remember "Dear Commandante"?
teresita,
ReplyDeleteSo those deaths were all just thrown away.
You're still one fucked up lesbian.
One reason, buddy, why I thought the possibility for sufficent strikes against Iran would come after the Election. The storyline will be Mr Bush's "relevency", or lack there of.
ReplyDeleteWell Mr Newt learned his lesson as to the strength of the Presidency to define Events. So can Ms Pelosi.
All Mr Bush needed was a Tonkin Gulf Resolution and he already has it in hand. All the legal Authority he needs to Act. The discouraging point is that he's had that Authority for five years, already.
Even my Mater Plan Conspiracy Theory is not that Grand.
This is going to make me sound wussy, but, the thing is we're fighting an ideology (yes I know, hard men without ideology are in it, too, but the footsoldiers & internet retail-bombers are ideologically-motivated), and part of that ideology is "Islam don't get no respect".
ReplyDeleteThat's what's with GWB's "RoP".
iraq & Afghanistan, and Hugo and Putin & others, are huge problems, but, so far, so good, on 911-prevention as a war goal. And if the 500,000 Americans working abroad fairly safely, administering global American commerce fairly peacefully, are an indication.
teresita, what habu meant, in his eloquent way, is that the premise of freeing subject peoples from the likes of Baath, and Taliban, can't *be* wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong is that the enemy is good, better than anyone could know, and half the American population has had enough of 'em, and thinks that they'll quit if we do.
Then, habu, that is how the Democrats spend their time. And the Electorate awakens or it does not. It's gonna be a "Long War"
ReplyDeleteArmy Doctrine for counterinsurgency is already "Democratic" if idiocy and Democratic are synonomous.
Why would it improve, regardless of electorial outcome?
It's already new and improved.
It's ArmyStrong
Which makes me think of Armstrong, which makes me think of a guy gettin' his ball cut off.
An Armstrong Army of One
Give Iraq to the Iraqi Army and Government, they'd handle it find, but as Mr Rumsfeld told US 8 months ago, or so, "It'd be worse than Saddam" he said. Talkin' about the Iraqi Government, the ISF and their future and relationship with US, if we were to leave.
Large numbers of US troops, embedded with the ISF is the answer, but no one wants to ask the question.
We'll just leave, in a year or three, with chaos in our wake.
White House Numbers
ReplyDeleteWhite House Numbers-DoD % GDP
___1994 -- 4.0
___1995 -- 3.7
___1996 -- 3.5
___1997 -- 3.3
___1998 -- 3.1
___1999 -- 3.0
___2000 -- 3.0
___2001 -- 3.0
Average -- 3.3 Infamous, evil Clinton
___2001 -- 3.0
___2002 -- 3.4
___2003 -- 3.7
___2004 -- 4.0
___2005 -- 3.7
___2006 -- 3.5 est.
Average -- 3.6 Generous, noble Bush
CRS Report to Congress
ReplyDelete2003 – 2004 = 3.3%
Comparable period White House number = 3.9%
White House site:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/pdf/hist.pdf
Did it with the Communists, rufus, it's worked out so far. Calling a spade a spade. Evil Empire made my day.
ReplyDeleteTruth and honesty win with the US Public.
Liars are left with the flies
CRS Report to Congress
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fas.org/man/crs/RL32209.pdf
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html
ReplyDeleteCIA Yearbook
2005 est. = 4.1%
Comparable period White House number = 3.7%
http://www.truthandpolitics.org/military-relative-size.php
ReplyDeleteRelative Size of US Military Spending, 1940 – 2003; Table 3.1; pp 55 & 56
Teresita,
ReplyDeleteI think your problem is you're a relative new comer to this country.
Your relatives may have even fought this country.
My family has been here since the Revolutionary War, so I'm not so quick to spit on the graves of those who've gone before. And I hold in great distain those who do. If your citizenship and free speech is to be taken as other than opportunistic and saprophytic then you must dilate on why it takes more guts to cut and run than it does to see the job through, because it is a sophists dictum, made by a coward who feigns honor in retreat.
Don't pay too much attention to those White House numbers, those guys just make stuff up to make the president look bad.
ReplyDeleteReagan or Carter
ReplyDeleteConfront or appease
truth or denial
Same old story
same old song
Mətušélaḥ,
ReplyDeletere: under the weather
I take it that you will not storm off again in a huff?
Mətušélaḥ,
ReplyDeletere: day trading
Allen is comfortably retired without ever day trading. I leave that to amateurs and fools.
DR,
ReplyDeleteIf truth and honesty win with the US public then you must believe that Bill Clinton was some great president, cause that sonofabitch was elected twice and he couldn't read the phone book without lying.
Parse the word "is" for me onetime.
Habu1,
ReplyDeletere: foxhole buddy
Mr. Bush never shared a foxhole with anyone, to my knowledge. He would not have long shared one with me.
Allen,
ReplyDeleteYou're too bright a man to play the obtuse fellow. You know what I meant.
yeh--I'd trust him, too, rufus. I guess we're just fools.
ReplyDeleteI can see how easy it would be to make terrible, world-historic mistakes in this war. GWB hasn't, in my estimation.
The enemy is good. The president's support is weak. He seems to be slogging.
Maybe slogging is the right thing to do, at this point. There aren't a helluva lot of options. The sheriff has to wait for gunslinger to make a move. I guess 911 was just a jaywalk--but can you blame GWB for the Americans who minimize it? What's he 'spose to do, wear a 911 button?
The last time I came close to feeling panic and anxiety was as an 18 year old corporal, taking out my first NVA bunker.
ReplyDeleteThese projections speak to the projectors, having no more to do with me than the accusation that I am a closet ballerina.
Those who are panicked and anxious are those who have invested themselves in Mr. Bush.
ReplyDeleteI gave up idealizing presidents in November 1963.
I gave up idolizing presidents in Cambodia.
Chump change.
I know, 300,000 troops in Iraq, much more aggressive war-fighting, who xccoulkdn't be 'for' that--if it would finish it. I just keep thinking, the pentagon is full of big-brained people with intel, gaming this thing continually. How can any of us know better, without just assuming they're all idiots or worse?
ReplyDeletere: Mr. Bush's on your six
ReplyDeleteYou guys would have to move your noses.
In the past week both Henry Kissinger and Prof Bernard Lewis have made the same observation about the current Iraqi situation vis a vis our President.
ReplyDeleteThat observation was that they did not see how he got accomplished what he had with the total lack of support of the minority party. Not just a lack of support but an open opposition which emboldens the terrorists and weakens the publics resolve.
We haven't come close to taking a beating in Iraq, quite the contrary but to listen to some here you'd think every move was designed purposely to fail. Nuts.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete8:51 and Buddy nails it. Succinct,unalloyed, honest.
ReplyDeleteWe are all so grossly uninformed compared to what W sees daily that it's sciolism of the first magnitude.
Yes, yes, yes, rufus, Islam is an ideology with Allah as a fiurehead, but it's just a group of men, a system of men, with a cloak of religion which is meaningless.
ReplyDeleteLet those that want to deny Mohammed deny him, let those that embrace his ideology feel the wrath that their ideology has wrought.
Religion is not a pass, and if a Billion and 500 Million make up the Enemy, so be it.
That's why God gave US all those planes you're so proud of, that have hardly ever used for their designed tasks.
habu1,
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't.
If you believe that the Republicans are more worthy than the Dems, I can respect that. I do not respect sychophants (which you are most assuredly not). I do not respect those who are too intellectually lazy or limited to do more than insult and vomit meaningless opinions as fact (which you most assuredly do not).
I will never apologize for defending the best interests of the military of the United States, as I see fit. If in so doing Mr. Bush and his boosters are made to seem the defeatest, grubby little worms they are, too damned bad! For those who don't like the stats and facts, call the White House or Congress. But while those Bush defenders are fuming, they should remember that thousands of troops are being hard used and abused, some on a third tour. Moreover, before tucking safely, warmly into beddy-bye, they should say a little prayer for that female Air Force clerk doing Army guard duty in Iraq.
The politically correct atmosphere in Washington deems any discussion of religion as a strategic factor indelicate: Let our troops die, just don't hurt anyone's feelings.
ReplyDelete...
The text is a mush of pop-zen mantras such as "Sometimes doing nothing is the best reaction," "The best weapons do not shoot," or "The more force used, the less effective it is."
That's just nutty. Should we have done nothing in the wake of 9/11? Would everything have been OK if we'd just been nicer? What non-lethal "best weapons" might have snagged Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora, where the problem was too little military force, not too much violence?
No the Military is failing the Republic, if the above BS is Doctrine,
As Jr told me, no indiscriminate fire while clearing a building. pick your shots, conserve ammo, no grenades first. That's how Marines train today, that's how they'll fight, until they die, then those that live will learn, again.
Training is everything
Everything is training
Allen,
ReplyDeleteI don't storm with a huff. I storm with a puff. :)
As for day trading. Amateurs and fools are just those without experience. If you aren't pig headed, you will leave yourself enough ground to live and fight another day.
A fundamental question is, do we need a leader? If we do, then under what circumstances are we better off deligitimizing that leader? I can think of only one--there is somebody better waiting, and the increase in quality is worth the systemic destruction of the delegitimization.
ReplyDeleteMatt--that's the key--control your losses.
ReplyDeleteWell, the base has been growing, whether 3.1 or 3.7, the base has been growing very robustly. The nominals count, too.
ReplyDeleteI think 5% is called for--but, if the economy were to double tommorrow, then 2.5% would yield the same number of dollars.
I think someone on that end of the bar needs to buy Allen a drink. Hell we could all use another round! I'd buy it myself but I just blew my last dollar in the video poker machine.
ReplyDeleteBuddy,
ReplyDeleteI try and limit those voluntary donations. :)
GWB is a good politician. He's aware of the dissatisfaction from the right flank.
ReplyDeleteI think someone on that end of the bar needs to buy Allen a drink. Hell we could all use another round! I'd buy it myself but I just blew my last dollar in the video poker machine.
ReplyDeleteokay, Kelsso, I heard you the second time--
ReplyDelete;-)
I'll buy a round--barkeep, set 'em up, on my tab--
ReplyDeleteI'd rather have a free bottle in front of me, than a pre frontal lobotomy.
ReplyDeleteKelsso's the designated driver.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the double post. Not sure how that happened.
ReplyDeleteshit on that, he's already seein double
ReplyDeleterufus,
ReplyDeletere: 3.1%
I thought you weren't wasting more time with the likes of me. That didn't last long. I'm not surprised.
The 3.1 figure came by way of a GAO site.
Had you been paying attention to detail instead of childishly trying to pull an "I gotcha", you would have seen that no agency or authority sited by me seems to have a handle on the numbers. They are all over the place. However, what does seem to be shown is that the evil Mr. Clinton, not involved in a world war, spent only marginally (maybe within the margin of error) less than Mr. Bush on defense as a percent of GDP. If you think that peachy, good for you. I do not, and I bet you will not come 2008 when a Democrat promises to rebuild the military. You will be one of the first in line to denigrate that Democrat as a liberal, insisting that only Republicans can be trusted with the security of the Republic.
By the way, when next you regurgitate a factoid, how about a link. As I have written of others, "a feeling is not thought, and an opinion is not a fact."
By the way, I will spend all the time with you you want. I find the research refreshing and possibly helpful to those with an open mind.
You feel free to insult and bluster at will. You will, thereby, find why I am told I have a two-chambered heart: I am as cold and relentless as a Great White.
He'll sober up by the time we're out.
ReplyDeleteBuddy Larsen,
ReplyDeletere: if the economy were to double tommorrow, then 2.5% would yield the same number of dollars.
Maybe tomorrow pigs will fly. Wow!
Take a look at the inflation adjusted numbers.
Had Mr. Bush not made promises, I would have no complaint. But pigs don't fly, and he did make promises, that old smoothy.
sited = cited
ReplyDeleteOh, fooey, Allen--shut up and drink.
ReplyDeleteHere, have a pretzel, Allen.
ReplyDeleteteresita, what habu meant, in his eloquent way, is that the premise of freeing subject peoples from the likes of Baath, and Taliban, can't *be* wrong.
ReplyDeleteThen let's go to Pyongyang and Beijing and Tehran and free those people too...oh wait, we only pick fights with weak countries. Only subject peoples in non-nuclear regimes are worthy of liberation.
right you are--only the capital of Ireland has a dublin economy.
ReplyDeletePer Mətušéla
ReplyDelete"Allen,
A Muslim journalist facing charges of sedition for advocating ties with Israel was recently attacked and beaten by a crowd in Bangladesh that allegedly included leading officials of the country’s ruling party. - JPOST
Why think it’s any different for Dr. Rice in the State Department?"
You are kidding, right? If on the other hand, Dr. Rice and Mr. Bush are that sensitive, well, that makes my point, doesn't it? War is not the Yale cheerleading team tryouts.
Rome wasn't built in a day, tess.
ReplyDeleteAllen,
ReplyDeleteYou're trolling for blood. Even the Great White can have his hide skinned.
Yeh, they got that "Jaws" somebish, at the end of the third act.
ReplyDeletegot him again and again, in Jaws II, Jaws III, Jaws IV and Jaws V.
ReplyDeleteAll in Technicolor.
ReplyDeletejeez--can ya imagine 'em in B&W--that'd be truly scary. Hand-held camera, a la that Blair Witch movie--grainy, jump-cut. ooee.
ReplyDeleteDidn't see Blair Witch. But cinematography in Sin City was nicely done.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I really must lighten up. Why be offended when Dr. Rice goes before Muslim audiences, one within the Palestinian Authority, and equates the struggle for American independence with the "struggle of the brave Palestinian people"? In fairness, how dare I criticize the woman for what she beieves?
ReplyDeleteAnd that is the problem worldwide; Mr. Bush and Dr. Rice actually believe the UN nonsense they pedal. This administration is a lost cause. It is probable that the next administration will be a lost cause. Eventually, however, the Muslims will cross the line once too often and some future leader will flatten Islam.
I do not expect Mr. Bush to ever speak what I and others here believe to be the truth of Islam. He will not because he cannot. He feels that Islam is the Religion of Peace.
The last account I read about North Korea's brinkmanship is their plan to test THREE more devices. And why not, given the West's response to the last provocation?
Oh, Dr. Rice assured Japan today that Japan will be protected by the US. If the Japanese are half as smart as I think, they took that as a warning of impending doom and are now hard at work running nukes off one of their "zero defects" assembly lines. Hopefully, Taiwan also took the message.
Shame on me!
The new movie by David Lynch, out in December, was shot on consumer grade digital video (a $2,700 Sony camcorder).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/sin_city/
ReplyDeleteMətušélaḥ,
ReplyDeletere: skinned Great White
Not by a minnow.
Look up "300"--'spose to be a "Sin City" cinematography style. About Thermopylae.
ReplyDeleteAs to trolling, I recall being either the first or second poster at 2164th's Elephant Bar. If he thinks me a troll, he need only say so. You have no such authority.
ReplyDeleteI've been mad at David Lynch since he didn't figure out who killed Laura in "Twin Peaks".
ReplyDeleteBuddy,
ReplyDeleteNot due til 07.
my take is, she's exploiting a split in the Palis, trying to weaken the worst, and elevate the best. You gotta realize, relationships between USA and Egypt/Jordan are vital to maitaining Israel's strategic position.
ReplyDeleteAllen,
ReplyDeleteWhat can I tell you. I'm not even a US citizen. You want to vote for the lefty agenda, it's your call. November is just around the corner.
Vote Librarian, they're overdue
ReplyDeleteI've been mad at David Lynch since he didn't figure out who killed Laura in "Twin Peaks".
ReplyDeleteDavid Lynch didn't want to ever reveal who killed Laura Palmer, but he was pressured by ABC to do it, so he settled on her father Leland (possessed by the demon BOB).
USA shipped a bunch of stuff to Israel in the 34 Day War. Now Hosni Mubarek and King Abdullah II need some USA lip service, for their own populations, to whom the USA is officially the only--for the time being "honest broker".
ReplyDeleteBuddy,
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of theatre going on, that's for sure. Hopefully, Dr. Rice isn't underestimating Palliwood's talent for theatrics.
Vote librarian, elect Book Burners. Oh so what, we're all DOOMED anyway.
ReplyDeletetess--right--and he framed the denouemont in such a way as to say "this is a tv ending--not the REAL ending". Cool, but as i said, maddening.
ReplyDeleteMatt--right--both sides are playing for time, trying to take better advantage of it than the other.
Giuliani, Forbes, and Gingrich would made for a great 08 ticket.
ReplyDeleteMətušélaḥ,
ReplyDeletere: You want to vote for the lefty agenda
Citizen or no, you have spoken as a true believer. What makes you think I would vote for "the lefty agenda", assuming you could articulately define such? I have been a conservative my entire life. Notwithstanding Mr. Bush's having hijacked my political party, this will not change. Mr. Bush will one day be nothing more than a bad taste, too easily acquired by simple-minded toadies. The Republican Party will survive and be damned glad to welcome the likes of me back into the fold. The US will have a military to rebuild; all hands will be called on deck.
Olmert met with Putin today--the tv pics were, they were smiling and patting each other on the back. Does that mean we should be jumping all over Olmert--or, as I did until this moment, never give it a second thought, assuming as a matter of course that Israel's interests will dovetail with USA's. And vice versa.
ReplyDeleteAllen,
ReplyDeleteI have faith in Bush. But you're right to agitate. Politics works by triangulating.
Lots of video work is migrating to that little Sony, Ms T.
ReplyDeleteIt's not IMax but the low end Sony DCR-VX2100 product can splice in almost seemlessly with DVCam footage. The 2100 is discounted as low as $1,700 USD
The output format will show the difference or not. The lower quality image tends to break down as the screen size increase. But small screen, need young eyes to see the difference.
If the whole film used the 2100 it could work, there being no quality reference points. You'd know "something" was different.
The Feel of the film
Buddy,
ReplyDeleteOlmert is probably, on advice from Avigdor Lieberman, seeking advice from Mr. Putin on parliamentary electoral reform.
depth--which as you say, some do not notice.
ReplyDeletereferring to film/video.
ReplyDeletereferring to film/video.
ReplyDeleteMatt-LOL--they both need a lift--
ReplyDeleteAs to my credentials, I have been one of the few calling for a decades' long Iraq occupation.
ReplyDeleteSaddam needed killing because he and his progeny posed an ongoing threat to the interests of the United States. Foremost among those interests is control of the Straight of Hormuz, giving the US a stranglehold on the economies of Asia and the EU. At anytime since March 2003, the demonstration of that power, on a limited basis, would have sent a message to our "friends" the Chinese and the French. Of course, that would have been unilateral and hardball. Dear, oh, dear me. Wouldn't be prudent and would have angered the king making KSA.
Within the government of the US are operators smart enough to see the value of American retrenchment into Kurdistan. The same might have once been true of portions of Shi'a territory, but that milk is now irredeemably curdled, I think. Oh, well, Kurdistan will do.
Perhaps the Kurds will be observant enough to forbid the entry into their territory of any member of the Department of State. If so, military planners might be free to arm the Kurds to the max, sending the simultaneous message, "Kurdistan is under new management." The Kurds, I suggest, will not be offended.
rufus' link--could Achmadinejad be more clear, more explicit? And yet, we're over here, chopping down our foreign policy leader. talk about picking the wrong target at the wrong time in the wrong place.
ReplyDeleteEichmann-in-jihad is a god damn blessing, if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteYou could be right--it's definitely still in play--if he sucks all the jihad energy into hisself, and then we splat his ass, it'll change the war--and the world.
ReplyDeleteIn elevating the mobster Abbas to the heroic heights of George Washington, Dr. Rice has made Israel the tyranny of George III. Indeed, she has rendered impotent any leverage the US might exercise over the Palestinian Mafia. How can an American administration attack the reincarnation of George Washington? What might Muslims and many Americans make of a reversal of policy vis-à-vis the Palestinian leadership and the struggle of the brave Palestinian people?
ReplyDeleteHow, then, can George Abbas every be criticized? Dr. Rice has surrendered any moral high ground the US had in controlling the depredations of Fatah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority generally. What will Dr. Rice do when General George Abbas supports the Iranian nuclear quest, which Abbas will most certainly do?
Perhaps Dr. Rice thinks President George Abbas duly and fully bought. If so, she again displays her incredible ignorance of Muslim bargaining and diplomacy.
If she absolutely had to give those speeches to Muslim audiences, she could have avoided any reference to the struggle of Americans for independence, unless, she actually makes the correlation made. In my opinion, she does see the murderous Palestinians as quasi-American patriots and feels to her marrow that Islam is the religion of peace.
This woman is doing grievous injury to American foreign policy.
If Mr. Bush is weak in terms of Iran, it is of his own making.
ReplyDeleteIf Mr. Bush is weak in terms of North Korea, it is of his own making.
If Mr. Bush is not weak, he can prove it.
So Allen, what's your proposal?
ReplyDelete(quote from link @ bottom)
ReplyDeleteWalter Lippman's U.S. Foreign Policy: Shield of the Republic (1942). Like most of his writing, it is full of passages that you want to commit to memory. Here's one:
Thus from 1937 to 1940 President Roosevelt moved anxiously and hesitantly between his knowledge of what ought to be done and his estimate of how much the people would understand what ought to be done. I shall not attempt to answer the question whether he could have made the people understand how great was their peril.... The illusions of a century stood in the way of their understanding, and it may be that no words, but only the awful experience of total war, could even partially dispel the illusion.
In any event the fact is that Mr. Roosevelt did not succeed in persuading the nation to attend effectively to the American interest. Though he understood it himself, though he realized the peril, in action he followed events, taking small measures to repair great disasters which were undermining the American position in all the strategic areas of the world. (p. 44).
It is now clear to me that the national security establishment, increasingly paralyzed by the government's (and nation's) general failure to understand the situation we're in, is shaping Bush's decision-making in the same direction of reflexive minimal measures to repair great disasters. It's clear to most people that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a disaster, but that doesn't mean we understand our situation well enough to make clear decisions.
See who said all that @ The NRO Corner, here.
GWB knows what needs to be done, and can be done. Personally, I think GWB has more wiggle room to maneuver than he might perceive from watching CNN or reading State Department reports. I have faith he'll see his way thru.
ReplyDeleteSee, that's what happens when half the people spend all their political energy reflexively calling GWB "liar".
ReplyDeleteAfter awhile, a fog is created. No groundswell is even possible, no words of warning or soaring rhetoric will get thru the fog.
Could even go so far as, we have to wait for an Israeli or American city to go off.
Good oppo tactic, that; destroying the oppo's legitimacy can make for such a great surprise.
I'll drink to that, Matt--
ReplyDeleteL'haim!
ReplyDelete:D
L'haim! To LIFE! yes, indeed the best toast of them all--
ReplyDeleteNa z'dorovye!
ReplyDeleteZa vashe z-dorovye! To your health!
ReplyDeleteGoogle has made life complete!
:-D
well, off to the sack--see y'all tamale--
ReplyDeleteMətušélaḥ said...
ReplyDeleteSo Allen, what's your proposal?
12:28 AM, October 19, 2006
How about slowing all two-way traffic through the Strait by imposition of comprehensive vessel searches for North Korean and Iranian contraband. When a two week bottleneck is created, some of our "friends" might start taking the point. Look at it as killing two birds with one stone.
Nothing of the kind will happen, to be sure. Nothing of consequence is going to happen until such time as the North Koreans and/or the Muslims make a misstep that even Mr. Bush cannot sidestep and still remain in office.
You all hold to the notion that Mr. Bush is savvy and is merely playing for the opportune time to strike against the non-Religion of Peace. You are as mistaken as he is misguided. You believe in Mr. Bush and Mr. Bush believes Islam to be the Religion of Peace.
How's that working out? Well if North Korean, Iraqi, and Iranian intransigence are indicative, not very well. But, admittedly, I am greatly influenced by observable facts and not some childish faith in the "Grand Unifying Ultra-Secret Strategy" for TWAT victory. Forgive me for permitting myself to be over-reliant on something as mundane as science based upon attendant, measureable facts. I quit being a true believer in the goodness of politicians and religious charlatans decades ago – coincidently, at just the same time as I became a conservative and an adult.
Oh, don't be mislead into thinking the scenario at the Strait is the sole option that comes to mind. I just happen to think that a bit of slow, socialist papershuffling and inventory control is particularly useful. Any number of "butter bars" could come up with perfectly useful tactics as well.
For those who pee their pants at the thought of higher spot oil prices resulting from an inspection regime at the Strait, well, life is not fair; as any E-5 with six years in service, on his second or third downrange tour with a base pay of $2,323.80, will attest. Maybe its about time that Americans had to buy into TWAT or get off the pot.
Lest I be misunderstood, let me be perfectly clear: I draw no distinction between politicians and religious charlatans. Both are cut from the same cloth; both exploit the same demographic; both prosper on the human tendency to idolatry.
ReplyDeleteThe number of so-called Bush supporters who show contempt for the President is astounding. Only on two, highly reported occasions, has Mr. Bush deviated from his “Religion of Peace” formulation. Despite this, there are those who imply that the President is simply playing possum, trying to draw Muslims into a false sense of security so that he can blindside them, unawares, with the full force of the US. Essentially, according to these fine folk, Mr. Bush is engaged in a brilliant job of pandering. This would, on its face, make Mr. Bush a cynical liar.
ReplyDeleteI respect the President too much to accept this thesis. No, I think the President sincerely believes it and means it when he says such things as, “Islam is a noble religion that has been hijacked by a few fanatics” and “Islam is the religion of peace.” Moreover, I think he fully supports the view of his Secretary of State’s very public statements equating Palestinian militancy with the Founder’s struggle for American independence from European tyranny. In short, Mr. Bush is a forthright gentleman with fixed opinions of how the world works.
Consequently, I do not question the President’s sincerity or motives. Instead, I question his grossly uninformed judgment. An understanding of the workings of the world, learned at his father’s knees, of a new world order, heralding an age of peace and prosperity for all: this is the flaw of character. To observers of the American scene, Mr. Bush’s belief system should come as no surprise; it is nothing more or less controversial than the value system espoused by modern American liberalism.
Mr. Bush deserves the honor due any man who unflinchingly speaks his convictions. As a Republican, however, I cannot entirely understand how he came to speak for my party.
That's easy, the elections did it.
ReplyDeleteBack around to Clint, here's a nice accessible review of the new film:
ReplyDeleteIf the new on is--as the article says--the "best war movie ever made", then Clint is something special, as "The Unforgiven" is said to be the "best Western ever made".
ReplyDeletebuddy larsen,
ReplyDeletere: election
Strange, I don't recall the election making Mr. Bush the spokesman of my party. I was inclined to think that a brand name, massive, expensive advertising, and some yeoman workmanship by Mr. Rove did that in the primaries. McCain may have a somewhat different take on that, though.
Dick Morris is reporting Bush down by 20% among his white church going base. They seem to have gotten the message loud and clear. Come election day, the new Republican leadership may get it as well.
Your "Unforgiven" follow through was a stroke of genius, if intended to convey the fate of Mr. Bush.
psst
ReplyDeleteoommmm
ReplyDeleteuiktuikttkiu
ReplyDelete8ol86
ReplyDeletehabu, have you taken leave of my senses?
ReplyDelete