COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Fort Lost in the Woods



Frankly, I never heard of it. But why should I have, since I was in the Air Force and my most enduring experience with the army was a recurring nightmare that I re-upped in the army by mistake. But it seems as two of our extinguished, check that, distinguished, repeat, distinguished board members are alumns.

Speaking of old mountains. Show a little more respect for your elders. The Poconos are the remnants of some of the greatest mountains this planet has ever scene, check that, seen, repeat seen. The Poconos are the debilitated veterans of climactic change, created some 12,000 - 15,000 years ago by the mother of all glaciers. The Wisconsinan Glacier carved them a new one, so speak.

18 comments:

  1. Oh yeah, Ft Leonard Wood...the Army's primary Combat Engineering school. Should have put two and two together given rat's history.

    Let me see, their motto is...um...
    don't tell me...Victory...um...Oh yeah...

    Victory Through Skill. :)

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  2. Leonard Wood, isn't that the one where they train the REMFs?

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  3. I think I was detached to that outfit.

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  4. By the way , my comments directed at the disparagement of the Poconos, were not spoken as a Pennsylvanian, but as someone deeply concerned about mountainism in all its forms.

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  5. Ash,

    Neda will not be sailing today, or any other day. She will never know the joy and sorrow of living a long life with the man she loves – having orgasms, making babies, raising children. She will never feel the wind blowing through her long black hair or the exhilaration of the spray of salt water on her face as she turns into the sunset.

    No, Ash, Neda lies at the bottom of some forgettable hole in the ground, a festering rotting corpse – all because she insolently defied the Prophet and his anointed and had to be “punished”.

    Have a nice day.

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  6. The revolution needed a face, they got Neda of Persia.

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  7. Ft. Jackson, SC.

    I played the part of Private Benjamin.

    "Excuse me, but that tent has no floor."

    The chief DI did not have a particular fondness for me, and in the morning formation of our last day he handed me a brown paper envelope and said, "It pains me that the Army is sending you to San Francisco. Were it up to me..."

    Blah, blah, blah. Too bad, thought I. Too f'n bad.

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  8. DLI-SF was Animal House with uniforms occasionally thrown in for suggestion.

    Ft. Huachuca was an everyday brain-bleed punctuated by suitcases of Old Milwaukee's Best and Cuervo.

    Frankly I'm surprised that any of us (save the BYU kids, to this day disproportionately represented in MI) graduated from anything. Must have been the ever-present fear that if we failed, they'd make us truck drivers.

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  9. Stay Tuned for More of 'The Obama Show'
    Daytime TV's newest star is good at staying on script.
    By Dana Milbank

    In his first daytime news conference yesterday, President Obama preempted "All My Children," "Days of Our Lives" and "The Young and the Restless." But the soap viewers shouldn't have been disappointed: The president had arranged some prepackaged entertainment for them.

    Pitney asked his arranged question. Reporters looked at one another in amazement at the stagecraft they were witnessing. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel grinned at the surprised TV correspondents in the first row.

    The use of planted questioners is a no-no at presidential news conferences, because it sends a message to the world -- Iran included -- that the American press isn't as free as advertised.
    But yesterday wasn't so much a news conference as it was a taping of a new daytime drama, "The Obama Show."

    Missed yesterday's show?
    Don't worry: On Wednesday, ABC News will be broadcasting "Good Morning America" from the South Lawn (guest stars: the president and first lady), "World News Tonight" from the Blue Room, and a prime-time feature with Obama from the East Room.
    ---
    Pitney said the White House, though not aware of the question's wording, asked him to come up with a question about Iran proposed by an Iranian. And, as it turned out, he was not the only prearranged questioner at yesterday's show. Later, Obama passed over the usual suspects to call on Macarena Vidal of the Spanish-language EFE news agency. The White House called Vidal in advance to see whether she was coming and arranged for her to sit in a seat usually assigned to a financial trade publication. She asked about Chile and Colombia.

    A couple of more questions and Obama called it a day. "Mr. President!" yelled Mike Allen of Politico. "May I ask about Afghanistan? No questions about Iraq or Afghanistan?"

    Sorry: Those weren't prearranged.

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  10. Since the Bad War (Iraq) has rather become the Forgotten War, it merits saying: The leadership in Baghdad at this very moment is an exceptionally gifted bunch - that will never receive the recognition they truly deserve.

    For almost all of those guys (and Petraeus, too) the present stop is the last one.

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  11. And Iraq's National Security Adviser would like nothing more than to brief you on his neighbor and the hair-raising threat posed internally thereby.

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  12. Turns out Gov. Mark Warner was hiking in Buenos Aires!
    ---
    Warner for President 2012!

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  13. Trish,
    Would appreciate names of some of the folks you refer to.

    Thanks

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  14. In two years, Fanny and Freddie funded a Trillion Dollars worth of Bogus Mortgages!
    Nationalize Healthcare!
    - Steve Forbes

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  15. You have fun on the other thread, Doug.

    Like I said, fucking with an otherwise perfectly good day is bad practice. I gave it up.

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  16. Mark "Warner" = Gov "Mark Sanford"

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